A journal is a magazine that focuses on a particular discipline or subject matter. Journals are sometimes referred to as magazines, periodicals, or serials. Journals:

• concern a particular discipline or subject area
• are published regularly (weekly, monthly, quarterly)
• contain articles, book reviews and editorial content.

There are many types of journals, including:

• peer-reviewed
• scholarly and academic journals
• trade journals
• professional journal
• current affairs journals.

You may use articles from a range of different journal types in the course of your studies.

You can use Ulrich's periodical directory to find out more about a particular journal title (including whether it is peer-reviewed).

There are many advantages to using journal articles for your research. Information found in journals is:

• authoritative and often peer-reviewed
• current
• digestible (with an easily understandable structure: Abstract, introduction, methodology, discussion and conclusion)
• provides information on a specific topic
• answers a specific question (presents findings).

At the same time, journal articles are not suitable for all occasions. Journals articles generally do not provide:

• an introduction to a subject area (see encyclopaedias)
• a broad overview of a particular topic.

You may be asked to only use articles from a peer-reviewed or refereed journal. This is because peer-reviewed articles go through an extensive editorial process before publication, and are therefore of a very high quality.

A publication is considered to be peer reviewed if its articles go through an official editorial process that involves review and approval by the author's peers (people who are experts in the same subject area). Most (but not all) scholarly publications are peer reviewed.

(Proquest database information, 2007)

A scholarly journal article is written by someone with academic qualifications or expert knowledge, is evidence-based (and include references), and aimed at a scholarly audience. Not all scholarly journals are peer-reviewed.

Scientific journals contain articles that report on new research. The articles tend to be highly technical as they represent the latest theoretical research and experimental results.They should supply enough information so that an independent researcher could repeat the experiment or calculation to verify the results. Scientific journal articles are peer-reviewed to ensure that they meet the journal's standards of quality and scientific validity.

How can I tell if a journal is peer-reviewed?

You can check the journal title on Ulrich's periodical directory (look for the refereed icon ). Otherwise, visit the journal website, which may include peer-review information.

Some databases will let you restrict your search to peer-reviewed articles, while other databases will lack this feature. To find out more about a particular database, read the database help page.

Read more about the peer review process on Wikipedia.

How you go about finding a journal article will depend on what subject discipline you are studying, as well as what information you have at hand.

If you have the journal article citation, the easiest way to find out if the library has the article is to search the catalogue for the journal title. In the example citation below, the journal title is italicised.

If you search the library catalogue for the journal title you will be able to find out:

• whether the library holds the journal
• whether it is published online or in print
• which database holds the journal
• which volumes/years are held.

If you only have partial information on the journal article, search Google Scholar for the full citation. Once you have the journal citation you can go back to the catalogue and look up the journal title.

If you still can't locate your journal article, place a document delivery request with the Library and we will find it for you.

Firstly, you will need to decide which database or information resource to use, and this will depend on your particular area of study. The Library publishes subject guides which can help you find relevant databases in your subject area. You could also try:

• Summon
• Google Scholar (enter Google Scholar via the Library catalogue for greater access to full-text material).

Once you have identified which databases you would like to use, you will need to find some relevant keywords and think about how you will construct your search.

Visit How to create a search strategy for more information on this process.