Library databases that index or provide full text access to physics journals:

Search the following individual physics journals directly, and request articles through Interlibrary Loan:

Search for, find, and retrieve peer-reviewed, scholarly research in physics and related subjects.

  Scitation from the American Institute of Physics: index of physics literature and related sciences. Index is free to search, meaning you can use it after you leave PLU.

Tips for Success:

• Remember that Scitation is primarily an index. While some full text is available, PLU only has access to a subset of the journals indexed.
• If searching "Full Bibliographic Record" yields too many hits, or too many irrelevant hits, restrict your search to "Abstract, Title, and Keywords".
• Try the Read Online links first. If those don't work, click Check the PLU Library instead.
• Check the keywords and PACS of a relevant search result to get more keywords and search terms.
• Check the References and Related Content tabs for potentially valuable additional sources.
• Don't purchase the PDF! Instead, request any article our library doesn't have using Interlibrary Loan!

 Search Scitation now.

 Scitation User Guide

Google Scholar allows you to specify scholarly articles, patents, and/or legal opinions in your Google search. It's a great way to find articles, conference papers, and books that aren't indexed in library databases, and is a pretty good citation index as well.

Computers at PLU are set up to link into our library collection, so that you can link right from a Scholar citation to articles that we have. To set this up on your own computer, add Pacific Lutheran University to your Library Links under Scholar Preferences.

More tips for success:

• It can be helpful to search Google Scholar after you've already generated a solid list of keywords from searching catalogs and databases.
• Under many article citations, you'll see a "Cited by" link. These are articles that cite the article you're looking at. Look up these articles to find more potential sources for your research!
• The "Related articles" link can also be helpful, particularly for identifying the same type of research conducted at other locations.
• If you find a citation in Google Scholar to an article we don't have, use Interlibrary Loan to request it.
• If you're trying to locate a particular article and it isn't coming up, use abbreviated journal titles and author first initials, as these are often how citations are indexed.

Caution: Google Scholar is a great resource, but it's hard to tell what exactly it searches or how often its index is updated. In addition, the types of documents you find can be difficult to identify, and some types of documents, such as working papers and technical reports, are not included. Therefore, use it as one of multiple sources for finding information.