Library: Undergraduate Research: Scholarly Journal Articles

About Scholarly Journals

Scholarly journals often list abbreviations in their citations: Phys. Rev. Lett., Nucl. Phys., Phys. Rev.

For journal titles abbreviated in lists of works cited, visit Journal Abbreviation Resources on the Web.

Many databases offer both full-text (yay!) and citations (grr!). Options when the full-text is not available:

In the database, click journal linker or "search journal title" to check for it in other library databases.
Use the Periodicals Locator to do a manual search for the journal title.
In the database, limit the search to "full-text" and find another article.
Search other libraries for the periodical
- WorldCat searches across all libraries
- UW Libraries
Get the article from another library
- Visit a library in person
  - Ask a librarian about InterLibrary Loan service

An important movement in scientific information that broadens access and reduces prices for libraries and individuals.

This is an short and clear tutorial to help students read scholarly articles.

Academic Search Complete This link opens in a new window
Mostly full-text. Peer-reviewed/scholarly journals, reports, magazines, and newspapers. Covers a wide range of subjects.

BioMed Central
Publishes 206 peer-reviewed open access journals in medicine, biology, and public health.

DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals This link opens in a new window
Full-text. Comprehensive database of open access peer reviewed/scholarly journals.

Highwire
This multi-disciplinary database of full-text peer reviewed articles offers over 6 million articles, including 2 million free full-text.

JSTOR This link opens in a new window
Full-text. Peer reviewed/scholarly articles on a range of subjects in the humanities and social sciences. A good starting place for History, Philosophy, English, and more.

PLOS: Public Library of Science
Supports scientific scholarly communication by publishing peer reviewed open-access research articles as well as scholarly blog posts in the sciences.

ProQuest Research Library This link opens in a new window
Some full-text. Multidisciplinary subject coverage from 4,000 peer reviewed/scholarly journals, trade publications, and magazines.
Medline with Full-Text This link opens in a new window
Some full-text. Peer reviewed/scholarly articles from many of the most-used journals on biomedical and health. Coverage dates back to 1949.
PubMed This link opens in a new window
Some full-text. Millions of peer reviewed/scholarly articles on biomedical and life sciences topics. Provided by the U.S. National Institutes of Health.
ScienceDirect This link opens in a new window
Mostly full-text. Book chapters and peer reviewed/scholarly articles. A good starting place for health, science and technology research. Includes College Edition: Health and Life Sciences Journal Collection.

World Wide Science
A global science gateway—accelerating scientific discovery and progress through a multilateral partnership to enable federated searching of national and international scientific databases and portals.
View All Research Databases