Physics & Astronomy

Use keywords related to your topic to search for articles. Most items in science databases will be peer-reviewed journal articles, but it's always good to double check by searching for the journal and reading about their publication process on their about page. Databases have different search features, but will usually include filters and advanced search options to narrow your results by year, document type, subject, etc. 

Screenshot of Academic Search Complete.

If you're looking for a particular article and have the citation, search for the title of the article in the library's catalog on the homepage. 

Usually you can find the linked HTML full text or a PDF in a database. If the full text is not available in the database you're searching in, click on the Find It at UofL button to search for it in our catalog.

If we don't have immediate access to an article, you can request it through a free service called Interlibrary Loan. You'll receive a PDF of the article in a few business days. 

When saving your links from a library database, you won't be able to get back to an article with the URL at the top of your browser. Look for links to save a permanent link, permalink, or stable URL, or generate your own stable link with the DOI. 

It can be helpful to browse recent issues of scientific journals to stay up to day with current trends. On many of these publisher websites, you can set up a free account and alerts to be notified when articles are published about topics you're interested in! The Institute of Physics website also provides daily newswires announcing recently published research. 

The following are a list of top journals in Physics based on the journal impact factor or journal citation index ranking found in Journal Citation Reports.