On behalf of a case study of articles on bibliometric selection and ranking the variance in terminology of the properties of journals is shown: the same properties are called in various manners, while one and the same terms have different meanings. Similar inconsistencies are found in the terms denoting readers' activities which are studied in bibliometrics for the assessment of the use of periodicals. The author concludes that there are actually only two properties of periodicals that are quantitatively assessed, viz. “productivity”, and “value”. Their definitions are suggested for terminology standardization of general properties of journals and of readers' activities.