Journal Tools

Journal Databases-Music

Journal Databases-Non-Music

Getting Full-Text

Journal articles offer detailed looks at very specific topics. In order to find the article(s) that will be useful within the hundreds of journals available, journal databases allow you to search by keywords or other information. These databases index journals beyond those held at UIUC. While many articles are available online or available in print in our libraries, those that are not can be ordered through InterLibrary Loan (see "Getting full text" below.)

There are many potentially helpful journal databases; here are a few of the best for music. These can be accessed either from the links provided here, the Music Library's website, or from the ORR (Online Research Resources) tool. Note, because Music Index, RILM, and RIPM are all from the Ebsco vendor, you can search them at the same time (as well as with other databases from Ebsco suggested below).

IIMP Full Text

“IIMP” stands for “International Index to Music Periodicals”. It provides indexing and abstracts for more than 420 international music periodicals, plus full text for around 80 journals. Some complete journal runs are included, which cover the first published issue right up to the most current. The database covers a comprehensive range of subject areas in both scholarly and popular music journals ranging from Ethnomusicology, Jazz Education Journal, and Musical Times, to Rolling Stone. Articles examine a wide spectrum of musical subjects, including music education, performance, ethnomusicology, musical theatre, theory, popular music forms and composition. Because many journals includes reviews, unless you particularly need review material you should check the “Exclude reviews” box on the search page.

JSTOR

JSTOR is an archive of articles on many topics in the arts and sciences, including music. It contains full text material from 38 music journals, plus one dance journal (Dance Research). It is important to remember that JSTOR is an archive of journals: it does not include the most recent issues of any journal, so if you want access to these you should consult the ORR to determine which source has the most recent issues. Choose the “Advanced search” option for something a little more helpful. However, please note that JSTOR only allows keyword searches: searching using a structured subject-heading vocabulary is not possible.

Music Index

The print version of The Music Index began in 1949. The online version of the Music Index covers the mid-1970s-present. Over 700 international music periodicals are indexed. The index boasts a broad range of subjects, including past and present personalities, the history of music, forms and types of music, musical instruments from the earliest times to modern electronic instruments, plus computer produced music.

Note, because Music Index and RILM are both from the same vendor, you can search them at the same time (as well as with other databases from Ebsco).

Project Muse

Similar to JSTOR, but contains full text of the most recent years of journals covered. Currently contains eleven music journals, including Music and Letters.

RILM

RILM contains bibliographic information about books, periodical articles, dissertations and reviews published between 1967 and the present day. You can limit your search by language (for example, you might only want material in English, or in French); by year of publication; and by publication type, such as “monograph”, or “dissertation”. One big advantage of RILM over most other music databases is that in many cases the database provides you with an abstract – that is, a summary of what a particular article or book is about. This is particularly helpful in cases where you have found a lot of references and want to work out which are going to be the most relevant.

RIPM (Ebsco)

If you are looking for historical coverage of a topic, contemporaneous composer reception, for example, try this sister product to RILM. It covers many nineteenth-century music journals. For additional music and non-music journals, try Periodicals Archive Online, which covers arts, humanities, and social science journals from the 1700s forward.

If your topic is interdisciplinary, or if you want context for your topic outside of the music world, you should consider using a non-music-specific journal database. The University subscribes to hundreds, covering just about every subject. Here are a few suggestions. For databases from the Ebsco vendor you can choose to search them simultaneously.

Humanities and General

Academic Search (Ebsco)

Identifies articles in most scholarly subject areas including social sciences, humanities, education computer sciences, engineering, medical sciences, and ethnic studies.

Alternative Press Index

Identifies full text articles from newspapers, magazines and journals from the alternative and independent press. (Great for hip-hop and other popular music topics.)

America History and Life (Ebsco)

Identifies U.S. and Canadian history from journals, book reviews, dissertations, and media reviews.

Arts and Humanities Citation Index

Identifies articles and cited references in selected arts and humanities journals.

ERIC (Ebsco)

Identifies articles and documents on education research and practice.

GenderWatch

Identifies publications that focus on the impact of gender across a broad spectrum of subject areas.

JSTOR (see above)

LexisNexis Academic Universe

Identifies articles from journals, newspapers and reference books. A comprehensive source for news, business, and legal information.

Project Muse (see above)

Full text of scholarly journals in the humanities, the social sciences, and mathematics.

Historical Perspective

19th Century Masterfile

Identifies articles written from the 18th century through early 1920s in many fields including history, the social sciences, and literature.

Periodicals Archive Online

Periodical archive of the backfiles of periodicals in the humanities and social sciences.

RIPM (see above)

Victorian Database Online

Identifies articles, books, and dissertations on all aspects of Victorian life (1830-1914), including literature, the arts, and history.

Other areas to consider depending on question at hand

Area Studies (i.e., country-specific)

Bibliography of Asian Studies

Ethnic NewsWatch

FRANCIS (international humanities and social sciences)

HAPI Hispanic American Periodicals Index

Index Islamicus

Art History

Art Full Text

ArtSTOR for music iconography

Literature

MLA international bibliography (Ebsco)

Psychology

Psyclnfo

Religion

ATLA Religion Database (Ebsco)

Science (Acoustics, physics of music, computers in music, etc.)

SCOPUS

 

Finding citations is the easy part, now for the fun of actually locating the items you want to read. Unfortunately, there is no one-size-fits-all solution to this. You may need to use some or all of the steps outlined below, depending on the item for which you are searching. 

 

1. Online

If you located an item because you were searching in RILM or another journal database, you should look for a link that says "Full text" or "Discover UIUC full text linking." This will, in the first case, open the full text file, or, in the second case, open another window that will list online full text options for this title. A word to the wise, this "Discover" service is not 100% accurate. If you are searching for online options for a journal title, always check the library catalog and the ORR, which will list the online sources for that title. Some journals are indexed in many databases, but the dates covered and full-text availability may vary from database to database.

2. In print

If there is no online source for a journal, search the library catalog to discover what print holdings are available at UIUC. 

3. ILL 

If there are no online or print holdings at UIUC, place an IShare or ILL request for the article (see the "Beyond UIUC" tab of this guide).  Be sure you include complete information, especially page numbers.