• by January 18, 2006

When it comes to the sheer number of periodicals out there, Hispanic publications and interior design magazines are hot, but college titles and business books are out, according to the new edition of the Standard Periodical Directory.

Over the past ten years, Hispanic publications of all kinds have displayed more growth than any other category--increasing from 124 titles in 1996 to 329 this year, for a gain of 165 percent, the Directory revealed. The other hot categories were interior design (from 125 to 213 publications in the ten-year period), weddings (from 50 to 130), and golf (from 102 to 170).

Deborah Striplin, SPD editorial director, said part of the growth in Hispanic titles was fueled by the introduction of regional publications such as Tu Ciudad Los Angeles and Ser Magazine in Laredo, TX, as well as an increase in national publications such as Siempre Mujer.

Two categories showing some of the most dramatic declines over the period included the college student press, which dropped from 4507 to 3097 titles, and business and industry publications, which fell from 2505 to 1126. Striplin attributed those declines to the increased use of Internet Web sites by the target audience for those magazines.

Categories with the largest overall number of publications include medicine, law, religion, ethnic, computers, education, business, health and fitness, regional interest, and travel. Of those categories, all showed declines over the ten-year period--with the sole exception of ethnic.

Not surprisingly, the use of the Internet continues to grow with over 24 percent of publications offering online or e-mail editions to supplement the print editions. The Directory also reported that there are 238 digital, or virtual, publications and that a total of 3,665 publications are available in electronic format only.

The SPD includes listings for 15,654 magazines, 11,563 journals, 11,938 newsletters, 9,667 newspapers, 3,449 directories and 997 yearbooks. The new edition of the directory is completely current with more than 4,200 new titles.