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Nursing: Articles / Journals / Research

KVCC Nursing Resources

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CINAHL  ​Authoritative journal articles for nursing and allied health. 

Health Source Nursing/Academic Edition: Journals on pediatric nursing, critical care, mental health, nursing management, medical law.

MedlinePlus  National Library of Medicine from the NIH

ProQuest Central Nursing and Allied Health Source  850+ journals and dissertations in nursing and related fields.

PubMed Central  PubMed Central (PMC) is the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) biomedical and life sciences journals.

Salem Press Health  Provides general readers with authoritative info to bridge gaps between medical literature for professionals and popular self-help guides.

ScienceDirect -- Health & Life Sciences  1,000+ health and life science journals.

Search tips for Pub Med

Trade and Scholarly Journals

What is a scholarly journal?

Answer: A journal that has been created by academic authors and includes original quantitative and/or qualitative research and theoretical content.

      Examples

  • Respiratory Care Online
  • Respiratory Medicine
  • Harvard Educational Review
  • Respiratory Care Education Annual

What is a trade journal?

Answer: A journal that was created for professionals. The articles address professional or work-related issues and help practicioners by summarizing research for best practices.

      Examples:

  • Respiratory Care Manager
  • Respiratory Therapy
  • AARC Times

Scholarly Journals
(sometimes called Research Journals or Academic Sources)

Popular Magazines
(sometimes called General or Journalistic Sources)

Articles always have bibliographies and end/footnotes.

Articles lack bibliographies or references.

Authors are always named, and their institutional affiliation is given.

Authors may be anonymous.

Articles may be peer-reviewed or refereed.

Articles are not peer-reviewed.

Target audience is academic or professional.

Target audience is the general public.

Journal title may include terms such as "journal," "review," or "bulletin" - but not always!

Magazine title doesn't usually include terms like "journal," "review," or "bulletin." Notable exceptions includeThe Wall Street Journal and Ladies' Home Journal--these are NOT scholarly.

Journal covers and pages tend to be plain in design. Some scholarly or professional journals contain advertisements (like JAMA), so identify the target audience to make your final determination.

Magazines tend to include advertisements, graphics, color photos, etc.

Issues tend to be successively numbered, with the page numbering of each issue beginning where the previous issue ended.

Each issue generally begins with page 1.

Articles tend to be longer.

Articles tend to be shorter, some only 1-2 pages.

Issues tend to be published less often (monthly, quarterly, semi-annually).

Issues tend to be published more frequently (monthly, weekly, daily).

Search Tips

Use truncation (*) to find word variants. Adolescen* retrieves adolescent, adolescents, adolescence.

Use quotation marks (" ") around phrases to search for exact phrases. 

Example: "Mechanical Ventilation"

Open Access Journals

 

Open Access Journal are journals that use a funding model that does not charge readers or their institutions for access. The journals must exercise peer-review or editorial quality control to be included in the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ). For more information, visit their website at: DOAJ -- Directory of Open Access Journals