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Health Science: Journals/Databases

This guide provides information and links about resources relevant to Public Health in the ECU Library and other useful external resources

What is an Academic Journal?

Academic Journals publish original research and commentary on recent developments in specific disciplines. Issues are published regularly, in a similar way to magazines.

You may need to consider several options for finding journal articles. The best options will depend on the topic:

1. Search ECU Worldsearch and limit to journal article, peer reviewed.

2. Keyword search within a particular journal. e.g. Australian and New Zealand journal of public health

3. Search the subject databases. e.g. MEDLINE

Peer Reviewed or Refereed

Peer reviewed or refereed refer to the process of peer review applied to journal articles as part of the evaluation and selection process prior to publishing, whereby other scholars (peers) in the author's field or specialty critically assess a draft of the article, to ensure that it meets the required standards.

To check whether a journal is peer reviewed you can choose one of the following options:

1. Use the limit option "peer reviewed" in ECU Worldsearch.

2. Check the journal website. This information is normally included in "about the journal".

3. Check the journal title in Ulrichsweb: global serials directory database.

Database Searching Tips

1. Find Synonyms (alternative keywords):

  • pediatrics OR children
  • teenagers OR adolescents

2. Use Truncation (putting * at the end of a word stem):

  • child* (child, children, childhood, children's)
  • adolesc* (adolescent, adolescence, adolescents) 

4. AND (joins concepts and narrows the search)

  • obesity AND children
  • stress AND (occupation OR job)

5. "...." (inverted commas) use for a phrase

  • "mental health"
  • "health promotion"