Psychological & Brain Sciences

Guide to best UMass Library resources for research in psychology

Databases

This list is automatically generated by finding all of our databases that list psychology as an area of coverage from the publisher. Many of these databases are not psychology- or health-specific. Databases like Academic Search Premier aggregate articles from many different subjects, but do include some content specific to psychological and brain sciences.

I recommend that you:

Read the description to see if a database fits your need
Google the title to find out more about it
Try out the Database Best Bets box on the Home page
Schedule a Meeting with Melanie Radik, librarian for Psychological and Brain Sciences, to discuss the most useful tools and search strategies to find what you need

Journals

There are many, many journals that publish peer reviewed research articles in the psychological and brain sciences. Here are a few big names to watch, as they are highly regarded and widely read in the discipline. Depending on your area of interest, a more specific journal may be a better fit for content relevant to your research.

American Psychologist The flagship peer-reviewed scholarly journal of the American Psychological Association, American Psychologist publishes current and timely high-impact papers of broad interest. These papers include empirical reports, meta-analyses, and other types of scholarly reviews. Topics cover psychological science, practice, education, and policy. Contributions often address issues of national and international significance, both with regard to the profession of psychology and its relationship to society at large.
Journal of Applied Psychology Emphasizes the publication of original investigations that contribute new knowledge and understanding to fields of applied psychology (other than clinical and applied experimental or human factors, which are more appropriate for other APA journals). The journal primarily considers empirical and theoretical investigations that enhance understanding of cognitive, motivational, affective, and behavioral psychological phenomena in work and organizational settings, broadly defined.
The Lancet Psychiatry Publishes original research that advocates change in, or illuminates, psychiatric practice. Topics considered by the journal include psychopharmacology, psychotherapy, and psychosocial approaches to all psychiatric disorders, across the life course. We cover innovative treatments and the biological research underpinning such developments, novel methods of service delivery, and new ways of thinking about mental illness promoted by social psychiatry.
Nature Human Behaviour Features a broad range of topics, including (but not limited to) perception, action, memory, learning, reward, judgment, decision-making, language, communication, emotion, personality, social cognition, social behaviour, neuropsychiatric/neurodevelopmental/neurological disorders, economic & political behaviour, belief systems, social networks, social norms, social structures, behaviour change, collective cognition and behaviour, culture, public policy. Publishes original research, Reviews, Perspectives, Comments, News, Features, and Correspondence.
Nature Neuroscience Publishes molecular, cellular, systems and cognitive neuroscience, as well as psychophysics, computational modeling and diseases of the nervous system, with emphasis on research that provides fundamental insights into the functioning of the nervous system. Covers primary research, news and views, reviews, editorials, commentaries, perspectives, book reviews and correspondence.
Neuron Publishes articles on interdisciplinary strategies which integrate biophysical, cellular, developmental, and molecular approaches with a systems approach to sensory, motor, and higher-order cognitive functions.

Some journals focus exclusively on review articles. These are invaluable in offering a comprehensive synthesis of the state of research on a particular topic, outlining our current knowledge and the gaps in our understanding.

Review Journals

Psychological Bulletin The APA's flagship review journal, publishes evidence syntheses of research in scientific psychology. Evidence syntheses may take many forms (e.g., systematic reviews, meta-analyses, meta-reviews). Evidence syntheses that develop connections between areas of research are particularly valuable.
Clinical Psychology Review Publishes substantive reviews of topics germane to clinical psychology. Papers cover diverse issues including: psychopathology, psychotherapy, behavior therapy, cognition and cognitive therapies, behavioral medicine, community mental health, assessment, and child development. Papers should be cutting edge and advance the science and/or practice of clinical psychology.
Annual Review of Psychology Covers the significant developments in the field of psychology, including: biological bases of behavior, sensation and perception, cognitive processes, animal learning and behavior, human development, psychopathology, clinical and counseling psychology, social psychology, personality, environmental psychology, community psychology, and more.
Annual Review of Neuroscience Covers the significant developments across the entire field of neuroscience, including molecular and cellular neuroscience, neurogenetics, development, plasticity and repair, systems neuroscience, cognitive neuroscience, behavior, and neurobiology of disease, with occasional reviews in history of neuroscience and ethics.
Trends in Cognitive Sciences Brings together research in psychology, artificial intelligence, linguistics, philosophy, computer science and neuroscience. Provides overview of current thinking for scientists, students and teachers who want to keep up with the latest developments in the cognitive sciences.

Article Alerts

If you are researching for a large paper such as your thesis or dissertation, or for an ongoing research project, you will want to repeat your searches regularly so as not to miss any new articles. An alternative to regularly repeating your searches is to set up alerts in a database or journal to automatically email you a notification when an article of interest becomes available. There area few different types:

Saved Search - you have run a search in a database and have your results list of articles. Most databases have the option to create a Saved Search alert to notify you when new articles fit your search parameters. See the guide below for more detail on setting up this type of alert in Web of Science and PubMed

Journal Alert - Many databases also allow you to set up an alert for new content from a specific publication. See the guide for Web of Science specifics.

Citation Alerts - Pick an article (yours, your adviser's, etc.) and create an alert anytime a new article lists the selected article as a citation. See the guide for how to set this up in Web of Science, but Google Scholar can also do this.

Journal Alerts - Most journals will notify you when a new articles are posted if you create an individual account with them. It's another way to keep an eye on a journal of interest if you'd rather not create an individual account through Web of Science. See the guide for examples and links.

Article Alerts Guide
See step-by-step instructions with screenshots on setting up the different types of alerts in Web of Science and PubMed.
Downloadable PDF.
Created by BMB students Nora Haggerty '22, Ethan Goulart '22, and Saoirse Hanbury '23.