LibrarySkills@UCL: Library skills essentials

Journals

• A journal, sometimes called a periodical or serial, is a specialist publication containing detailed research, analysis, new ideas or theoretical discussion on a specific topic.
• Journals are published in regular issues (weekly, fortnightly, monthly, quarterly, annually etc.), each of which usually has a number.
• Each issue contains articles by different authors.
• Journal articles do not take as long to produce as books, so generally contain more up-to-date information.
• Articles in academic journals are peer-reviewed (scrutinised by other academics before publication), ensuring their quality and reliability (although you may disagree with the views expressed).

E-journals

Electronic journals (e-journals) are usually electronic versions of printed journals, although they may contain additional articles or more up-to-date content. Occasionally e-journals exist where there is no printed version. E-journals have the advantage that you don't always have to go to the library to access them, and you can download or print articles, within copyright limits. For some journals, however, particularly older issues, you will still need to use the printed version. Many journals are available online, via UCL Library's subscriptions.

You can search for journal articles using various resources, including UCL Explore and bibliographic databases.

Find out more:

Most databases that index journal literature allow you to set up email alerts for new articles on a particular topic or in a particular journal. Many individual journals will also have an alerting facility on their website. Find out more on our guide to keeping up to date.

Preprints are draft or manuscript versions, of research works, often journal articles. Preprint repositories are useful for keeping up to date in your subject area because they provide access to preprint journal articles, working papers and datasets which may not yet have been formally published. Find out more on our guide to repositories: