Subject & Study Guides: Biodiversity Management: Journal Articles

Working out if a journal is peer-reviewed

There are several ways you can find out if a journal is peer-reviewed.

1) Check the home page of the journal. Generally if a journal is peer-reviewed, they are not going to be shy to say so.

2) Use the 'peer-reviewed journal' limiters on databases such as EBSCO, Articles Express. Note: The vast majority of content on ScienceDirect is peer-reviewed as well.

3) Insert the word "peer-reviewed" in your search on other databases.

4) Use Ulrich's Web to search for a journal title. If a journal is peer-reviewed, it will have this icon on the left hand side:

Ulrichsweb This link opens in a new window
Ulrich's can be searched to find information on a journal, including whether or not it is considered to be scholarly.

Warning: A few journals say that they are peer-reviewed, but still publish some non-peer-reviewed articles. Check the journal home page/s carefully, especially if you can't find a DOI, and if you're unsure if an article is peer-reviewed, contact Adrian.

Multi-database Searching

Click here to search across a wide range of animal studies-related databases simultaneously. This is a good starting point, but will not support in-depth searches.

Articles Express
Search for journals articles across a range of databases with this FAST search engine. This is a great first step for searching for journal articles. Just enter your keywords and hit 'Search'!

Google Scholar [Free] This link opens in a new window
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Google Scholar searches academic publishers, professional societies and pre-print archives. Not all the results will be available online, however. Results may include citations to works that are not online, or items from databases that Unitec does not subscribe to. Online help for using Google Scholar.

New Zealand Journals

New Zealand Journal of Botany
The New Zealand Journal of Botany is an international journal aiming to disseminate peer-reviewed scientific research in all areas of plant science.
New Zealand Journal of Ecology
The New Zealand Journal of Ecology is a peer-reviewed journal publishing ecological research relevant to Aotearoa New Zealand and the South Pacific.
Perspectives in Biodiversity
Perspectives in Biodiversity is a peer-reviewed Aotearoa / New Zealand biodiversity journal that has a broad coverage, considering manuscripts encompassing biosystematics and biogeography, ecology, genetics, reproductive biology (including pollination biology), taxonomy, ethology, entomology, ethnobotany, ethnozoology, herpetology, ornithology, bryology, lichenology, mycology and phycology. Published by Unitec ePress.
Perspectives in Biosecurity
Perspectives in Biosecurity is a multi-‐disciplinary electronic journal of research papers, and other outputs, covering all aspects of the field of biosecurity, including, but not restricted to: invasion biology and ecology, invasive species identification/diagnostics, management and eradication/control, new invasive species records, modelling, biosecurity law and policy, relationships between human society and invasive species. Published by Unitec ePress.

Nature.com Complete

Nature.com complete This link opens in a new window
Nature.com Complete provides access to the prestigeous journal 'Nature' plus 79 other journals from the Nature group (back to 1869).

Individual Databases

These databases are useful when searching for articles in the biodiversity subject area.

Australia/New Zealand Reference Centre Plus [Ebsco] This link opens in a new window
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Australia/NZ Reference Centre is a large collection of regional full text including magazines, newspapers, newswires and reference books. In addition to the leading Australia/NZ periodicals and international periodicals, it also includes full text biographies, image collection of photos, maps and flags.
Bioline International [Free] This link opens in a new window
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A not-for-profit electronic publishing service committed to providing open access to quality research journals published in developing countries. It includes articles on biodiversity, conservation and the environment.
CABI Invasive Species Compendium [Free] This link opens in a new window
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The Invasive Species Compendium is an online, open access reference work covering recognition, biology, distribution, impact and management of the world's invasive plants and animals.
Ebsco biodiversity databases [Ebsco] This link opens in a new window
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Allows you to search Academic Search Complete, Environment Complete and other databases at the same time.
Environment Complete [Ebsco] This link opens in a new window
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Environment Complete™ offers coverage in agriculture, ecosystem ecology, energy, natural resources, marine & freshwater science, geography, pollution & waste management, environmental technology, environmental law, public policy, social impacts, urban planning, and more. The database contains citations for articles from domestic and international journals, monographs and conference papers of the North American Association of Environmental Education.
Environmental Studies [Gale in Context] This link opens in a new window
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Gale In Context: Environmental Studies focuses on the physical and social aspects of environmental issues. Topic, organization, state and province portals form research centers around issues covering earth systems, global change, land and water use, populations, legislation, and more. Portal overviews provide essential information, supplemented by academic journals, news, case studies, conferences, statistics, and rich multimedia
Environmental Studies and Policy [Gale OneFile] This link opens in a new window
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Gale OneFile: Environmental Studies and Policy answers inquiries about environmental concerns with coverage journals and reference content from Delmar and diverse perspectives from the scientific community, governmental policymakers, and corporate interests.
INNZ: Index New Zealand [Index only] This link opens in a new window
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Index New Zealand indexes nearly 300 journals and newspapers. It is the key New Zealand database for social sciences, arts, humanities and general-interest material, and indexes some South Pacific journals. It is an index so you need to search for the full-text elsewhere.
Landcare Research databases [Free] This link opens in a new window
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Landcare Research is the custodian of a number of nationally significant biological and resource collections and databases.
LexisNexis Practical Guidance – NZ Resource Management [LexisNexis] This link opens in a new window
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LexisNexis Practical Guidance – NZ Resource Management provides access to a vast collection of resource management law including information on resource consents, regional policy statements and plans, planning documents, Māori and resource management, enforcement and offences, and the Environmental Court process.
Nature.com complete This link opens in a new window
Nature.com Complete provides access to the prestigeous journal 'Nature' plus 79 other journals from the Nature group (back to 1869).
NZResearch [free] This link opens in a new window
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Discover and access New Zealand’s most comprehensive selection of research papers and related resources. This site include peer-reviewed and other research from universities, polytechnics, and research organisations throughout New Zealand.
Proquest SciTech Premium Collection [Proquest] This link opens in a new window
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ProQuest SciTech Collection™ is a definitive resource for students studying both the applied and general sciences.
Science [Gale in Context] This link opens in a new window
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Gale In Context: Science is an engaging online experience for those seeking contextual information on hundreds of today's most significant science topics. The solution merges Gale's authoritative and continuously updated reference content with full-text magazines, academic journals, news articles, experiments, images, videos, audio files and links to vetted websites organized into a user-friendly portal experience.
ScienceDirect [Elsevier] This link opens in a new window
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Science Direct is a leading full-text scientific database offering journal articles and book chapters from nearly 2,500 journals and more than 30,000 books. This includes Health and Life Sciences, Physical Sciences and Engineering, and Social and Behavioural Sciences
Ulrichsweb This link opens in a new window
Ulrich's can be searched to find information on a journal, including whether or not it is considered to be scholarly/peer-reviewed.

Notornis & Birds New Zealand

'Notornis' is the peer-reviewed journal and 'Birds New Zealand' is the magazine of the Ornithological Society of New Zealand. Click here to search for articles in these publications.