About Journal Articles
Page Contents
- Best Bets: Top Databases for Journal Articles in Psychology
- More Databases with Psychology Content
- More about APA Psychology Databases
- PsycINFO Thesaurus
- Full Text with MGet It
- Finding Literature Reviews
- Top-Ranked Psychology Journals
About Journal Articles
Library databases (also known as "indexes") identify journal articles published on a particular topics. In addition to journal articles, many databases will also include records for book chapters, dissertations, and other reports.
Best Bets: Top Databases for Journal Articles in Psychology
- PsycInfo (APA) This link opens in a new windowPremier resource for surveying the literature of psychology and adjunct fields. Covers 1887-present. Produced by the APA.
- PubMed @ U-M (with MGet It links) This link opens in a new windowPubMed is the best database for the biomedical literature. Particularly useful for psychological research in the areas of cognitive neuroscience and biopsychology.
More Databases with Psychology Content
Topics in Psychology may overlap with complementary areas of inquiry.
It may be useful to search within a multidisciplinary database/index, or other subject specific indexes.
Multidisciplinary Databases
- Web of Science This link opens in a new windowCovering 12,000+ scholarly journals, plus selected books and published conference proceedings in all academic disciplines, the Web of Science Core Collection combines seven citation indexes which permit searching for articles that cite a known author or work, as well as searching by subject, author, journal, and author address.
- ProQuest This link opens in a new window
Combined access to all ProQuest databases, covering many different fields and full text articles.
- Google Scholar @ U-M (with U-M Ann Arbor MGet It Links) This link opens in a new windowSearches for scholarly documents on the web, with the added feature of "Availability at UMichigan" links.
- Scopus This link opens in a new windowInternational multi-disciplinary indexing & abstracting database for scientific, medical, technical, and social sciences.
- ScienceDirect (Elsevier Books & Journals Online) This link opens in a new windowIncludes the full-text of more than 250 journals and book series in Psychology and Neuroscience. Click "Advanced Search" to enter your keywords and limit by discipline.
- U-M Library Articles Search This link opens in a new windowUse Articles Search to locate scholarly and popular articles, as well as reference works and materials from open access archives.
Subject Specific Databases
Browse Databases in Library Search for a complete list of subject specific databases.
- CogNet This link opens in a new windowAn online collection of books, journals, reference works, etc. on the brain and cognitive sciences.
- Business Source Complete (EBSCO) This link opens in a new window2,000+ business-related periodicals (1,200+ peer-reviewed), including Harvard Business Review, plus reports, videos, etc.
- PEP - Psychoanalytic Electronic Publishing This link opens in a new windowPEP is a digital archive of many major works of psychoanalysis. It includes the complete works of Sigmund Freud, backfiles from twenty psychoanalytic journals (1920-2003), and other classic texts.
- ERIC [ProQuest] This link opens in a new windowU.S. Dept. of Education database providing extensive access to educational-related literature.
- Family & Society Studies Worldwide (EBSCO) This link opens in a new windowComprehensive resource of research, policy and practice literature in the fields of family science, human ecology and development, and social welfare.
- Gender Studies Database (EBSCO) This link opens in a new windowCovers the full spectrum of gender-engaged scholarship inside and outside academia. Several thousand links to freely available and indexed full-text articles and documents on the Web are available.
- Sociological Abstracts This link opens in a new windowProvides access to the international literature in sociology and related disciplines. Covers 1800+ journals, back to 1952.
- SocINDEX with Full Text This link opens in a new windowIndexes 1,800 sociology-related journals & magazines back to 1895, with full text for 620 of them, plus indexing for books, etc.
- Social Services Abstracts This link opens in a new windowAn index and abstract of current research focused on social work, human services, and related areas.
- Social Sciences Abstracts (with Full Text) This link opens in a new windowCovers 625 of the most important English-language journals across all the social sciences.
- CINAHL Complete (EBSCO) This link opens in a new windowPrimary journal index for nursing and allied health professions.
Tests & Measures
Consult the Finding Tests & Measurement Instruments research guide for complete information.
- PsycTests This link opens in a new windowDescriptive information about psychological tests, including full text of thousands of tests, from the American Psychological Association.
- Health and Psychosocial Instruments (HAPI) This link opens in a new windowIndexes journal articles that describe or utilize tests and measures used in health care, psychosocial sciences and organizational behavior.
More about APA Psychology Databases
We have multiple article databases produced by the American Psychological Association:
- PsycInfo (APA) This link opens in a new window
- The best place to start your research
- PsycINFO is an indexing and abstracting database of over 2,000 journals, meaning that it provides robust indexing details (e.g., subject classifications) and article abstracts
- Uses the PsycINFO Thesaurus
- Links are provided to the full text (and it is seamlessly imported when available via PsycARTICLES), but the full text is not searched
- Your search terms are those found in the article title, abstract, and details
- It contains abstracts for all articles in PsycARTICLES, plus many, many more
- PsycArticles (APA) This link opens in a new window
- PsycARTICLES is a full text database of over 100 journals published by the APA and affiliates
- Use it if you want to search within the full text of articles
Special Content APA Databases
- PsycTests This link opens in a new window
- Repository of full-text psychological measures, scales, surveys, and other instruments
- Includes citations to accompanying journal articles
- PsycCRITIQUES This link opens in a new window
- Full text database of review articles for books and films
Pro Tip: Search multiple APA databases simultaneously by clicking the "Choose Databases" link above the search box to select multiple databases.
PsycINFO Thesaurus
The PsycINFO Thesaurus, or the Thesaurus of Psychological Index Terms, is a list of controlled vocabulary terms. These terms function as authoritative subject classifications for psychological concepts.
The object is to simplify access – all related entries in the database can be located by using the right standardized term. Identifying the right subject terms used in the database can help to focus a search to find the articles that are the best fit for your research.
Learn more about the PsycINFO Thesaurus.
Pro Tip: Different databases use different thesarui. Be sure to adjust your subject terms depending on where you are searching.
Full text with MGet It
Use the MGet It links in PsycINFO and other databases to connect to the online full text of articles.
Already have a citation? Use the MGet It MGet It.
Search for journals by title using Library Online Journals Search, or in the Library Catalog Search.
If the library does not own the journal you need, submit a document delivery request for the article.
Finding Literature Reviews
The following are journals that specialize in publishing literature reviews in the psychology field:
Note that some article databases provide filters to limit your search results to literature review articles. In PsycINFO, look for the Methodology filter; in PubMed, look for the Article Type filter.
Also consult reference books and encyclopedias to find articles that review the literature on a topic.
Top-ranked Psychology Journals
Here are several psychology & neuroscience journals with the highest "impact factor," according to ISI's Journal Citation Reports.
For more information on journal rankings:
- Research Impact Metrics: Citation Analysis: Ranking JournalsConsult this guide for more information on sources of journal rankings