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Business & Organizational Security Management at Webster University Library

Journals (e.g. peer-reviewed) vs. popular magazines

Images of security management periodicals. The Journal of International Security Affairs is a scholarly/academic peer-reviewed journal. Trade publications include Homeland Security Today.US and Security Director News. Popular magazines and newspapers include Time, Harvard Business Review and the newspaper, the Wall Street Journal.Journals:  May be called scholarly or academic periodicals.  Journal articles are written by practitioners, theorists or educators in a field or discipline and often report experimental and/or theoretical research. Peer-review: Experts, or the author's peers in the field, may review articles before publication.  An example is The Journal of International Security Affairs.

Trade publications: Often written by specialists in an industry or business activity (e.g. accounting, HR, sales), they report trends or offer practical applications or tips for those working or studying in the field.  Examples: Security Director News and Homeland Security

Magazines & Newspapers: Called popular periodicals, they are written by staff writers and report current events and news for general readers.  Some examples of magazines include Time, Bloomberg Businessweek, Harvard Business Review and newspapers include The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times.

If in doubt, ask your professor what kinds of periodicals they prefer that you to use for the assignment.

How to search Business Source Complete

Business Source Complete includes scholarly, peer-reviewed journal and trade publication articles on security management topics from publications such as MIS Quarterly, Security Director's Report, and Security: Solutions for Enterprise Security Leaders. Some common search terms include:        

  • cyberterrorism
  • data protection
  • data security
  • emergency management
  • industries--security measures
  • information technology security
  • national security
  • risk assessment
  • risk management in business 
  • security management
  • security measures
  • vulnerability

Additional article databases

These databases may provide a different focus for your search. You might use them in addition to one of the comprehensive databases listed above, or if you have a multidisciplinary topic.

Multidisciplinary databases

Subject-specific databases

Database tools: Finding article full-text, citations, and saving articles to folders

Here are a couple of tip sheets on using advanced features within Webster University Libraries' databases, which include:

  • Full-text: where to locate the full text of an article
  • Cite tool: how to generate a citation, e.g., in APA or MLA format
  • Folder tool: how to save items to EBSCO folders for future use

Search the Journals and Magazines A-Z list to discover if the periodical you seek is one of more than 80,000 titles available full-text online or in print from the library.

Request books or articles

If the full-text is not available online, see our Borrowing & Returns page to learn how the library can help students, faculty and staff to obtain the text (at no cost to you).