Publishing timelines

Sometimes you need current sources, sometimes not. When it comes to research, however, it always helps to keep in mind the speed at which certain kinds of publications come into the world.

• Newspapers: Published daily or weekly. Most of this content is less than 24 hours old, though some in-depth articles have been worked on for weeks or months.
• Magazines: Published weekly or monthly. Some news items may only be a couple days old, but many magazine articles are developed over the course of months.
• Journals: Published monthly or quarterly. While these come out fairly frequently, much of the content has been worked on for months or years.
• Books: Books often take years to write and nearly as long to edit, print, and distribute. Recently published books don't usually deal with information or news from the last 6 months to a year.

Authors and publishers are well aware of these timelines, and therefore publish in the format that best suits the timeliness of their subjects. Books, for example, tend to age the most gracefully while newspapers become rapidly obsolescent (except for historical purposes). Today's news may be tomorrow's litter box lining but The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1776) feels as relevant as ever.