How to recognise a journal title
The journal title is usually very generic.
Often, the journal title is easy to identify because it has certain words in the title, for example:
- Journal of/International Journal of X & Y
- X & Y Journal/Bulletin/Letters
- Frontiers in/Current Problems in/Studies in/Issues in/etc. X & Y
- Annals of X & Y
- Acta X & Y (where X & Y are often something in Latin)
Or it will be abbreviated when you see it, like:
- BMJ
- PLoS One
- ReCALL
- J Sports Sci
Many journal titles are also single words, or two or three word phrases, like:
- Brain
- Nature
- System
- Shoulder & Elbow
- Conservation Biology
But the general rule of thumb you can use to try to work out which is the title of the journal and which is the title of the article is this:
Which title best explains the article?
Most articles will have a title that directly references what the article is talking about:
- "The effects of chunk reading strategy training on the word chunking skills of L1-Japanese English learners"
- "Improved surveillance for early detection of a potential invasive species: The alien rose-ringed parakeet Psittacula krameri in Australia"
Sometimes the article title could sound more like a book title, but it will still directly relate to the content of the article:
- "The case for narrow reading"
- "Status of naturalized parrots in the United States"
But the journal title is almost always more general or vague:
- Language Learning
- Biological Invasions
Where to find the journal title
Sometimes the journal title isn't as easy to find as the article title. You will usually find the article title right at the start of the article (often before the author's names).
The journal title is usually closer to the top of the page than the article title. It is normally closer to the volume, issue and page number. If you are having trouble finding it on the website for the article, see if you can download the PDF, as it may be easier to see.
These screenshots show the same article in the web version and the pdf version. The title of the journal is circled in red, and the title of the article is in a green rectangle.
Note how the PDF makes it easier to find the details:
To cite this article in APA, you would format it like this:
McFarlane, I. V., Wong, M., & Alder-Price, A. C. (2023). Subscapular abscesses: A literature review and evidence-based treatment guidelines. Shoulder & Elbow, 16(3), 232-238. https://doi.org/10.1177/17585732231165194
