UVM Libraries Research Guides: Public Health: Finding Journal Articles

Finding Full Text

To find full-text journal articles in most of our databases, such as PubMed, PsycINFO, Ovid MEDLINE, or Web of Science, look for the button. See the full list of health sciences databases here.

If you are unable to obtain the full-text through the database, check the UVM Journals A-Z List to view our holdings. From there, you can drill down to the desired article.

If we own the journal in print only, or if we do not subscribe to the journal, you may submit an Interlibrary Loan request, also referred to as Document Delivery, for the article.

This web page provides more ideas for obtaining full-text journal articles. And further information for accessing articles from UVMMC can be found here.

Article Databases

Public Health covers a particularly broad range of fields. Consider whether the articles you're looking for would have been published in medical and health sciences journals (PubMed), psychology and counseling journals (PsycInfo), education journals (ERIC), or one of the other fields below.

PubMed This link opens in a new window
This free resource comprises citations for biomedical literature from MEDLINE, life science journals, and online books. PubMed citations and abstracts include the fields of biomedicine and health, covering portions of the life sciences, behavioral sciences, chemical sciences, and bioengineering. This resource is developed and maintained by the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) at the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM).
Academic Search Premier This link opens in a new window
This resource is a multidisciplinary database that provides access to scholarly journal literature across all disciplines, as well as magazine articles and some newspaper articles. It is a recommended starting point for research on any subject, and very useful for topics that span disciplines. It includes some full text as well as links to full text.
ERIC This link opens in a new window
This resource is the preferred search tool in the field of education. It contains scholarly and practitioner-oriented articles in peer-reviewed and other journals, papers given at conferences, and scholarly reports in education and the behavioral sciences. It provides citation records, as well as a large amount of full-text content. Access for non-UVM affiliates @ eric.ed.gov.
Global Health This link opens in a new window
This resource broadly covers international and community-level scholarly literature in public health, including rural development and health policy. Content includes journal articles, books, book chapters, conference proceedings, newsletters, reports, and gray literature.
PAIS This link opens in a new window
This index provides access to journal articles, books, government documents, statistics, gray literature, and conference reports for international public and social policy.
PsycINFO This link opens in a new window
This resource contains international scholarly articles in peer-reviewed journals, book chapters, books and dissertations in psychology, education, and the social, behavioral and health sciences. PsycINFO is the most comprehensive database for literature in the psychological sciences.
Social Services Abstracts This link opens in a new window
This resource provides access to scholarly articles, journals, book reviews, and dissertations in social work, human services, social welfare, social policy, and community development.

Health Services Research PubMed Queries
Specialized PubMed searches on healthcare quality and costs
PubAg
Database of citations to nutrition and agricultural journal articles. Many citations link to full text. If no full text is linked, search for the article in CATQuest, or ask for it through interlibrary loan.

Exploratory Searching in PubMed

One model of searching for information divides searches into Lookup Searches, Exploratory Searches, and Systematic Searches. Researchers perform exploratory searches when they are learning about a new topic, becoming familiar with the type of research being done in that area, and learning the relevant vocabulary. These two tutorials describe the use of PubMed to perform exploratory searches.

Though the first video is called Basic PubMed, it primarily reviews features that make searching and viewing articles more efficient:

sorting
display options
filters
saving and emailing results
links to PDFs or to the interlibrary loan request form

The second video, called PubMed Searching with MeSH, presents the underlying attributes of PubMed that can either help or sometimes hinder searching:

Automatic Term Mapping
Medical Subject Headings
Search Builder
use of search logic
review search history

Discover Articles that Cite a Known Article

You probably already use article bibliographies to find older articles on the same topic. You can use citation searching to find more recent articles that cite a relevant older article that you already have.

These two databases can be searched like any other database, but also have a citation searching feature.

Google Scholar This link opens in a new window
This resource provides access to scholarly literature including articles, theses, books, abstracts, court opinions, technical reports, patents and many other document types. Google Scholar's coverage is extremely broad and sometimes more up-to-date than other databases - but its non-selective coverage may include lower-quality publications.

This link to Google Scholar will enable UVM affiliates to easily link through to materials to which we have access.
Web of Science This link opens in a new window
This resource provides access to the scholarly literature across disciplines, and includes citations to journal articles, conference proceedings, books, and more. It includes a cited reference search feature that enables users to trace the impact of individual scholars' work, analyzes search results by discipline, and creates citation reports of a set of search results.