LibGuides: Law: Journals & Journal Articles

Searching for journal articles on a topic

Westlaw This link opens in a new window
An extensive source of information on American and UK law, including UK case law, UK legislation, Legal Journals Index and full text journals.

Please select De Montfort University from the Westlaw sign in screen. You will then be asked to enter your DMU Single Sign On credentials. You will also be asked to enter additional personal information when you log into Westlaw for the first time, including an email account. This is a one-time action.

You can search 'Library Search' to find journal articles as this will search the content of most of the databases we subscribe to. However, Library Search doesn't work well with Westlaw or Lexis so you may miss important legal articles if you do not search Westlaw UK as well. You will also be able to do a more specific search and may get more relevant results when using Westlaw.

Journals are available in the databases listed below and you may want to search them individually. However, by searching Westlaw UK and Library Search first you should come across many of the journals articles included in the databases below.

HeinOnline This link opens in a new window
Includes major full text collections including the full text searchable archive of over 1,500 law journals. US titles dominate but an increasing number from the UK and other jurisdictions are included.
Law in Sport (LawInSport) This link opens in a new window
LawInSport provides commentary and analysis on the latest issues and legal developments in the world of sport. It provides peer-reviewed legal articles, podcasts and videos as well as organise and host networking events, seminars, webinars and conferences.

Register for standard membership with your DMU email address. Your subscription will then automatically upgraded (note that this can take up to 24 hours)
LexisLibrary
An online legal research service including case law, legislation and commentary materials. Also provides access to a wide range of full-text local and national newspapers.
Academic Search This link opens in a new window
EBSCO's Academic Search database provides full text for more than 4,600 journals, including full text for nearly 3,900 peer-reviewed titles. PDF backfiles to 1975 or further are available for well over one hundred journals, and searchable cited references are provided for more than 1,000 titles.
Practical Law This link opens in a new window
Legal topics covered include banking, employment, environmental, intellectual property, tax law and more. Contains notes, documents, checklists, toolkits and archive of articles from the PLC magazine. Now includes the Law School Resource Centre.

Tracing a journal article from a citation

If you have come across a citation for a journal article and you want to find the full text of the article, you may need to search more than one place. Most of the library content is searchable via Library Search except for the journal articles available on Westlaw. This means that you may have to search both Library Search and Westlaw to find out if it is available from DMU.

The screencast below demonstrates the 3 methods you can use to trace a journal article from a citation:

Searching for a specific journal

Except for journals available on Westlaw, you can find out whether a journal is available in the library by searching Library Search e.g. The search for the 'New law journal' shown on the screenshot below, shows online availability on the right hand side of the screen and print availability in the main part of the screen:

The screenshot shows that the 'New law journal' is available online from Lexis from 1987 onwards. Follow the link to LexisLibrary to access the journal.
The 'New law journal' is also available in print so it appears in the main part of the screen. Select 'Check availability' to find out the dates for which it is available in the library.

Click here for the list of abstracted and full text journals available on Westlaw as you can't find out which journals are available on Westlaw from Library Search. Select 'Full text only' from the drop down menu, to see only the full text journals.

Why use journals?

Use journals to find:

useful information and discussions on legal issues, cases and legislation.
different view points from different authors
current information as journals are published quicker than books.

International journals and articles

Westlaw This link opens in a new window
To access international journal articles, login to Westlaw and select 'Westlaw International' or 'Westlaw US' under 'More resources' below the search box. Westlaw International include journals from a number of countries but especially from the US.

Please select De Montfort University from the Westlaw sign in screen. You will then be asked to enter your DMU Single Sign On credentials. You will also be asked to enter additional personal information when you log into Westlaw for the first time, including an email account. This is a one-time action.

International and US materials on Westlaw
A guide to accessing Westlaw’s International and US materials

LexisLibrary
To search international content on Lexis, click on the 'Sources' heading (on the top right of the screen) and then on 'International Content' below.

Legal abbreviations

Legal Abbreviations and Acronyms List This link opens in a new window
Cardiff Index to Legal Abbreviations This link opens in a new window
From the University of Cardiff, allows you to search from legal abbreviation to title as well as from title to abbreviation.

Law: Journals & Journal Articles