A typical magazine may contain articles, editorial, a cover story, commentaries, views, reviews, interviews, advertisements, etc... Magazines are generally funded by a combination of advertising, purchase price and pre-paid subscriptions.

The cycle of publication for magazines varies greatly News-based magazines are usually published weekly or fortnightly to stay abreast of the current news cycle. Others based on pure sciences, research, and the field of humanities, are typically published monthly or quarterly to allow for review, in-depth editing and material collection. Geographic availability is also varied; some magazines are regionally specific while others have a national circulation. While most magazines are still published as a hard copy, the shift in the due to change in the technology and the way we access information, has led many to publish all or parts of the issue online. Even further, some magazines now publish exclusively online, facing rising printing costs, a shift in advertising focus and the appeal of reaching a global audience.

PDL has digitized and brought together current and archived magazines of Punjab, that serve to document its literature, art, culture, history, philosophy, religion, society, politics and their combined evolution into the current state. Precisely, this includes all spheres of the field of humanities. Currently, pure science is out of the scope of this project.