If you want to do a thorough search of the literature on a topic, the best way to do this is to use a database.
A database indexes journals and other sources of information, meaning you may search across all these indexed sources at once.
Databases are not always easy to use. You will receive training in searching databases from your subject librarian. Please get in touch with your subject librarian if you'd like any help.
There are lots of different databases, with different topic coverage. Here are some databases that are particularly useful for psychology students and researchers.
International literature on biomedicine, including the allied health fields and the biological and physical sciences, humanities, and information science as they relate to medicine and health care.
Provides access to full-text articles taken from journals published by the American Psychological Association, plus selected titles from the Educational Publishing Foundation, the Canadian Psychological Association and Hogrefe & Huber.
International database covering summaries of journal articles, book chapters, technical reports and citations to dissertations in the field of Psychology and psychological aspects of related disciplines.
Scopus includes references to journal articles, conference proceedings and books relating to science, technology, medicine, social sciences and arts & humanities.
Search the world’s leading scholarly journals, books, and proceedings in the sciences, social sciences, and arts and humanities.
Includes: Science Citation Index; Social sciences Citation Index; Arts and Humanities Citation Index; Arts and Humanities Citation Index; Conference Proceedings Citation Index - Science; Conference Proceedings Citation Index - Social Science & Humanities.
African journal literature originating from a wide base of publishers and societies on the African continent.
Please note: full text downloads of patents is temporarily suspended from April 2023.This is due to Cybersecurity Administration of China (CAC) imposing new oversight requirements on specific content types appearing in the China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI)
China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), is a database of Chinese knowledge-based information resources. This platform covers journals, theses, proceedings, newspapers, books and ancient books.
Please note: before accessing full text pdfs, you should ensure that you have the Simplified Chinese Font Pack for Adobe Acrobat Reader.
Eldis provides free access to relevant, up-to-date and diverse research on international development issues. Eldis is hosted by the Institute of Development Studies.
Global health data on a wide range of themes from the World Health Organisation.
The Global Index Medicus (GIM) provides access to biomedical and public health literature produced by and within low-middle income countries. It is produced by the World Health Organisation (WHO). Regional Index Medici are available: African Index Medicus (AIM), Index Medicus for the Eastern Mediterranean Region (IMEMR), Index Medicus for the South-East Asia Region (IMSEAR), Latin America and the Caribbean Literature on Health Sciences (LILACS), Western Pacific Region Index Medicus (WPRO).
The International Bibliography of the Social Sciences (IBSS) is an essential online resource for social science and interdisciplinary research. IBSS includes journal articles and to books, reviews and selected chapters dating back to 1951. It is unique in its broad coverage of international material and incorporates over 100 languages and countries.
J-STAGE is a platform for scholarly publications in Japan. It is developed and managed by the Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST).
A collection of platforms for journals from a range of locations including African Journals Online, Bangladesh Journals Online, Cetnral America Journals Online, Mongolia Journals Online, Nepal Journals Online Philippines Journals Online, Sri Lanka Journals Online and Vietnam Journals Online.
Regional content from scholarly journals in South Korea.
Science, social science, and arts and humanities research in published in open access journals from Latin America, Spain, Portugal, the Caribbean and South Africa.
Here is a full list of databases available through the University of Bristol library that might be useful for Psychologists.
Some of the databases listed under other subjects such as Education and Medicine may also be useful.
There are guides to databases such as Web of Science, Scopus and PsycINFO as well as the biomedical sciences databases such as Medline.
Your Subject Librarian will provide training on searching databases and other resources, in consultation with your department or school.
You can also contact me or the Medical Library team for 1:1 support on using databases.
These interactive tutorials take you through the process of using Medline, PubMed and Embase to conduct thorough literature searches. UoB login required.
Browzine is a website/app that allows you to browse, read and keep up-to-date with the key journals in your subject field on your PC, smartphone or Tablet.
