LibGuides: Biomedical sciences: Journal articles

What are journal articles and how do I find them?

Journal articles are usually short papers on specific topics. They are published in issues or parts of journals (also called periodicals) which appear regularly. Use articles to find:

up-to-date research in your subject
reviews of developments in your subject - these review articles include extensive lists of references

Types of articles

Primary - these are first hand accounts of research that has been undertaken written by the researchers themselves.
Secondary - describe, summarise, or discuss information or details originally presented in another source. These include review articles which summarise the current state of the knowledge on a topic (many databases allow you to restrict search results to this type of article). A more specialised secondary source are systematic reviews which use the existing literature to try to answer a specific question, often including a meta-analysis of the all the studies included in the relevant articles.

Finding journal articles

Search the Summon discovery service using the box below to find full-text journal articles available via the Library. Search using topic topic words or for a specific article title.

Search Summon:

Search databases covering your subject

Alternatively try the subject-related databases listed below. They will give you references to journal articles - they may also give you the full-text of the article, or at least link you to the full-text if it is available online.

Key databases for finding journal articles

MEDLINE on PubMed This link opens in a new window
References to journal articles in the biomedical sciences. Covers 1950 to the present day. Includes 'In press' articles.
We also have access to PubMed on Web of Science from 1950 to the present day.

It gives references to journal articles in the biomedical sciences including: biotechnology and bioengineering; clinical medicine; drugs and toxicology; forensic medicine; health affairs; non-clinical aspects of health care; psychiatry. Covers 1950 to the present day.

Help and guidance
Help using PubMed
To save searches and set up alerts, you will need to use a third-party sign-in option, such as Facebook or Google. It is not possible to use your University login credentials for this purpose.
ScienceDirect [full-text] This link opens in a new window
Access to articles in journals published by Elsevier from 1995 to the present, plus access to older articles in some subject areas. Also gives access to Elsevier e-books we have purchased.
Covering sciences, economic and social science, and some arts and humanities titles.

We also have access to older articles from 1896 onwards in the following subjects:

-agricultural and biological sciences
-economics, econometrics and finance
-environmental science
-social sciences

Help and guidance
ScienceDirect help
Scopus This link opens in a new window
Gives references to journal articles, books, conference proceedings and patents in all subjects. Also offers extensive tools to analyse results, and measure impact for articles, journals and authors.
Scopus gives references to peer-reviewed literature in all subject areas. It includes journal articles (including 'in press' items), books, conference proceedings and patents.

It is possible to search for topics, authors (including by ORCID ID), author affiliation and funders.

Extensive analytical tools also allow you to:

-analyse your search results by year, source, author, affiliation, country or territory, document type and subject area
-compare journal impact to help you decide where to publish
-see the citation impact and scholarly community engagement for an article
-analyse the citation trend for any given article, set of results or for a list of author documents
-view an author profile to analyse and track an individual's citation history

Help and guidance
Scopus Quick Reference Guide (PDF)
Tutorial of creating alerts
Scopus learn & support site
Web of Science This link opens in a new window
Use to search across a number of databases covering a range of subject areas. Provides references to journal articles, books, conference papers, patents, research data and other materials.
Web of Science gives access to a range of databases which can be searched individually or simultaneously:

-BIOSIS Previews - biological sciences
-Current Contents Connect
-Data Citation Index - research data from international repositories
-Derwent Innovations Index - patents in engineering
-FSTA (Food Science and Technology Abstracts)
-Medline - biomedical sciences
-Web of Science Core Collection - made up of the Arts and Humanities, Science, and Social Sciences Citation Indexes, plus a number of other databases

The cross-search also includes open access journals and open archive repositories.

Also available via Web of Science:

-JCR (Journal Citation Reports)

Help and guidance
Web of Science Training Portal

Biomedical science journals

Getting articles not held at Reading

Our Inter-Library Loans service can get articles not held at Reading from other libraries (usually from the British Library).

For more information see our webpages:

Inter-library loans service
Use this service to get publications not held at the University of Reading.

Citation example in the Harvard style

Biological Sciences recommend using the Harvard style for citations and referencing. See the Citing References tab in this guide for more help and information.

Example of a journal article citation

Brown, S.K., Sheikh, A.M. & Guzik, T.J. (2020) Cardiovascular Research at the frontier of biomedical science. Cardiovascular Research, 116(7), e83-e86.