A journal is a collection of articles that deal with a particular subject or dedicated field. Journals are published at regular intervals and reflect recent research.
The Library provides access to many thousands of journals, of which around 300 are available in print only. The remainder are available online through the library website.
Most of the journals you will be interested in are available online. As long as you go via the library website all journals will be available to you both on and off campus. Please note that you will not get full text access if you go via another route eg straight to the journal website or Google.
Finding a journal title is different to finding a journal article.
Each journal title has a number of individual journal articles in each issue.
Search + Find
Where a journal is available in print format, you will see the location details of the journal.
Print journals are arranged on the shelves in Dewey order. The most recent issue of a journal is displayed on the front of the current journals shelf. Back issues (generally those over 1 year old) are mostly bound and shelved in Dewey order. 001-499 and 700-999 are shelved on the ground floor & 500-699 are shelved on the first floor.
Print journals cannot be borrowed but articles can be photocopied, subject to copyright restrictions.
To find a journal title online browse eJournal Finder.
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.
Architectural digest
Computer aided design
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.
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.