Searching the Journal Literature
Last update: 26 March 2013,
by Maureen Bell
To find lists of journal articles on your subject you will need to use one of the many databases to which the library subscribes. For a list of databases of potential relevance for mental health, see my databases page.
This page explains the basic principles of searching the journal literature using the Scopus database as an example. It's a huge database, and is very easy to use, which makes it a good starting point for developing searching skills. Its coverage includes all of the Medline data (from 1996), as well as the data from Embase, the large European medical database (from 1996).
Help for searching PubMed is on a separate page. While it allows much more precise searching than Scopus, it also demands a higher level of skill.
If you would like some face to face help, or training in using any of the databases just send me an email
General Principles
Boolean logic
Truncation/Wildcards
Search options
Subject searching
Formulating a search strategy
Using a logic grid
Performing a simple search using Scopus
Finding the full text of articles
Tips and Tricks
Using a single reference as the basis for a search (using Scopus)
Finding an incomplete or incorrect reference (using PubMed)
General Principles
Boolean Logic
All databases rely on the use of Boolean (logical) operators - It's important when searching databases to understand the use of AND, OR, NOT to connect your search terms. PubMed's tutorial gives a clear explanation of how Boolean logic works.
Truncation (also called use of wildcards) to search for plurals etc.
An asterisk allows for any number of characters, or the absence of a character at the end of a word or word stem, and this symbol can be used in most databases.
For example, you could use comput* to find the words computer, computers, or computing. However compute* would find only compute or computers. You need to be careful where you truncate words, or you may be in for a shock. Photo* may look like a simple way to look for photographs, photographics, or photography - but it will also find photosynthesis, phototropic, photovoltaic etc.
In PubMed this is how truncation works.
Truncation works differently in Scopus
Asterisk (*)
An asterisk can substitute for the absence of a character, a single character, or multiple characters.
It can be used at the end of a word..
Example behav* finds behave, behavior, behaviour, behavioural, behaviourism, etc.
It can also be embedded in a word.
So it can be used to indicate a character that may or may not be present.
Example h*emoglobin finds both hemoglobin and haemoglobin.
Or it can be used to allow for variant spelling involving multiple characters
Example behav*r finds both behavior and behaviour
An asterisk can even be used at the beginning of a word.
Question mark (?)
Replaces a single character anywhere in a word. It doesn't allow for the absence of a character. It cannot be used to indicate a character that may or may not be present.
Example analy?e finds analyse or analyze. |
Search options
Most databases will allow searching by a range of options including
Subjects
Authors' names
Names of journals
Titles of individual journal articles
Subject Searching
One of the problems we all have is that we expect other people to call things by the same name that we do. Even if they don't, in normal conversation this is not a problem, as we rapidly process the alternatives as equivalents. So if I talk about sickness, and you talk about illness it really doesn't matter, as we still understand one another. Databases (with very few exceptions) don't work like this. Instead they search only the exact words we use (including misspellings!). This means that for comprehensive searching you need to provide them with as many possible alternatives as you can. Some of them (like PubMed and PsycINFO) even have their own indexing language, or thesaurus which needs to be considered as well.
Using databases which have a thesaurus of indexing terms is a more complex skill which takes time and practice to acquire. This is why I recommend that you start with Scopus. Some help with searching PubMed and PsycINFO is here, or you can contact me for some individual training.
Formulating a search strategy
Before you search for information you'll need to formulate a search strategy. Below are some tips on how to do this.
1. Identify the key concepts.
2. Work out alternative terms for these concepts.
3. Decide whether you want to restrict your search to a certain population or group
4. Decide whether you want to restrict your search to a particular type of article - eg. systematic reviews.
5. Remember that practice helps, and that there is no such thing as the perfect search - a strategy to find a few recent articles on a topic will be very different from a search designed to support a research project
6. You may find it helps to clarify your thinking if you use a logic grid, in which you group related concepts or synonyms - see the example below
Using a logic grid
Supposing you want to find systematic reviews on cognitive therapy in the treatment of PTSD. Below are some possible options for searching .
As there are three distinct concepts involved in this search we will use three columns
You may think that a search using PTSD and cognitive therapy would be adequate, however databases, unlike humans, do not think in concepts, but simply match words. Such a search would therefore fail to find articles which referred to"post traumatic stress" or any of its variants, instead of PTSD. It would also fail to find articles which referred to cognitive behaviour therapy, or CBT.
| Cognitive Therapy |
PTSD |
Systematic Reviews |
"cognitive therapy"
OR
"cognitive behavior therapy"
OR
"cognitive behaviour therapy"
OR
"cognitive behavioral therapy"
OR
"cognitive behavioural therapy"
OR
cbt |
PTSD
OR
"posttraumatic stress"
OR
"post-traumatic stress"
OR
"post traumatic stress" |
"systematic review*" |
You would need to OR the individual words in each column, and then AND the groups of words together - remembering to use parentheses to preserve the logic of your search. Click here to check on Boolean logic (the use of logical operators, and the importance of parentheses in search strategies).
The search could be simplified to some extent by the use of wildcards, but you may find it easier just to type out each alternative in full.
("cognitive therapy" OR "cognitive behavior therapy" OR "cognitive behaviour therapy" OR "cognitive behavioral therapy" OR "cognitive behavioural therapy" OR cbt)
AND
(PTSD OR "posttraumatic stress" OR "post-traumatic stress" OR "post traumatic stress")
AND
"systematic review*"
An example using Scopus
In Scopus you can use the search boxes to protect the logic of your search instead of using parentheses.
This is how the search would appear in Scopus.
The terms from column A connected by OR appear in the first search box,
The terms from column B, connected by OR appear in the second box,
and "systematic review*", the only term in column C appears in the third search box.
The three sets of terms are then combined using AND
Scopus Search results
Scopus results appear with a number of options to limit your results displayed on the left hand side of the page. You'll probably find Source Title, Author Name or Year useful.
Each individual record will allow you the following options
Finding full text of articles
While you can often link directly to the full text of articles from within our databases, the most reliable guide to what we have available online is our e-Journals A-Z list, so it's worth checking there if there seems to be a problem with the link within the database.
When you look up an article in an online journal remember to note date, volume number, issue number, and pages.
If you can't get the article you need online, our Document Delivery staff can provide you with a copy free of charge.
Tips and tricks
Using a single reference as the basis for a search (using Scopus)
If a colleague has recommended an article to you it's easy to explore further by copying and pasting the title of the article into Scopus. You'll need to enclose the title in braces { } These are squiggly brackets – above the square brackets on your keyboard.
Try copying and pasting the title below into the Scopus search box – set the “in” box to Article Title - then click on Search.
{Cognitive-behavioral therapy for PTSD in children and adolescents: A preliminary randomized controlled trial}
The result of this search is
You can now:
- Access the full text of the article by using the Check fulltext options tab
- View the abstract and references of the article by clicking on the article title - you will then be able to find full text for the references, and the number of times they have been cited
- View a list or articles which have subsequently cited this reference by clicking on the 32 at the right of the display
Finding an incomplete or incorrect reference (using PubMed)
PubMed has a Single Citation Matcher which will allow you to find individual articles. It's extremely useful when somebody gives you a reference which isn't quite right, or an incomplete reference. I've even found a reference where the name of the journal was incorrect, the title of the article was wrong, and only the author's name and the number of the first page of the article were correct!!
A friend tells you that there was a really good series of classic articles called Basic psychoanalytic concepts, by Sandler and others, years ago in the British Journal of Psychiatry, or maybe it was another journal. The only reliable pieces of information here appear to be the author's surname Sandler, and the title Basic psychoanalytic concepts.
Try the following in PubMed's Single Citation Matcher
We have the journal online, but you'll need to find the full text of these articles using our e-Journals A-Z list.
Finding a single article where you know its title, and the name of the journal in which the article is found
Citation Linker
Enter details of the item you want and the linker will try to find the full text for you from our online journals. This is available only to mental health staff. You must include a Journal, ISSN, DOI, or PMID
| 
