A subset of the general magazine is the customer magazine, a publication similar in format and style to a general magazine but

issued by an organisation such as a club, a retailer or an airline to communicate with its customers. Such magazines are usually free to the reader; the quantity of advertising that they carry varies greatly; and their circulations range from very small to very large - in some countries customer magazines are among the highest-circulation general magazines. Many business magazines are available only, or predominantly, on subscription. In some cases these subscriptions are available to any person prepared to pay; in others, free subscriptions are available to readers who meet a set of criteria established by the publisher. This practice, known as controlled circulation, is intended to guarantee to advertisers that the readership is relevant to their needs. Very often the two models, of paid-for subscriptions and controlled circulation, are mixed. Advertising is also an important source of revenue for business magazines. Although similar to a magazine in some respects, an academic periodical featuring scholarly articles written in a more specialist register is usually called an "academic journal". Such publications typically carry little or no advertising. Periodical is the word usually used to describe magazines, journals, newspapers, newsletters, and anything else that is published in regular intervals for an indefinite period of time, but serial is sometimes used, especially in library and information science. Many newspapers in their weekend editions incorporate magazine supplements, such as WE (HT) and TIMES LIFE (TOI). The Gentleman's Magazine, first published in 1731, is considered to have been the first generalinterest magazine. The oldest magazine still in print is The Scots Magazine, which was first published in 1739, though multiple changes in ownership and gaps in publication totaling over 90 years weaken that claim. The most widely distributed magazine in the world is The Watchtower (founded in 1879). Its worldwide circulation including all editions comprises 32.4 million copies.