LibGuides: Built Environment: Journals and specialist resources like databases and websites

What are journals?

What are journals?

There are two main types of Academic Journals or Scholarly Journals.

Also known as: Academic Journals, Scholarly Journals, Trade Publications or Professional Magazines.

Academic Journals

Academic journals are written for a range of readers with different levels of experience and background knowledge.
Regular publications containing articles written by researchers and professionals about their research.
Amongst the most reliable sources.
Contains reports and updates on research in particular subject areas, conference reports, book reviews, opinions etc.

Journals contain articles.

Articles are a rich source of primary and secondary information and can be written in a variety of different styles. The choice of terminology can range from common, technical, medical and specialist depending on the intended audience. You may find a term in an article that you have not read before or a process that you need more information about to help you understand the article fully.

Trade Publications/ Professional Magazines

Contain general purpose daily news and opinions by experts and non-experts, often having a significant political bias.
Magazine aimed at professionals in a particular industry, with news, job adverts, product reviews and advice for that industry.

Where can you find them?

Most journal articles are available online in Library Search but some are still available in physical formats in the libraries. You can find these on Level 2 of the Adsetts Library.

Start to explore journals

You can keep up to date with news and developments in your subject area by scanning key journals.

The Library subscribes to lots of journals and this list is here to show you the variety of journal titles. Next step is for you to add browse and take a look to see where you want to begin your reading using Browse eJournals or Library Search!

Construction management and economics
Interested in construction and economics? This is the journal for you!
Construction Manager
This publication is published by the Chartered Institute of Building.
Modus
This is a print journal by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors. You can access the journal in Adsetts Library.
Cement and concrete research
Lots of useful articles and research about concreate within the Built Environment.
Sustainable Cities and Society
This journal is international and relates to sustainable and socially resilient cities.
Ground Engineering
A journal that covers civil engineering and the built environment.

Use Browse eJournals to keep up to date with your favourite journals

Use Browse eJournals to browse by subject area and view the table of contents and then go to the full text.

You can search using the keyword construction to find all the journals with construction in the title. You can also browse by subject for example Engineering and Technology.

Browse eJournals
Browse eJournals is a really nice way to get into journals. Make space for catching up with your favourite journal each week!

Balance up academic journals with professional and industry publications

The Built Environment industry has a number of well established professional publications and trade magazines written for construction and property professionals.

Here are a few examples within the Built Environment and there will be more in Library Search. Trade magazines or publications tend not to be included in Browze eJournals.

Construction news
This publication has been in existence since 1871! Full of industry related news and features.

Nexis This link opens in a new window
You can find an online version of Property Week in the database Nexis.
Nexis also includes 80 sources of company information, plus thousands of biographies of government officials, politicians, celebrities, investors and business contacts.

Property Week
This is a news magazine related to commercial and residential estate.
Estates gazette
This is an industry standard source for Real Estate students and professionals! Find time to read it every week!

See the bigger picture: use your professional bodies, organisations and websites

Professional bodies, organisations and websites are incredibly useful sources of information!

If you are new to a subject, taking a look at the professional body can be a way to help you move into your academic studies. The information tends to be tailored to your profession and can indicate key areas of interest, key issues and hot topics!

Take a look around the organisations website today to see what is happening in your industry. This is a really quick way to get connected to your profession!

Here are a range of such organisations related to the Built Environment:

What is a database?

A database is an online resource that contains information that can be searched.

Databases vary in content for example they can cover multiple subjects or be subject specific. There may be a selection criteria linked to the inclusion of information in the database.

The databases we have in the Library collection cover academic subjects and include advanced search options. For example, it can be easier in a database to limit to a specific article type, combine sets and have more field searching options available to you than within Library Search.

Where to begin?

Consider what information you need (primary articles, review articles, literature reviews) and choose the most relevant databases for searching.

Many of the databases are subject specific and contain journal articles from a range of journals. The key databases for the built environment are listed below and include information about each to help you decide which to search.

Journals databases that cover multiple subjects

These databases cover a range of different subjects which may be relevant to your topic.

Web of Science This link opens in a new window
Web of Science is one of the largest database available and covers multiple subjects. A great place to begin a search!
Proquest Central This link opens in a new window
A multi-disciplinary full text database covering business, health and medical, social sciences, education , science and technology, including core titles in the performing and visual arts, history, religion, philosophy, and language and literature. It includes both scholarly journals as well as market research and industry reports, working papers and full-text dissertations.
SCOPUS This link opens in a new window
Scopus is a comprehensive, multi-disciplinary abstract and database curated by subject matter experts. Scopus is also a citation index, which means that the records in the database contain information on citations made in that publication and it links that information so you can identify which publications have cited that one, and how many times a publication has been cited.
Business Source Premier This link opens in a new window
A great place to start any business related search! The database includes a mixture of trade and academic journals covering all business disciplines, including marketing, management, accounting, finance and economics. Also includes industry and company profiles and SWOT analyses, country economic data and market research.
Emerald Insight This link opens in a new window
This database covers: business, management, marketing, retailing, economics, education, engineering and library and information science.
Wiley online library This link opens in a new window
The database covers chemistry, medicine, life sciences, engineering, materials, business and environmental sciences.
You can set up an individual profile which allows you to save searches and articles from the database. You can also e-mail records to yourself and set up alerts.
Sheffield Hallam University does not subscribe to all the content on this site.

Construction and Civil Engineering

You'll find most of the articles you need for your assignments by searching in Library Search.

However if you need to take a more in-depth approach to research, you may find these key journal databases useful.

American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Library
Search for articles in journals published by ASCE.

ASM Handbooks Online This link opens in a new window
A multi-volume reference guide to materials engineering. Contains in-depth articles on: material properties, characterisation and selection; working, treating and processing metals; testing materials; and corrosion, fatigue and failure. It includes many tables, diagrams and photographs. Although the handbook focuses primarily on metals, it also includes information on non-metallic materials. Also includes the Metals Handbook and the Engineered Materials Handbook (which looks at polymers, ceramics, composites and adhesives).

Association of Researchers in Construction Management (ARCOM)
The CM Abstracts and Indexes section of the site allows you to search for articles from several construction management journals, recent ARCOM Conference Proceedings and PhD theses.

ASTM Compass This link opens in a new window
Full-text PDFs of active and historical engineering, construction and materials-testing standards from the ASTM, Peer-reviewed journals, conference papers and books including their Special Technical Papers.
You can also search withdrawn standards or work items (standards in development) but full text may not always be available.
Material from this database is also accessible via Library Search
Construction Information Service This link opens in a new window
Please use your University email address to register for an Accuris account so you can access Construction Information Service.

An index and summary of standards, regulatory and advisory documents for the UK construction industry plus their full-text images. Covers documents essential to the design and construction of buildings, construction management, contract documents, health and safety and design guidance. Also includes a direct link to the Building regulations, the Metric handbook and BS 5588, Fire precautions in buildings together with a link to NBS BRAD. Updated weekly.
Engineering databases on ProQuest This link opens in a new window
A collection of 12 databases for mechanical engineering, civil engineering, electronics, materials science and environmental engineering .
The databases are also available to search individually, and the materials science databases can be searched together with our metallurgy databases as Proquest Materials Science. A single search allows you to retrieve articles from all the databases.

Real estate

You'll find most of the articles you need for your assignments by searching in Library Search.

However if you need to take a more in-depth approach to research, you may find these key journal databases useful.

Estates Gazette Interactive (EGI) This link opens in a new window
Electronic version of the weekly Estates gazette newspaper. Registration link.
Includes news updated in real time, commercial property market information, searchable research databases and companies and people information. Also includes the Property Law Service and current employment listings. Searchable news archive. Email news alerts.
ScienceDirect This link opens in a new window
ScienceDirect provides journal articles and eBooks on the physics, engineering, mathematics, life sciences, health, computing and social sciences. The default search includes both ebooks and journal articles. You can use filters in your results to select between them: alternatively, you can use the search tab. Search results for eBooks are at chapter level.
Alternative link via Shibboleth
Articles and eBooks can be downloaded, saved permanently and kept as PDFs that you can view offline.
ABI/INFORM Collection This link opens in a new window
ABI/INFORM Collection features thousands of full-text journals, dissertations, working papers, key business and economics periodicals such as the Economist, country-and industry-focused reports, and downloadable data. Its international coverage gives researchers a complete picture of companies and business trends around the world.

Environmental sciences

You'll find most of the articles you need for your assignments by searching in Library Search.

However if you need to take a more in-depth approach to research, you may find these key journal databases useful.

Environmental sciences databases on Proquest This link opens in a new window
A collection of Environmental Science databases.
GeoRef This link opens in a new window
The GeoRef database, established by the American Geosciences Institute (AGI) in 1966, provides access to the geoscience literature of the world. GeoRef is the most comprehensive AGI database in the geosciences and continues to grow by more than 80,000 references a year. The database contains over 3.6 million references to geoscience journal articles, books, maps, conference papers, reports and theses.
GreenFILE This link opens in a new window
GreenFILE offers well-researched information covering all aspects of human impact to the environment. Its collection of scholarly, government and general-interest titles includes content on global warming, green building, pollution, sustainable agriculture, renewable energy, recycling, and more. The database provides indexing and abstracts for more than 384,000 records, as well as Open Access full text for more than 4,700 records.
Engineering databases on ProQuest This link opens in a new window
The databases are also available to search individually, and the materials science databases can be searched together with our metallurgy databases as ProqQuest Materials Science. A single search allows you to retrieve articles from all the databases. This includes Earthquake Engineering Abstracts.
The databases are also available to search individually, and the materials science databases can be searched together with our metallurgy databases as Proquest Materials Science. A single search allows you to retrieve articles from all the databases.