LibGuides: Physics: Journal Articles

Journal Article Databases

Search these databases to find journal articles.

INSPEC via Engineering Village
Journal articles from computer science, physics, and engineering disciplines. Maintained by the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) and provided through an Engineering Village interface. Can be searched simultaneously with Compendex. Coverage information is available at the IET website. Visit the Engineering Village Support Page for help.
Compendex
Journal articles from engineering and applied physics disciplines. Maintained by Elsevier and provided through an Engineering Village interface. Can be searched simultaneously with INSPEC. Visit the Engineering Village Support Page for help.
arXiv E-Prints
Collection of pre-print and post-print versions of journal articles from physics, mathematics, computer science, and other disciplines. Maintained by Cornell University Library and a group of member institutions. For help visit the arXiv help page.
INSPIRE-HEP Database
Search interface for journal articles from high-energy physics. Maintained by CERN, DESY, Fermilab, SLAC, and IHEP. It is the latest incarnation of SPIRES-HEP, a high-energy physics database originally created at SLAC in 1969. To access the full text of articles, click the DOI link. (If you are off-campus, you will need to search for the article from the library’s website.) For help visit the INSPIRE-HEP help page.
Astrophysics Data System
Search and browse over 12 million records covering publications in Astronomy and Astrophysics, Physics, and the arXiv e-prints. Abstracts and full-text of major astronomy and physics publications are indexed and searchable. Operated by the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO) under a NASA grant. For help visit the ADS Help Pages.
CERN Document Server
Bibliographic records and full-text preprints, articles, books, journals, reports, and multimedia (photographs, videos, audio, posters, etc) on particle physics and related areas.
Web of Science
Database indexes a broad selection of journal articles from the sciences, social sciences, and humanities going back over 100 years. Many search tools & filters are available for targeting searches or narrowing results. Useful for citation chaining as lists of citing and cited articles are highly interconnected. Visit the Web of Science Training Website for help.
Scopus
Search for journal articles from the sciences, social sciences, and humanities. Also offers searches by unique author or affiliation. Useful for citation chaining as lists of citing and cited articles are highly interconnected. Visit the Scopus Training Website for help.
SPIE Digital Library
SPIE Digital Library includes over 400,000 technical papers on optics and photonics from SPIE Journals and Conference Proceedings from 1962 to the present. More than 18,000 new technical papers are added annually.
Google Scholar
More a search engine than a database, Google Scholar searches the scholarly literature broadly. Use Google Scholar to quickly find known journal articles, view citing articles (useful for citation chaining), and locate free full text copies of journal articles. Make sure that your Google Scholar is connected to York University Libraries by clicking on Settings > Library Links and searching for York University. Visit the Google Scholar Search Tips site for help.

Types of Scientific Journal Articles

Primary research article: a report on an original experiment performed by a researcher or researchers. It usually has sections similar to those found in a lab report, such as methods, results, and discussion.

Review article: a report on all of the research that’s been done on a particular problem or topic. Review articles are a great place to start your search.

Getting the Full Text

Here are four ways to get the full text of a journal article:

Search for the article in Omni and click on the full text link in the record.
Search for the article in a journal database and click on the "Check Omni for Full Text" link.
Search for the article in Google Scholar to see if there is a free copy online or use this Google Scholar link to check library subscriptions.
Use RACER (interlibrary loan) to request an electronic copy of the article be e-mailed to you.

Reading Journal Articles

Check out this video from Western Libraries on how to read a journal article.

Physics: Journal Articles

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Journal Article Databases

Types of Scientific Journal Articles

Getting the Full Text

Reading Journal Articles