Journals are excellent sources of scholarly information. They provide in-depth, up-to-date coverage of a subject. They are characteristically very structured and written by experts in a particular field.
Importantly, journal articles that are published in scholarly academic journals are "peer-reviewed" which means they have been critically reviewed and evaluated by experts in the field before being approved for publication, so you can be confident that you are getting excellent quality information.
The Library provides access to thousands of journals, with a very select few available in print only. The majority of our journal titles are available online through the library website using.
Finding a journal title is different to finding a journal article -- each journal title has a number of individual journal articles in each issue.
This guide describes what journals are and where to find them in print or online.
When you are searching library resources you will encounter different types of journals, there are three main categories.
The main purpose of scholarly journals is to report on original research, theories & critiques in order to make information widely available to the scholarly community. Articles are written by & for scholars, researchers & professionals.
A large proportion of the scholarly journals in Engineering are published by the professional associations (IEEE, ASCE, ACM etc.). and major publishers (Elsevier, Wiley, Springer etc.) Peer-reviewed journals can be identified by their editorial statements or instructions to authors (usually in first few pages of the journal or at the end) or on the home page of the journal.
Not every article in an Academic Journal will be scholarly. Academic journals contain book reviews and editorials; these do not go through the peer review process that the articles do.
The main purpose is to provide information for an educated, but non-specialist audience, of interested readers. No background knowledge or expertise is assumed. Articles usually provide a broad coverage of topics of current interest. Articles are written by journalists, freelance writers or staff of the magazine who may not have any expert knowledge in that subject are . Articles are not peer-reviewed, they are often glossy with lots of pictures. Advertising is prominently featured.
A trade magazine or trade journal is a publication that targets a particular industry, trade, or business. The purpose is to inform those within a particular industry or profession of the latest news, trends, techniques or product information within an industry. Articles are generally written by someone working in the trade or profession and are not intended for a scholarly audience. Published for a specific group of professionals in a particular profession or industry.
You need to be aware of the following terms and definitions with regard to journal content:
Article - The main type of journal content
E-Journal - Published online or available through a database
Full Text - The entire text of the article is available to you online
Citation – Access to the author, title, publication details information
Abstract - A summary of the article
Bibliographic database - Where information about print and electronic journals are generally found
Peer-Reviewed - When an article is Peer-Reviewed, the editors of the journal send it to scholars in the relevant field; e.g., an article about Engineering would go to other engineers. These scholars provide feedback about the quality of research and presentation of findings, and more. This ensures that the articles that are published in academic journals have scholastic merit and contribute to the overall research in that field.
Refereed - A Refereed Article is also referred to other scholars in the field. However, here, the reviews are blind. The academics conducting the review do not know the name of the author. In addition, it is often the case that the reviewers' names are not made known to the author. This ensures that the work is judged solely on its own merit rather than the author's reputation. The manuscript must be reviewed by at least two other people.
• Try searching Google Scholar by using the significant words or a phrase from the title of the article combined with the last name of the author.
• You may also try searching for the title of the journal using quotations. This will often lead to the publisher's Web site. Browse the site to see if the article you need is freely available. Some publishers allow access to older articles without subscription.
• If the Library doesn't provide access to the journal, you can request a copy through the Inter library loan service.
• You can go to another library that has a printed version of your article and photocopy it yourself, local libraries include NUIG or the County libraries.
Search across many disciplines and sources: articles, theses, books, abstracts and court opinions, from academic publishers, professional societies, online repositories, universities and other web sites.