When looking for academic journal articles you can use the 'everything' search in Library Search or search directly in the databases below, which we’ve selected as being most relevant to your subject area.
Databases are the best place to find academic journal articles as they offer advanced search tools, metric data, and export options for referencing. These databases also often provide access to information types such as conference papers, book chapters, review articles, trade magazines, and more. BrowZine can also be used to explore e-journal titles in your subject.
While most of our collection is now available digitally, some titles may only be accessible in print. You can find these journal titles using an ‘everything except articles’ search in Library Search.
You’ll also find links to essential reading for your programme in your module reading lists on Canvas.
Key Databases and E-journal Collections
Databases will either provide you with the full text of the journal or they will give you the bibliographic details of an article. Where full text is not available, look for the
link and follow this to see if we have the full text available via Library Search.
Subject databases
Subject databases are tailored to particular subject areas. They tend to use precise terminology relating to the subject area, making searches more accurate, and can include subject specific tools and features.
- British Education Index (EBSCO) This link opens in a new window
An index of education journals, theses and more, covering all aspects of educational policy and administration, evaluation and assessment, technology and special educational needs from 1975 onwards. This resource is searchable by educational level and age group.
- Child Development & Adolescent Studies (EBSCO) This link opens in a new window
An essential database for studies in early years, early childhood or education. Covering biomedical and social sciences, it indexes current and archival literature relating to the growth and development of children through the age of 21 and includes full-text journals, technical reports, e-books, theses, reports, dissertations and conference proceedings.
- Education Abstracts (EBSCO) This link opens in a new window
This bibliographic database covers key areas of education, sociology and social policy. Subjects covered include adult education, continuing education, library science, literacy standards, multicultural education, and teaching methods and evaluation.
- Education Database (via ProQuest) This link opens in a new window
Full-text scholarly journals and dissertations, supporting research on the theory and practice of education across all levels. Literature covers early childhood, primary, secondary and higher education as well as special education, home schooling, adult education and hundreds of related topics.
- ERIC (EBSCO) This link opens in a new window
An online database providing access to indexed and full-text education research, containing journal articles, research reports, curriculum and teaching guides, conference papers and books.
- Child Development & Adolescent Studies (EBSCO) This link opens in a new window
An essential database for studies in early years, early childhood or education. Covering biomedical and social sciences, it indexes current and archival literature relating to the growth and development of children through the age of 21 and includes full-text journals, technical reports, e-books, theses, reports, dissertations and conference proceedings.
- CINAHL (EBSCO) This link opens in a new window
Database indexing nursing and allied health literature including nursing journals and publications from the National League for Nursing and the American Nurses Association. Topics covered include nursing, biomedicine, health sciences librarianship, consumer health and other allied health disciplines.
- EMBASE This link opens in a new window
A major biomedical and pharmaceutical database indexing international journals in the following fields: drug research, pharmacology, pharmaceutics, toxicology, clinical and experimental human medicine, health policy and management, public health, occupational health, environmental health, drug dependence and abuse, psychiatry, forensic medicine, and biomedical engineering/instrumentation. There is selective coverage for nursing, dentistry, veterinary medicine, psychology, and alternative medicine.
- Medline (OVID) This link opens in a new window
A bibliographic database from the National Library of Medicine (NLM) providing an index of journal articles from 1946 in the life sciences with a concentration on biomedicine and health. This encompasses medical, dental and biomedical journals, and covers related topics such as clinical care, public health, health policy development, as well as aspects of biology, environmental science, marine biology, plant and animal science, biophysics and chemistry.
- PsycARTICLES This link opens in a new window
Database providing access to full-text, peer-reviewed articles in the area of social and behavioural sciences. Topics include: addiction, applied psychology, clinical psychology, cognition and memory, developmental psychology, experimental psychology, health psychology and more.
- PsycINFO This link opens in a new window
Database indexing professional and academic literature in psychology and related disciplines, including medicine, education, business, sociology, sports and linguistics.
All databases should have a help section with tips and tricks on how to get the best out of using them, so do make yourself familiar with them. You also may find the following helpful:
- EBSCO Host supportVideo Tutorials of help and support. Useful when learning how to use the Historical Abstracts database.
- OVID supportHelp and support on how to use OVID medline, PsychInfo and Embase databases.
- ProQuest supportVideo tutorials of help and support. Useful when learning how to use 'ERIC' via ProQuest
- Scopus supportHelp and support on how to access and use Scopus.
- Web of Science helpVideo tutorials and guides.
Multidisciplinary databases
Much like Library Search, multidisciplinary databases cover a wide range of topics and are a great place to scope your search, or to use if your topic covers more than one subject area.
- Scopus This link opens in a new windowAs a comprehensive, multidisciplinary resource, this database indexes peer-reviewed journal articles, books, book chapters, conference proceedings, and trade publications. It supports cited reference searching to explore the literature in depth, along with tools for citation tracking, author and affiliation searches, visual analysis of results, journal analysis, and author identification for those interested in publishing.
- Web of Science This link opens in a new window
A multidisciplinary database which indexes scholarly journal articles, books, book chapters and conference proceedings. It provides cited reference searching, so you can navigate through the literature to uncover all the information relevant to your research. Use citation reports to see citation activity and geographical trends and the ‘analyse results’ tool to identify trends and publication patterns.
- SAGE Research Methods
The ultimate methods library that provides material to guide users through every step of the research process with e-books, reference works, journal articles and instructional videos by world-leading academics from across social sciences. Featured research methods tools help you plan your research more effectively, including the Project Planner Tool and The Methods Map that can help identify the best technique to use in your research.
- SAGE Research Methods CasesA collection of case studies showing the challenges and successes of doing research, written by the researchers themselves. They explain why the researchers chose the methods they did, how they overcame problems in their research and what they might have done differently with hindsight. Cases are peer-reviewed and cover a range of disciplines including social sciences, science, arts, technology and medicine.
Support and services
Explore further tools, guides and support from the Library.
