2. Find academic articles
For broad help with finding academic articles visit our Finding Academic Articles learning resource.
There are many places you can find academic articles, but the easiest way is to search in library databases. By searching within a database, you can search multiple journals at once. There isn’t one database that has everything, so it’s important to search across multiple databases.
You can search within the databases below for environmental science articles. Alternatively, select the Journals tab to browse through a list of key environmental science journals.
- Web of ScienceThe Web of Science interface includes Web of Science Core Collections including the Arts & humanities citation index, Conference Proceedings Citation Indexes, Current Chemical Reactions and Book Citation Indexes and also hosts the following databases: Current Contents Connect, Biosis Citation Index (1926-2016), SciELO citation index, MEDLINE and Zoological record.
- ScopusScopus is the largest abstract and citation database of research literature and web sources, covering Life Sciences, Health Sciences, Physical Sciences, Social Sciences. This database includes some links to external full text articles.
- ScienceDirectScienceDirect provides indexing and full text of journal articles in the following subjects: Chemistry, Chemical Engineerin, Clinical Medicine, Computer Science, Earth and Planetary Sciences, Economics, Business and Management Science, Engineering, Energy, Environmental Science, Life Sciences, Materials Science, Mathematics, Physics,Astronomy, Social Science. Full text is only available for the journals to which Deakin University subscribes. The University has purchased a number of back issue journal sets from ScienceDirect. For many of these titles, the most current volumes will not be available in full text.
- CSIRO PublishingCommonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) publishes literature in a wide range of scientific disciplines, including agriculture, the plant and animal sciences, and environmental management.
- Nature.comNature Publishing Group (NPG) publishes journals, online databases, and services across the life, physical, chemical and applied sciences and clinical medicine.
- JSTOR SustainabilityJSTOR Sustainability contains journals and research reports covering environmental stresses and their impact on society. The collection covers a broad range of topics - from green energy to natural resources law, sustainable business practices, urban planning.
- Environment CompleteEnvironment Complete offers coverage in applicable areas of agriculture, ecosystem ecology, energy, renewable energy sources, natural resources, marine & freshwater science, geography, pollution & waste management, environmental technology, environmental law, public policy, social impacts, urban planning, and more.
- GreenFILEGreenFILE indexes scholarly and general interest titles, as well as government documents and reports. This resource offers perspectives on the positive and negative ways humans affect the environment. Drawing on the connection between the environment and disciplines such as agriculture, education, law, health and technology, GreenFILE serves as an informative resource for anyone concerned about the issues facing our planet.
- Agricultural & Environmental Science Collection (ProQuest)Agricultural & Environmental Science Collection covers the effects of pollution on people and animals and environmental action and policy responses.
- Biological Science CollectionThe Biological Science Collection includes the renowned Biological Sciences, MEDLINE, and TOXLINE databases and provides full-text titles from around the world, including scholarly journals.
- Wiley JournalsWiley Online Library journals cover subject areas of Agriculture, Aquaculture & Food Sciences, Architecture & Planning, Arts, Business, Economics, Finance & Accounting, Chemistry, Computer Science & Information Technology, Earth, Space & Environmental Sciences, Humanities, Law & Criminology, Life Sciences, Mathematics & Statistics, Medicine, Nursing, Dentistry, Healthcare, Physical Sciences & Engineering, Psychology, Social & Behavioural Sciences, and Veterinary Medicine.
- Zoological RecordZoological Record is the world's oldest continuing database of animal biology. It is considered the world's leading taxonomic reference, and with coverage back to 1864, has long acted as the world's unofficial register of animal names. The broad scope of coverage ranges from biodiversity and the environment to taxonomy and veterinary sciences.
- One EarthOne Earth publishes significant original research that seeks to understand and address today's environmental grand challenges.
- Australasian Journal of Environmental ManagementThe Australasian Journal of Environmental Management is published four times a year (March, June, September and December) and addresses general issues of policy and practice in resource and environmental management. The focus is on Australian and New Zealand practice, but articles covering relevant international perspectives are welcome.
- Journal of Environmental ManagementThe Journal of Environmental Management is a peer reviewed journal for the publication of original research related to managing environmental systems and improving environmental quality.
- Environmental and ecological statisticsEnvironmental and Ecological Statistics broadly covers theory and methods, case studies and applications, environmental change and statistical ecology, environmental health statistics and stochastics, and related areas.
- Nature Reviews Earth & EnvironmentNature Reviews Earth & Environment is an online-only journal publishing high-quality Review, Perspective, and Commentary articles across the entire spectrum of Earth and environmental sciences.
- Communications Earth & EnvironmentAn open-access journal publishing high quality, editorially selected and peer reviewed advances in the Earth, environmental and planetary sciences
- Nature SustainabilityNature Sustainability publishes significant original research from a broad range of natural, social and engineering fields about sustainability, its policy dimensions and possible solutions. Understanding how to ensure the well-being of current and future generations within the limits of the natural world is the overarching goal of sustainability research.
- Nature Climate ChangeUnderstanding the Earth's changing climate, and its consequences, is a scientific challenge of enormous importance to society. Nature Climate Change is a monthly journal dedicated to publishing the most significant and cutting-edge research on the nature, underlying causes or impacts of global climate change and its implications for the economy, policy and the world at large.
- National GeographicNational Geographic Society, one of the world's largest nonprofit educational and scientific organizations, is recognized world-wide as journalism's most trusted name in exploration and discovery. From its founding in 1888, the National Geographic Society has developed the iconic National Geographic magazine as well as the popular National Geographic Traveler and hundreds of books, maps, videos, and images.
- Wild : Australia's wilderness adventure magazineWhat is Wild? Wild is adventure. Wild is conservation. Wild is wilderness. Wild is, and has been for nearly 40 years, the inspiring voice of the Australian outdoors. For nearly four decades, Wild has actively and fiercely fought for the environment. Campaigning to protect our wild places is part of our DNA. Lastly, Wild is about telling stories that matter, stories that resonate with our readers. Wild is about deep engagement. It is about inspiration. It is about passion.
- SustainabilityAims to publish experimental and theoretical research relating to natural sciences, social sciences and humanities to promote scientific predictions and impact assessments of global change and development.
Database search example
Below is an example of an advanced search option you’ll find in most databases. It has multiple search boxes with the Boolean operator, AND, listed on the left-hand side. Each concept has been entered into a search box and joined by AND.
Click on the +plus icons to learn about each search technique demonstrated.
Activity overview
This interactive activity shows an image of the Library advanced search bars filled in with an example search as follows:
"climate change"
AND extinction OR endangered
AND australia*
There are 3 selectable icons that explain each of the search techniques used in this advanced search.
Technique 1: Grouping your words
Use Quotation marks to search for words in an exact order. This is called phrase searching.
Technique 2: Operators
Using the OR word between terms broadens a search to show results that contain any of the terms. Using AND narrows the search to show results that contain all of the terms.
Technique 3: Using symbols
Add an asterisk to the end of a keyword to find variant word endings. This is called truncation. This example of australia* will find australia, australian, australians.