Finding e-journals

Introduction

The Library subscribes to more than 20,000 electronic journals and access to these titles is supplied by a variety of different service providers. You can learn more about the suppliers and their electronic resources by visiting our Electronic Resources Pages. This section will also give you information about your entitlements to access the product and whether or not you would require a password.

The Journals Portal

Your gateway to the entire electronic journal collection can be found at our Journals Portal. The Portal provides a complete A-Z listing of our electronic subscriptions and you can also browse or search for journals using various criteria. The Portal also provides you with a direct link to the electronic resource currently hosting the content you wish to look at. You may find that the same journals are hosted by different providers - appropriate links are provided in each case.

Finding E-journals

The Journals Portal has a variety of different search and browsing features which you can use to locate online content.

Find e-journals by title or ISSN:

You can search for a particular title using the 'Find e-journals by title/ISSN' feature. You will notice that a drop-down menu allows you to select certain parameters for your search:

• 'title begins with': This search is equivalent to a Journal Title Browse search in the Library Catalogue and will produce results based on a left-to-right reading of each letter typed in the search field.
• 'title equals': Use this search if you are sure of the exact title of the journal you are looking for.
• 'title contains all words': This search will find titles containing any of the words you type into the search box, no matter what order they appear in. Entering "review" and "political" brings up a selection of titles including American Political Science Review and Annual Review of Political Science. This is a useful search if you only know a few words of the journal title.
• 'ISSN equals': This is a straightforward search that will produce the same results whether or not the data in the search field is hyphenated. Searching for "1003-9031" and "10039031" will bring up the same title.

Browse e-journals by title:

This section comprises of an A-Z listing of the journals in the collection. Clicking on the letter of your choice will present you with the corresponding list. You will also notice a miniature navigation bar which appears, that allows you to segment the list further. For instance, after clicking "A" you can then choose to skip directly to titles starting with the word "American Journal of…"

'Browse e-journals by subject':

The journals portal does offer browsing by subject, for example 'Business and Economics'. However please be aware that these subject classifications are not compiled or controlled by the Library so results will not match those of any academic department here. This function can still provide a useful overall view of which topics are covered by which journals. The Subject guides offers 'Subject Lists of Electronic Resources', which can help you to direct your research further.

'Direct Links to host website':

Service providers of electronic content usually have functional search/browse facilities of their own, to which you can connect immediately using the 'Direct Links to host website'. As you explore, you should note that subscribed content is clearly labelled. Please bear in mind that we do not necessarily subscribe to everything which that particular host has on offer - you may come across unsubscribed content and be blocked from accessing it, or be asked to pay a fee before you can progress. You will never be asked to pay for access if LSE has a legitimate subscription.

Making use of the Journals Portal is the easiest way to be sure you are accessing permitted materials.

Problems:

In the event that you are experiencing difficulties in accessing your chosen materials, you may wish to examine the electronic journals FAQ's pages.

Alternatively, you can contact the e-journals coordinator at ejournals@lse.ac.uk

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