Articles and Journals

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Articles and Journals

Search, browse and request academic periodicals and articles by a number of methods, or get help accessing articles and journals from a specialist librarian.

Find Articles and Journals by Topic

The Brown University Library offers access to thousands of journals and subscribes to hundreds of databases in which to search for articles. There are a number of ways to find articles or journals on a research topic.

BruKnow

BruKnow, your online library catalog, searches across many types of sources including articles. 

Databases

The Library subscribes to hundreds of databases that search for articles within and across disciplines. To browse the full list of databases visit A to Z Databases. To see databases recommended by library subject experts visit Research Guides.

Find Journals by Title

Use BruKnow’s journal portal to find out if the Library subscribes to a specific journal. You can also create an account in BrowZine to read many articles on your computer or mobile device.

Find a Specific Article Using Its Citation Information

To find a full text article using information about it, such as title, author, or DOI (Digital Object Identifier), use BruKnow’s Citation Linker. You can also use LibKey.io to find articles using their DOI or their PubMed ID number (PMID).

Accessing Full Text Articles

In library databases and in BruKnow, many articles are available as PDFs. In some cases, the full text of the article may be accessible via one of the Library’s other databases. Look for a button or link with each citation that will guide you to the full text, if available.

To streamline your access to full text articles when searching publisher websites like PubMed or other places beyond the Library’s subscriptions, add the LibKey Nomad browser extension and select Brown University as your organization. This will still require you to authenticate to download articles. If you know the DOI or PubMed ID number of your article, you can use Libkey.io to quickly find and download the full text.

Request an Article with Interlibrary Loan

If you are unable to locate an article through the Library, you can request it from other libraries around the world. This service is free to you. See the Guide to Interlibrary Loan for complete information. (In most cases, following the steps described above in Accessing Full Text Articles will bring you to the Interlibrary Loan request form and help you complete it.)

Need help?

For help finding articles and journals, suggesting new subscriptions, and any other library question, you can ask a librarian in different ways:

Live Chat

Available during regular hours, you can chat directly with a library expert.

Consultations

You can reach out to a library expert in your field of interest to ask a question and make an appointment for a consultation.

FAQs

Located on the left of the same page as live chat, the Library FAQ lists popular questions and answers. Submit a question through this form when live chat isn’t available and a library expert will respond to you on the next business day.

Email General Questions

Not sure where to start? Don’t have a specific field of interest? We can help. Email library@brown.edu with any questions. If you know your question relates to special collections, reach out to the John Hay Library at hay@brown.edu. If you have a health or biomedical question, reach out to HealthSciLibrarians@brown.edu.