BIOL Biological Sciences Subject Guide: Articles & Journals
A guide for finding biology information to support your academic research and coursework
Articles & Journals Hub
Your hub for scientific research articles, featuring key databases and search tips to simplify your research.
Search Strategies
Select & Use Keywords
Choose Specific Keywords: Use precise terms related to your topic such as: Chickadees, food caching, and memory
Combine Keywords: Use Boolean operators to refine searches, such as: Chickadees AND food caching
Expand with Synonyms: Broaden your search by including related terms: (Chickadees OR food caching birds) AND spatial working memory
For more guidance, watch the video Selecting & Using Keywords to refine your search strategy.
Cited Reference Searching
Track research trends and find more resources by exploring cited references.
Web of Science
- Use citation tools and 'Times Cited' to trace influential works and expand your research.
- Web of Science Provides access to high-quality research from the world's leading arts, humanities, science and social science journals. Includes a Cited Reference search. Online coverage is 1993-present. Earlier print versions are in the library.
Google Scholar Citation Linking
- Find articles that cite your source using Google Scholar.
Web of Science Tutorial
Web of Science Tutorial
Learn to navigate and use Web of Science
- Web of Science Provides access to high-quality research from the world's leading arts, humanities, science and social science journals. Includes a Cited Reference search. Online coverage is 1993-present. Earlier print versions are in the library.
ScienceDirect Tutorial
ScienceDirect Tutorial
Learn to navigate and use ScienceDirect
- ScienceDirect Full text of Elsevier's journals, covering sciences, health, and social sciences since 1995 as well as indexing of other publisher's journals.
Off-Campus Access
Off-campus database access
Only current CSULB students, faculty, and staff can connect by logging in when prompted through the library website.
Databases
Access databases and collections for your biological research
General Biological Research
- Web of Science Provides access to high-quality research from the world's leading arts, humanities, science and social science journals. Includes a Cited Reference search. Online coverage is 1993-present. Earlier print versions are in the library.
- ScienceDirect Full text of Elsevier's journals, covering sciences, health, and social sciences since 1995 as well as indexing of other publisher's journals.
- Biological Abstracts An expansive index to the world’s biology journal literature, with topics ranging from botany to microbiology to pharmacology. 1926 to present.
- MEDLINE (via OVID) The National Library of Medicine's international bio-medicine & health journal database covering all areas of medicine, including dentistry, nursing, veterinary medicine, the health care system, preclinical sciences. The majority of the publications covered in MEDLINE are scholarly journals; a small number of newspapers, magazines, and newsletters considered useful to the discipline are included.Coverage: 1951 to present.Updated monthly.
- PubMed Central PubMed Central is a digital archive of life sciences journal literature managed by the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) at the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM). It is not a journal publisher. Access to PubMed Central (PMC) is free and unrestricted. The currency and age of material in PubMed Central varies by journal.
- MEDLINE (via Web of Science) The National Library of Medicine’s international, biomedicine & health journal database covering all areas of medicine, including dentistry, nursing, veterinary medicine, the health care system, preclinical sciences. The majority of the publications covered in MEDLINE are scholarly journals; a small number of newspapers, magazines, and newsletters considered useful to the discipline are included.Coverage = 1951 - current.
- PubMed@CSULB Provides access to MEDLINE, Pre-MEDLINE, additional life science journals, and molecular biology databases. If articles have no free full text use Get It@CSULB. Medline covers 1940's to present, updated daily.
- Zoological Record The world’s leading taxonomic reference and oldest (back to 1864) continuing database of animal biology where you can determine the first appearance of an animal name or new species, track taxonomic and nomenclatural changes and keep up all aspects of animal biology and biodiversity issues.
- Academic Search Complete Comprehensive scholarly, multi-disciplinary full text database with more than 5,300 full text periodicals, including 4,400 peer-reviewed journals. Offers indexing and abstracts for more than 9,300 journals and a total of 10,900 publications including monographs, reports, conference proceedings, etc.
- JSTOR Archive of scholarly journals cover to cover. Interdisciplinary coverage of journals back to the first issue through to the last few years. Also includes over 2 million images originally from Artstor.
- Public Library of Science (PLoS) The Public Library of Science (PLoS) is a collection of full-text online science journals. Includes One, Biology, Medicine, Computational Biology, Genetics, Pathogens, Neglected Tropical Diseases. All of PLoS journals are free and open to the public. 2003-Present
- SciFinder Web With access to Chemical Abstracts and the CAS Registry file, SciFinder is the most comprehensive chemical resource including references, substances and reactions.
- SpringerLink Journals Online Collection SpringerLink consists of over 1,000 electronic journals from scientific, technical and medical disciplines.Coverage: 1997-presentUpdated daily.
- Wiley Online Library Access to over 1400 online journals from publisher Wiley-Blackwell in the fields of science, technology, engineering, medicine, mathematics, computer science, business, education, environmental science, humanities, law, and psychology. Full page images are available in PDF format and, in some cases, full text in HTML format is also available.
Specialized Collections
- AGRICOLA A database of citations and abstracts of agricultural literature. Topics covered include: animal & veterinary sciences, entomology, plant sciences, forestry, aquaculture & fisheries, farming & farming systems, agricultural economics, extension & education, food & human nutrition, and earth & environmental sciences. Coverage: 1970-present. Updated daily.
- GreenFILE Provides articles on the of human impact to the environment, including global climate change, green building, pollution, sustainable agriculture, renewable energy, recycling, etc.
- Environmental Issues Online Brings together multimedia materials around key environmental challenges, including climate change, water/air pollution, biodiversity, conservation, agriculture, deforestation and more.
- Birds of the World Birds of the World is a powerful research database that brings together deep, scholarly content from four celebrated works of ornithology with millions of bird observations from eBird and multimedia from the Macaulay Library into a single platform where biologists and birders can explore comprehensive life history information on birds.
- SORA - Searchable Ornithological Research Archive SORA is an open access electronic journal archive that provides access to an extensive Ornithological literature of international scope, and detailed material documenting the history of Ornithology in North America over the last 120 years.
- TAIR (The Arabidopsis Information Resource) The Arabidopsis Information Resource (TAIR) maintains a database of genetic and molecular biology data for the model higher plant Arabidopsis thaliana
- TOXLINE Produced by the National Library of Medicine, TOXLINE covers all areas of toxicology, including chemicals and pharmaceuticals, pesticides, environmental pollutants, and mutagens and teratogens.
- Dissertations and Theses Indexes and abstracts doctoral dissertations and masters theses from over 1,000 North American and European universities. Many are full-text, others can be requested through ILL. CSULB theses published since 1997 are available full text, though recent CSULB theses (within the last six months) may not be available online yet. Coverage: 1637 to date.
- EBSCO Open Dissertations EBSCO Open Dissertations: previously American Doctoral Dissertations, 1933-present provides electronic access to the only comprehensive record of dissertations accepted by American universities during that time period, the print index Doctoral Dissertations Accepted by American Universities.
- Social Explorer Provides thousands of interactive and downloadable data maps, charts, and reports with built-in data indicators related to demographic, economy, health, politics, crime, and environmental information in the USA.
Free Biology Databases
Free Open-Access Science Databases
General Biology and Multidisciplinary Science
- Science.gov Science.gov searches over 55 databases and over 2100 selected websites from 13 federal agencies, offering 200 million pages of authoritative U.S. government science information including research and development results.
- WorldWideScience.org WorldWideScience.org is a global science gateway comprised of national and international scientific databases and portals. WorldWideScience.org accelerates scientific discovery and progress by providing one-stop searching of databases from around the world (Architecture: What is under the Hood). Multilingual WorldWideScience.org provides real-time searching and translation of globally-dispersed multilingual scientific literature.
- Science Daily Features major headlines and news stories for all scientific disciplines, including laboratory science, environmental science, health science, and computer science. The site features easy sorting options, is updated continuously, and provides thorough source information for all stories.
- Highly Cited Researchers This freely accessible Web site gives research professionals working in a variety of occupations an invaluable tool to identify individuals, departments and laboratories that have made fundamental contributions to the advancement of science and technology in recent decades.
- Albert Einstein Archives Online The Einstein Archives Online Website provides the first online access to Albert Einstein’s scientific and non-scientific manuscripts held by the Albert Einstein Archives at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem
- WorldWideScience.org WorldWideScience.org is a global science gateway comprised of national and international scientific databases and portals. WorldWideScience.org accelerates scientific discovery and progress by providing one-stop searching of databases from around the world (Architecture: What is under the Hood). Multilingual WorldWideScience.org provides real-time searching and translation of globally-dispersed multilingual scientific literature.
- Science Watch ScienceWatch.com (updated weekly) provides a behind-the-scenes look at the scientists, journals, institutions, nations, and papers selected by Essential Science IndicatorsSM from Thomson Reuters and other products of the Research Services Group.
Specialized Scientific Databases
- PubMed primarily of references and abstracts on life sciences and biomedical topics
- Analytical Sciences Digital Library Welcome to ASDL! ASDL Editors' Workshop ASDL Editors' Workshop St. Louis 2017 Meeting St. Louis 2017 Meeting in class teams working ASDL and YOU 1 2 3 Previous Next The Analytical Sciences Digital Library, ASDL, collects, catalogs, links and publishes peer reviewed web-based discovery materials pertinent to innovations in curricular development and supporting technical resources in the analytical sciences. The ASDL website (www.asdlib.org) is one of several collections initially funded by NSF’s National Science Digital Library (NSDL) program, and is currently supported by the Division of Analytical Chemistry of the American Chemical Society. ASDL grew out of discussions at regional and national meetings on ways to implement recommendations from NSF-sponsored workshops that evaluated teaching practices in the analytical curriculum. These recommendations can be found in the workshop report Curricular Developments in the Analytical Sciences, available as a pdf.
- ArXiv Pronounced archive, arXiv Started in August 1991, arXiv.org is a highly-automated electronic archive and distribution server for research articles. Covered areas include physics, mathematics, computer science, nonlinear sciences, quantitative biology, quantitative finance, statistics, electrical engineering and systems science, and economics. arXiv is maintained and operated by Cornell University with guidance from the arXiv Scientific Advisory Board and the arXiv Member Advisory Board, and with the help of numerous subject moderators.
- Sparrho Sparrho combines human + artificial intelligence to democratise science. Follow us to stay updated with our latest, exclusive content.
- BioOne BioOne Complete covers many of the main branches of biology and is home to a number of interdisciplinary titles. Whether you are looking for journals that focus broadly on zoology or a publication exclusively on acarology, BioOne Complete offers both breadth and depth in the biological sciences.
- PLoS One The world’s first multidisciplinary Open Access journal, PLOS ONE accepts scientifically rigorous research, regardless of novelty. PLOS ONE’s broad scope provides a platform to publish primary research, including interdisciplinary and replication studies as well as negative results. The journal’s publication criteria are based on high ethical standards and the rigor of the methodology and conclusions reported. Scope: PLOS ONE features reports of original research from the natural sciences, medical research, engineering, as well as the related social sciences and humanities that will contribute to the base of scientific knowledge. By not excluding research on the basis of subject area, PLOS ONE facilitates the discovery of connections between research whether within or between disciplines.
Open Access Journals and Directories
- PLoS PLOS was founded as a nonprofit Open Access publisher, innovator and advocacy organization with a mission to advance progress in science and medicine by leading a transformation in research communication. We believe that OPEN is a mindset that represents the best scientific values, bringing scientists together to share work as rapidly and widely as possible, to advance science faster and to benefit society as a whole.
- ScienceDirect Open Access Articles published open access are peer-reviewed and made free for everyone to read, download and reuse in line with the authors' choice of user license.
- Science and Technology of Advanced Materials Science and Technology of Advanced Materials is the leading open access, international journal covering a broad spectrum of materials science research including functional materials, synthesis and processing, theoretical analyses, characterization and properties of materials. Emphasis is placed on the interdisciplinary nature of materials science and issues at the forefront of the field, such as energy and environmental issues, as well as medical and bioengineering applications.
- BioOne Complete BioOne Complete is a database of more than 200 subscribed and open-access titles in the biological, ecological, and environmental sciences. The flagship product of the nonprofit publisher BioOne, BioOne Complete provides libraries with cost-effective access to high-quality, curated research and independent society publishers with a dynamic, community-based platform and global distribution. BioOne Complete's unique business model reinvests precious library funds in scientific communication, with over $45M returned to participating publishers to date.
- Directory of Open Access Journals DOAJ is a community-curated online directory that indexes and provides access to high quality, open access, peer-reviewed journals. DOAJ is independent. All funding is via donations, 40% of which comes from sponsors and 60% from members and publisher members. All DOAJ services are free of charge including being indexed in DOAJ. All data is freely available. DOAJ operates an education and outreach program across the globe, focusing on improving the quality of applications submitted.
- National Academies Press Free download of all PDFs in education, science, medicine, engineering and more.
- SpringerLink Over 10 million scientific documents at your fingertips
- ScienceOpen.com ScienceOpen is a professional networking platform for scholars to enhance their research in the open, make an impact, and receive credit for it. We provide context building services for publishers, to bring researchers closer to the content than ever before. Our advanced search and discovery functions, combined with post-publication peer review, recommendation, social sharing, and collection-building features make ScienceOpen the only research platform you’ll ever need.
Click here for access to Free Databases by Subject
Find Journals
Find Journals
Locate specific journals by title or subject and evaluate their impact using citation data.
- Journal SearchLocate specific journals by title or subject
Use Cabells to find academic journals, publishing information, manuscript tools, and journal metrics.
- Cabells Journalytics and Predatory Reports Find academic journal information for publishing research with Cabells suite of tools for identifying over 11,000 academic journals, tools for identifying predatory journals, manuscript preparation tools, and a suite of metrics to help users find the right journals.
Locate highly ranked journals Use Journal Citation Reports to search a journal title or select another option to find journals ranked by impact factor
- Journal Citation Reports (InCites) Allows you to evaluate and compare journals using citation data drawn from approximately 12,000 scholarly and technical journals and conference proceedings from more than 3,300 publishers in over 60 countries. Citation data on journals in virtually all specialties in the areas of science, technology, and social sciences.
Use Ulrichsweb for an easy-to-search source of detailed information on academic and scholarly journals
- Ulrichsweb (Ulrich's) Ulrich'sâ„¢ provides comprehensive bibliographic and publisher information on more than 300,000 periodicals, including type of periodical, frequency of publication, format, ISSN, subject and LC classifications and price information.
Biology Journals
Essential Biology Journals by Specialty
Explore this comprehensive collection of top-tier journals categorized by their primary focus areas within biology
Interdisciplinary and Review Biology Journals
- Biological reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society Overview Biological Reviews covers the entire range of the biological sciences, presenting several review articles per issue. Although scholarly and with extensive bibliographies, the articles are aimed at non-specialist biologists as well as researchers in the field. Authors are specifically instructed to be aware of this fact in their writing, and the resulting reviews serve as extensive introductions to particular fields, defining the state of the art, and drawing attention to gaps in knowledge. Articles are up to 20,000 words long and each contains an abstract, a thorough introduction and statement of conclusions. What Biological Reviews has to offer: Fast publication times Flexible policy on nature of articles, with scope for extensive tables and illustrations International exposure with global circulation
- PLoS biology PLOS Biology publishes significant advances across the biological sciences. And we push boundaries. Designed to advance science and the communities who depend upon it, we're transforming research communication to fit the research process.
- eLife Aims and scope eLife welcomes the submission of Research Articles, Short Reports, Tools and Resources articles, Research Advances, Scientific Correspondence and Review Articles in the subject areas below.
- BMC Biology As the flagship biology journal of the BMC series, BMC Biology publishes outstanding research and commissioned content across all areas of biology. Supported by an Editorial Board of international experts and carefully-selected reviewers, our highly responsive editorial team provides rapid evaluation and publication of research with broad, lasting impact.
Conservation and Ecology
- Global Change Biology Global Change Biology exists to promote understanding of the interface between all aspects of current environmental change that affects a substantial part of the globe and biological systems. Studies must concern biological systems, regardless of whether they are aquatic or terrestrial, and managed or natural environments. Both biological responses and feedbacks to change are included, and may be considered at any level of organization from molecular to biome. Studies may employ theoretical, modeling, analytical, experimental, observational, and historical approaches and should be exploratory rather than confirmatory. GCB publishes primary research articles, technical advances, research reviews, commentaries and letters. Global Change Biology defines global change as any consistent trend in the environment - past, present or projected - that affects a substantial part of the globe.
- Journal of Applied Ecology Journal of Applied Ecology publishes novel papers that apply ecological concepts, theories, models and methods to the management of biological resources in their widest sense. The editors encourage contributions that use applied ecological problems to test and develop basic ecological theory, although there must be clear potential for improving management. The journal includes all major themes in applied ecology: conservation biology, global change, environmental pollution, wildlife and habitat management, land use and management, aquatic resources, restoration ecology, and the management of pests, weeds and disease.
- Biological Conservation Biological Conservation is a leading international journal in the discipline of conservation science. The journal publishes articles spanning a diverse range of fields that contribute to the biological, sociological, ethical and economic dimensions of conservation. The primary aim of Biological Conservation is the publication of high-quality papers that advance the science and practice of conservation, or which demonstrate the application of conservation principles and policy. Biological Conservation invites the submission of research articles, reviews (including systematic reviews and perspectives), short communications, policy perspectives, and letters to the editor dealing with all aspects of conservation science, including theoretical and empirical investigations into the consequences of human actions for the diversity, structure and function of terrestrial, aquatic or marine ecosystems.
- Diversity and Distributions Diversity and Distributions publishes reviews and primary research papers on a very wide range of subjects relating to biodiversity. The journal accepts papers dealing with all taxa, ranging from bacteria to plants and animals, and all types of ecosystems. Every level of ecological understanding is covered, from molecular-level, through single-species studies, to ecosystem-, biome- and global-level perspectives. Diversity and Distributions takes the lead in the important field of invasion biology, a new domain at the interface of ecology and biogeography.
Biophysics and Molecular Biology
- Nature structural & molecular biology Aims & Scope Nature Structural & Molecular Biology is an integrated forum for structural and molecular studies. The journal places a strong emphasis on functional and mechanistic understanding of how molecular components in a biological process work together. Structural data may provide such insights, but they are not a pre-requisite for publication in the journal. Specific areas of interest include, but are not limited to: Structure and function of proteins, nucleic acids and other macromolecules Structure and function of multi-component complexes DNA replication, repair and recombination Chromatin structure and remodeling Transcription RNA processing Translation Regulation of transcription and translation Functions of noncoding RNAs Protein folding, processing and degradation Sorting and trafficking of proteins and RNA Signal transduction and intracellular signaling Membrane processes Cell surface proteins and cell-cell interactions Molecular basis of disease
- Annual review of biophysics The Annual Review of Biophysics, in publication since 1972, covers significant developments in the field of biophysics, including macromolecular structure, function and dynamics, theoretical and computational biophysics, molecular biophysics of the cell, physical systems biology, membrane biophysics, biotechnology, nanotechnology, and emerging techniques.
- Current Opinion in Chemical Biology The Current Opinion journals were developed out of the recognition that it is increasingly difficult for specialists to keep up to date with the expanding volume of information published in their subject. In Current Opinion in Chemical Biology, we help the reader by providing in a systematic manner: 1. The views of experts on current advances in chemical biology in a clear and readable form. 2. Evaluations of the most interesting papers, annotated by experts, from the great wealth of original publications.
Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology
- Nature Reviews Drug Discovery Nature Reviews Drug Discovery integrates academia and industry, providing broad, expert coverage of the whole drug discovery and development arena – from disease mechanisms, novel therapeutic approaches and chemistry to clinical trials and regulatory affairs.
- Nature Biotechnology Nature Biotechnology is a monthly journal publishing new concepts in biological technology of relevance to bioengineering, medicine, energy, agriculture, food and the environment. It has a magazine covering the commercial, political, ethical, legal and societal aspects of this research.
- Genome Biology Genome Biology covers all areas of biology and biomedicine studied from a genomic and post-genomic perspective. Content includes research, new methods and software tools, and reviews, opinions and commentaries. Areas covered include, but are not limited to: sequence analysis; bioinformatics; insights into molecular, cellular and organismal biology; functional genomics; epigenomics; population genomics; proteomics; comparative biology and evolution; systems and network biology; genome editing and engineering; genomics of disease; and clinical genomics. All content is open access immediately on publication.
Cell Biology
- Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology is a monthly peer-reviewed review journal published by Nature Portfolio. It was established in October 2000 and covers all aspects of molecular and cell biology.
- Cell Cell publishes findings of unusual significance in any area of experimental biology, including but not limited to cell biology, molecular biology, neuroscience, immunology, virology and microbiology, cancer, human genetics, systems biology, signaling, and disease mechanisms and therapeutics. The basic criterion for considering papers is whether the results provide significant conceptual advances into, or raise provocative questions and hypotheses regarding, an interesting and important biological question. In addition to primary research articles in four formats, Cell features review and opinion articles on recent research advances and issues of interest to its broad readership in the Leading Edge section.
- Cell Stem Cell Cell Stem Cell is a broad-spectrum journal that covers the entire spectrum of stem cell biology. Topics covered include embryonic stem cells, pluripotency, germline stem cells, tissue-specific stem cells, stem cell differentiation, epigenetics, stem cell genomics and systems biology, genome reprogramming, cancer stem cells, stem cell niches, stem-cell-based disease models, nuclear transfer technology, bioengineering, drug discovery, in vivo imaging of stem cells, therapeutic applications, regenerative medicine, clinical and translational insights, stem cell research policies, ethical issues, and technical or resource-based innovations. We will consider studies from any model system that provides insights into stem cell biology, and we encourage submissions on human stem cells.
Anatomy & Morphology
- Brain Structure and Function Brain Structure & Function publishes research that provides insight into brain structure−function relationships. Studies published here integrate data spanning from molecular, cellular, developmental, and systems architecture to the neuroanatomy of behavior and cognitive functions. BS&F does not publish purely clinical or neuropathological papers except in cases where the work actually contributes to the understanding of normal brain structure and function. Research on the peripheral nervous system is not the focus of BS&F. Studies of the mammalian nervous system are central to the journal, yet coverage may range beyond this taxon. Methodologies include modern tracing, immunocytochemistry and neuroimaging as well as genetic methods, neuroinformatics (atlases, databases and internet tools), statistical techniques that support the integration of cellular and systems-level anatomical and functional data, and genetic/molecular/electrophysiological approaches to understanding brain organization.
- Journal of Anatomy Journal of Anatomy publishes original papers, invited review articles and book reviews. Its main focus is to understand anatomy through an analysis of structure, function, development and evolution. Priority will be given to studies of that clearly articulate their relevance to the anatomical community. Focal areas include: experimental studies, contributions based on molecular and cell biology and on the application of modern imaging techniques and papers with novel methods or synthetic perspective on an anatomical system. Studies that are essentially descriptive anatomy are appropriate if they communicate clearly a broader functional or evolutionary significance. Articles covering bioinformatics and other topics that clarify or provide tools for functional anatomical understanding will also be sympathetically considered.
- The Anatomical Record: Advances in Integrative Anatomy and Evolutionary Biology The Anatomical Record: Advances in Integrative Anatomy and Evolutionary Biology, an official publication of the American Association of Anatomists, publishes new discoveries in the morphological aspects of molecular, cellular, systems, and evolutionary biology. The journal focuses on major new findings in the anatomical consequences of gene disruption, activation, or over expression upon cell, tissue, or organ architecture and also recognizes the importance of descriptive studies in contemporary research, particularly when framed in the context of experimental models or questions.
Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Configure Google Scholar to link your account with the CSULB Library for access to full-text materials. Watch this video to learn how.
Search Google Scholar