LibGuides: Astronomy: Journal Articles

Journal Article Databases

Search these databases to find journal articles.

Astrophysics Data System
Contains journal articles from astronomy and physics disciplines. Maintained by the High Energy Astrophysics Division of the Harvard-Smithsonian Centre for Astrophysics under a NASA grant. For help visit the ADS Help Pages.
arXiv E-Prints
Contains 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.
Web of Science
Contains a broad selection of journal articles from the sciences, social sciences, and humanities going back over 100 yeras. Useful for citation chaining as lists of citing and cited articles are highly interconnected. Maintained by Clarivate Analytics. Coverage information is available at the Clarivate website. Visit the Web of Science Training Website for help.
Scopus
Contains journal articles from the sciences, social sciences, and humanities. Useful for citation chaining as lists of citing and cited articles are highly interconnected. Maintained by Elsevier. Coverage information is available at the Elsevier website. Visit the Scopus Training Website for help.
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 three ways to get the full text of a journal article:

Use the Get It @ York button to see if the library has a copy (electronically or in print).
Search for the article in Google Scholar to see if there is a free copy online.
Use RACER (interlibrary loan) to get an electronic copy of the article emailed to you from another university library.

Reading Journal Articles

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

Astronomy: Journal Articles

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Journal Article Databases

Types of Scientific Journal Articles

Getting the Full Text

Reading Journal Articles