Chemistry

Primary Journals
Original research is the foundation of the primary journals. Generally, each paper is submitted by research chemists describing the purpose of the research, the experimental results with discussion, and the summary and significance of the research. The authors also submit an abstract.

Articles submitted to these journals are reviewed by external referees (peers) whose judgment of the work determines whether the manuscript is accepted, perhaps with revisions, or rejected. Even with the review process, the responsibility for the data presented and the discussions offered rests with the researcher(s) who submitted the manuscript.

There are three main types of journal articles used in chemistry:

• Full papers -comprehensive, critical accounts of the solution of significant problems. Papers are not usually limited in length.
• Letters/Notes -concise accounts describing novel observations, new methods of wide applicability or interest, or focused studies of general interest. Letters and notes are limited in length to four printed journal pages
• Communications - generally restricted to reports of unusual urgency, timeliness, significance, and broad interest.Communications are limited in length (usually two pages) and are rapidly put in print. They are normally followed with a Full Paper at a future date.

Many of the foreign journals, i.e., Bulletin de la Societé Chimique de France, Chemical Pharmaceutical Bulletin, Japan (English), Journal of General Chemistry of the USSR (English translation), Acta Chemica Scandinavica (English), Bulletin of the Chemical Society of Japan (English), contain important, fundamental work. Although English is the major scientific language, it is important to understand scientific German, French and Russian.

Review Journals
Like monographs, review journals usually contain issues that are limited to one or two related topics prepared by experts in the field. These publications generally give a historical and critical discussion of the subject matter and provide a convenient list of reference materials. A student should not limit a literature search to review articles even if the author's bibliography is extensive. It is important to keep up with the current literature since the publication of papers usually takes an average of six to eighteen months from when the paper is first written.

Core journals listed on the left column may be accessed and searched individually or in groups by using databases. There are general databases that cover multiple disciplines (e.g., OneSearch), databases that cover the sciences, and those that focus on one subject or discipline (e.g., SciFinder Scholar). 

If you need an article that is not available at UWF, you can request it through Interlibrary Loan at no cost.

Articles are delivered electronically to your ILL account, and you will notified when they are received.  Most articles are received in about 24-48 hours, but it can take up to 5 days.