Wikipedia:Notability (periodicals)

This is an essay on notability. It contains the advice or opinions of one or more Wikipedia contributors. This page is not an encyclopedia article, nor is it one of Wikipedia's policies or guidelines, as it has not been thoroughly vetted by the community. Some essays represent widespread norms; others only represent minority viewpoints.

Shortcuts WP:NPERIODICAL WP:NMAG WP:NNEWSPAPER

This page in a nutshell: Articles about periodicals (magazines, newspapers, academic journals, and similar) are required to meet notability criteria by citing significant commentary in independent reliable secondary sources. Many periodicals are notably influential without being the subject of secondary sources. This essay specifies criteria for judging the notability of a periodical through reliable sources showing its impact.

This essay reflects one view of the community's current consensus about the notability of periodicals, including magazines, newspapers, academic journals, and similar periodic publications. This is not an official policy or an official guideline of Wikipedia; it is rather an essay that proposes a guideline.

For the purposes of this suggested guideline, a periodical is a recognized published work that appears in a new edition on a regular schedule.^[1][2][3] This suggested guideline covers the kinds of periodicals that are formally published, that is they (usually after 1974) have an ISSN code, are circulated in libraries or other reference sources, and (usually or often) appear in paper. A few periodicals may be notable despite lacking these, and in such rare cases good reasons should be evidenced. Regularly updated and reissued reference books (dictionaries, encyclopedias, style guides, legal guides, etc.), and regular publications that are not "works" of the publishing body, are not covered under this suggested guideline. Publications and periodicals falling outside these criteria need to be assessed by reference to other guidelines or the general notability criteria instead.

It is possible for a periodical not to meet the criteria of this suggested guideline but to meet another subject's notability guidelines. Conversely, if a periodical is notable under this suggested guideline, its possible failure to meet other subject's notability guideline is not important.