Peer-reviewed journal articles are the gold standard of academic research. In big databases like Business Source Ultimate and ProQuest Business Collection, select the "Scholarly/Peer-reviewed" option in your search results to identify peer-reviewed articles.
To find a specific journal title, go to the Journals A-Z list to search for specific journal titles and browse through their archives.
We have many databases for other academic subjects, too - if you are doing interdisciplinary research, try using our other Subject Guides to identify further resources.
- Business Source Ultimate
Journal articles, case studies, company profiles, industry reports, SWOT analyses. Covers business and economics, with full text access to the Harvard Business Review.
- ProQuest One Business
Peer-reviewed journal articles, dissertations, conference proceedings, working papers, trade publications, industry reports, and key periodicals including the Wall Street Journal.
- ScienceDirect
Full-text database containing journal articles and book chapters from thousands of journals and ebooks. The majority of content is published by Elsevier.
- Emerald Insight
Abstracts and full text access to books and journals published by Emerald. Content covers accounting, management, education, engineering and information science.
- JSTOR
Digital archive of academic journals, books and primary sources.
- EconLit with Full Text
Covers all fields of economics, including: capital markets, country studies, econometrics, economic forecasting, environmental economics, and labour economic.
- WARC
Peer-reviewed journals, case studies, WARC briefings, best practice guides on marketing strategy and implementation, research papers, media and advertising data, and market context analysis.
- APA PsycArticles
Database of full-text articles in psychology from journals published by the American Psychological Association (APA).
- IngentaConnect
Large collection of academic and professional research articles, covering a wide range of subjects and publishers.
- Directory of Open Access Journals
Open access collection of full text scientific and scholarly journals. It aims to cover all subjects and languages.
Citation Searching
Use these databases to identify journal articles, find out how many times they have been cited, and discover journal impact factors.
- Web of Science
Multidisciplinary resource which enables simultaneous cross-searching of a range of citation indexes and databases. It provides access to research tools like cited reference searching and the Journal Citation Reports.
- SCOPUS
The largest abstract and citation database of international peer-reviewed literature: journals, books and conference proceedings. It also has smart tools to track, analyse and visualise research.
Identifying Highly-Rated Journals
The CABS Academic Journal Guide is the Chartered Association of Business Schools' guide to prestigious journal titles in business and management topics. Use the 'Login or register here' button under the page title to view and download a copy. It's an excellent way to work out what the most highly rated academic journals are for inclusion in your project.
You can then find the direct link to these journals in our subscriptions using our Journals A-Z List - search for the journal title, not for individual articles.
- Academic Journal Guide 2024 - Chartered Association of Business SchoolsThe CABS' guide to prestigious journals in business and management topics.
- NBER Working Papers
Aim to make results of NBER research available to other economists in preliminary form to encourage discussion and suggestions for revision before publication in scholarly journals.
- SSRNThe Social Science Research Network consists of an Abstract Database containing abstracts on over 148,100 scholarly working papers and forthcoming papers and a full-text Collection currently containing over 117,200 downloadable full text documents. Networks covered in our subscription are Accounting Research, Economics Research, Financial Economics and Legal Scholarship. Registration is required.
- IMF ResearchWorking papers, reports and data from the International Monetary Fund.
- Bank of England ResearchWorking papers, data and other research from the Bank of England.
- ECB Working PapersWorking papers from the European Central Bank.
Often called "grey literature", these publications can be hard to find. Try searching on the websites of governments, charities, research institutes and similar websites to find relevant papers. Universities around the world often make theses available online.
- Open GreyProvides open access to 700.000 bibliographical references of grey literature (paper) produced in Europe.
- British Library EThOS
Searching and access to PhD doctoral theses from awarding UK Higher Education institutions. Some are available for immediate download, others are available on request.
- UK Government Publications SearchCovers various types of UK central government publications, including command papers, act papers and policies and guidance.
- If you are looking for a specific article, (e.g. one recommended by your lecturer), the best resource to use is Library Search.
- Enter the title of the article and select Articles from the drop down menu.
- If the article is available from the library, the title will be displayed and you can access it by selecting the Full Text Online link below it.
Sometimes we have access to a journal article, but it will not show up in your search results from City Library Search. If your article does not appear in your search results:
- Go to the Journals A-Z list and search for the journal title. It should retrieve a title that matches the journal title you're looking for.
- Click on the link with the date range that corresponds to the date on your reference.
- Login with your City username and password or City email address.
- Select the year, volume and issue listed in your reference. If no volume or issue information is provided, page numbers can help you identify the issue.
- Find the article title on the journal list and look for full text.
Make a list of the terms you try out as you search.
- Stops the frustration of searching the same phrase repeatedly!
- You can use the list to search the next database more quickly
- Writing a list allows you to make new connections between concepts
- Helps identify synonyms, alternative words/phrases
Use options on your search results page to narrow down your search. Try selecting 'peer-reviewed/scholarly' to see only peer-reviewed articles and narrowing by the date of publication.
Try these advanced search tips, too:
- Phrase searching: put a phrase in inverted commas to find articles where that exact phrase appears, not just the words in any order. For instance, "climate change" or "financial services".
- Add ‘wildcards’ to search across different formations or spellings of the same root word. Using a * searches alternative endings (‘manag*’ will retrieve management, managers, managing, etc.)
- Truncation: using a ? Searches alternative spellings (‘organi?ation’ retrieves both ‘organization’ and ‘organisation’.
