Journals are "academic magazines". They appear monthly or every few months, i.e. frequently, and contain articles on different subjects. They are particularly useful for finding very up-to-date information or information on very narrow topics.
Peer-reviewed or academic articles are articles written by experts in a specific field of study. Such an article usually contains a bibliography at the end of the article, and includes information on the author’s academic qualifications, and the name of the university he/she is affiliated to at the beginning of the article. A peer-reviewed journal article has been reviewed by people with credentials in the article's field of study before being accepted for publication.
Printed journals can be found on our – remember always to search for the title of the journal, (Current Writing, in the example below) not the title of the article. Click on the drop-down menu on the Catalogue search box and choose the Journal Title option:
HP van Coller & BJ Odendaal. 2007. Antjie Krog's role as translator: A case study of strategic positioning in the current South African literary poly‐system. Current Writing: Text and Reception in Southern Africa, 19 (2): 94-122.
The catalogue would give you the shelf number of the journal, 820 CURRENT in this example, and you would then look for the particular year and volume and issue in the row of volumes of that journal on the shelf.
The most recent print journals are kept on Level 6 of the main library. Bound volumes of journals dating back to 1980 are shelved on level 6 of the main Library.
Pre-1980 volumes are stored in the Less-Used Collection in the main library basement. These need to be requested from the Inter-Library Loans office on Level 5 of the main library.
If you have trouble finding a journal, please ask for help at the information desk.
Journals are also increasingly available electronically.
Go to the library homepage where you’ll find E-Journals On Campus and E-Journals Off Campus search boxes. Choose the Off Campus link if you are off campus, or using WiFi.
Type in the title of the journal, not the article title, and click the search icon.
This will bring up a screen which tells you which of our electronic databases have that journal, and what years of it they hold. If you click on the link to that database, you will be able to browse through that journal’s issues, by date, until you get the article you want, or simply search by keywords within that journal for the article title.
You can then just download it, print it out or e-mail it to yourself.
If you have trouble finding a journal, please ask for help at the information desk.
Journal Abbreviation Lists
A journal title may be abbreviated, and its abbreviated name may become quite well known. Example: Lit: Literature Interpretation Theory.
American Physical Society: journal title abbreviations http://jim.or.jp/PUBS/omission_e.html
Biological journals and abbreviations http://home.ncifcrf.gov/research/bja/
CAS Source Index (CASSI) http://cassi.cas.org/search.jsp
Genamics JournalSeek http://journalseek.net/
ISSN List of Title Word Abbreviations (LTWA) http://www.issn.org/2-22661-LTWA-online.php
ISI Journal Abbreviations Index http://www.efm.leeds.ac.uk/~mark/ISIabbr/
Journal Abbreviation Database http://www.journalabbr.com/
Journal Title Abbreviations List (Web of Science) https://images.webofknowledge.com/images/help/WOS/A_abrvjt.html
Journal Titles and Abbreviations (Elsevier) https://www.elsevier.com/__data/promis_misc/BMCL_Abbreviations.pdf
PubMed (NCBI): journal lists http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/projects/linkout/journals/jourlists.fcgi?type=providers&typeid=1&format=html&show=ALL&operation=Show
Science and Engineering Journal Abbreviations http://woodward.library.ubc.ca/research-help/journal-abbreviations/
Univ of British Columbia Library: journal titles & abbreviations http://www.library.ubc.ca/scieng/coden.html
Departmental staff may suggest core journals for your discipline - ones you should be taking note of.
Please ask your lecturers for such a list of core journals if not supplied here yet.