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.
- Medline (OVID) This link opens in a new windowThe key database for medicine and related disciplines The database indexes articles in medical, dental and biomedical journals. Its coverage includes approximately 5600 international journals. Medline indexes articles published since 1946 and is updated monthly.
- EMBASE This link opens in a new windowIs a major biomedical and pharmaceutical database indexing over 3,500 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. Approximately 375,000 records are added yearly.
- PsycINFO This link opens in a new windowCovers the professional and academic literature in psychology and related disciplines, including medicine, sociology and linguistics.
- CINAHL (EBSCO) This link opens in a new windowOffering complete coverage of English-language nursing journals and publications from the National League for Nursing and the American Nurses' Association, this database covers nursing, biomedicine, health sciences librarianship, consumer health and 17 allied health disciplines.
- Cochrane Library This link opens in a new windowThe Cochrane Library is a collection of six databases that contain different types of high-quality, independent evidence to inform healthcare decision-making, and a seventh database that provides information about groups in The Cochrane Collaboration. The databases are: Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews; Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effects; Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials; Cochrane Methodology Register; Health Technology Assessment Database; NHS Economic Evaluation Database
- Springer ProtocolsPeer-reviewed life science and biomedical research protocols compiled from Methods in Molecular Biology, Methods in Molecular Medicine, Methods in Biotechnology, Methods in Pharmacology and Toxicology, Neuromethods, the Biomethods Handbook, the Proteomics Handbook, and Springer Laboratory Manuals.
- Wiley Digital Archives: Royal College of Physicians (Part 1)Relevant, rare and unique historical materials reflecting the history and development of modern Western medicine, and documenting the interactions of the medical community between religious sects, monarchies, political systems and the general public.
- Nineteenth Century Collections Online: Science, Technology and Medicine (Part 1)This collection traces the emergence and dissemination of scientific ideas during the "long" nineteenth century that preceded 1800 and extended to 1925. Covering science, social sciences, medicine and technology, journals and monographs allow you to track key debates and explore major episodes in the history of science.
Other useful Databases if the subject is related to Education
- British Education Index (EBSCO) This link opens in a new windowBritish education Index (BEI) indexes education journals from 1975 onwards.
- Education Database (via ProQuest) This link opens in a new windowSupports the study and application of education across all levels of education, including early childhood education, primary and secondary education, and higher education. The database supports global study and research, including thousands of full-text journals, dissertations and other relevant sources.
- ERIC (EBSCO) This link opens in a new windowThe world's most widely used index to educational-related literature, established in 1966. Over one million records of journal articles, research reports, curriculum and teaching guides, conference papers, and books.
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 windowScopus is a large, multidisciplinary database, which indexes peer reviewed journal articles, books, book chapters, conference proceedings and trade publications. It provides cited reference searching, so you can navigate forward and backward through the literature to uncover all the information relevant to your research and set up citation alerts. Other useful tools include citation overviews, author and affiliation searching, visual analysis of search results and a journal analyser and author identifier tools (if you are interested in publishing work).
- Web of Science This link opens in a new windowWeb of Science is a multidisciplinary database, which indexes scholarly journal articles, books, book chapters and conference proceedings. It provides cited reference searching, so you can navigate forward and backward 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.
- Proquest Natural Science This link opens in a new windowThe Natural Science Collection includes key agriculture, aquatic science, biology, dentistry and nutrition databases, with many full text journals.
- ProQuest Social Sciences Premium Collection This link opens in a new windowThis collection provides access to databases covering the international literature in the social sciences, including politics, sociology, social services, anthropology, criminology and education. Together, they provide abstracts, indexing and full text coverage of journal articles, books, book chapters, dissertations, working papers and more. You can search across the whole collection or choose a specific database to retrieve information. Use the thesauri within the databases to identify alternative keywords.
- 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.
Databases Help
Click on the links to watch a Video on searching the Database or consult the Workbooks below:
Support and services
Explore further tools, guides and support from the Library.
