Research Resources

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Whether you are drafting a report at work, exploring best practices, or simply staying informed, accessing quality academic research is essential. Below are some reliable tools and platforms that can help you find, filter, and understand academic studies.

Before you start searching, there are two terms you should know: peer review and pre-prints.

Academic research undergoes double-blind peer review, which means that other academic experts anonymously read an article and give feedback to the authors and editors before the article is accepted for publication. The quality of peer review process varies across journals but is generally thought to increase the trustworthiness of publications. Some academic outputs may have experienced very little peer review. Try to cite peer reviewed research as much as possible.

Pre-prints are early versions of research papers shared publicly before peer review stage. They are useful for accessing the latest findings, especially in fast-moving fields and can offer insights into emerging ideas or new perspectives. However, because they haven’t been formally reviewed, their accuracy isn’t guaranteed, and conclusions may change in later versions. Pre-prints can be valuable for being at the cutting edge but beware that this may be a ‘bleeding edge’ and findings should be used with caution - especially when informing policy or making decisions.

Happy searching!

1. Google Scholar
A user-friendly and widely accessible tool, Google Scholar (external link) allows you to search across a broad range of scholarly articles, books, and conference papers. . It often links directly to full-text versions when available. However, if you hit a paywall, consider contacting the corresponding author and/or try ResearchGate (external link).

2. ResearchGate
A network where researchers upload their own publications and collaborate with others. ResearchGate (external link) often allows you to request full-text copies of papers directly from authors, which can be useful if you hit a paywall. The version that authors share is sometimes called the “author accepted manuscript”, which is the final version or accepted version of the paper after peer review.

3. The Conversation

The Conversation (external link) publishes research-based articles written by academics and edited for clarity and relevance to the general public. It’s a great way to access expert insights on current issues in a digestible format.

4. PubMed

Ideal for those working in health, medicine, or public health, PubMed (external link) is a free resource maintained by the U.S. National Library of Medicine, covering biomedical literature from MEDLINE, life science journals, and online books.

5. Cochrane Library

The Cochrane Library (external link) is an online source of evidence on the effectiveness of a wide range of health care interventions. Its content comprises full text Cochrane systematic reviews published online, structured abstracts of other systematic reviews published in medical and health journals, and a register of controlled clinical trials. It is largely free to the UK public, including NHS staff, universities and so on.

6. arXiv

A repository of preprints, arXiv (external link) is one of the best places to freely access research in the field of physics, mathematics, computer science, quantitative biology, quantitative finance, statistics, electrical engineering and systems science, and economics.

7. SocArXiv

The open archive of social sciences, SocArXiv (external link) provides a free platform for social scientists to upload working papers, preprints, and published papers. The subjects include Social and Behavioural Sciences, Law, Education, and Arts and Humanities.

8. National Trust Research Repository

For ecology and nature-related work, The National Trust Research Repository (external link) is an open access repository for the research outputs produced by staff, either individually or in collaboration with research associates of the National Trust.

9. Elicit

Elicit (external link) is an AI-powered research assistant designed to streamline academic literature reviews. It can help generate summaries, identify key papers, and uncover relevant methodologies based on your research questions.

10. JSTOR

Anyone can sign up for a free Jstor (external link) account which is a fantastic place to find digitized back issues of academic journals. The database contains journal articles, books, images and primary sources in many disciplines from around the world.

Some more tips:

Use keywords and Boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT) with keywords to refine your search.

For example, you may be interested in how waste collection affects community health outcomes. Typing “waste collection community health” might give too many results, some of which may be irrelevant. If you specify “waste collection” AND “community health”, you will get search results that contain both these terms. You can also use OR to capture different ways these concepts are discussed. So, (“waste collection” OR “garbage disposal” OR “waste management”) AND (“community health” OR “public health” OR “health outcomes” OR “disease prevention”) may give you more comprehensive and relevant results.

Look for systematic reviews and meta-analyses when you want high-level summaries of research evidence.

Don’t hesitate to reach out to authors for copies of papers or further clarification. Academic authors can increasingly be reached on LinkedIn too, and universities have public engagement and policy dissemination teams who can also help access research. Core message: do not be deterred by the paywall!


Click here for Cymraeg

Whether you are drafting a report at work, exploring best practices, or simply staying informed, accessing quality academic research is essential. Below are some reliable tools and platforms that can help you find, filter, and understand academic studies.

Before you start searching, there are two terms you should know: peer review and pre-prints.

Academic research undergoes double-blind peer review, which means that other academic experts anonymously read an article and give feedback to the authors and editors before the article is accepted for publication. The quality of peer review process varies across journals but is generally thought to increase the trustworthiness of publications. Some academic outputs may have experienced very little peer review. Try to cite peer reviewed research as much as possible.

Pre-prints are early versions of research papers shared publicly before peer review stage. They are useful for accessing the latest findings, especially in fast-moving fields and can offer insights into emerging ideas or new perspectives. However, because they haven’t been formally reviewed, their accuracy isn’t guaranteed, and conclusions may change in later versions. Pre-prints can be valuable for being at the cutting edge but beware that this may be a ‘bleeding edge’ and findings should be used with caution - especially when informing policy or making decisions.

Happy searching!

1. Google Scholar
A user-friendly and widely accessible tool, Google Scholar (external link) allows you to search across a broad range of scholarly articles, books, and conference papers. . It often links directly to full-text versions when available. However, if you hit a paywall, consider contacting the corresponding author and/or try ResearchGate (external link).

2. ResearchGate
A network where researchers upload their own publications and collaborate with others. ResearchGate (external link) often allows you to request full-text copies of papers directly from authors, which can be useful if you hit a paywall. The version that authors share is sometimes called the “author accepted manuscript”, which is the final version or accepted version of the paper after peer review.

3. The Conversation

The Conversation (external link) publishes research-based articles written by academics and edited for clarity and relevance to the general public. It’s a great way to access expert insights on current issues in a digestible format.

4. PubMed

Ideal for those working in health, medicine, or public health, PubMed (external link) is a free resource maintained by the U.S. National Library of Medicine, covering biomedical literature from MEDLINE, life science journals, and online books.

5. Cochrane Library

The Cochrane Library (external link) is an online source of evidence on the effectiveness of a wide range of health care interventions. Its content comprises full text Cochrane systematic reviews published online, structured abstracts of other systematic reviews published in medical and health journals, and a register of controlled clinical trials. It is largely free to the UK public, including NHS staff, universities and so on.

6. arXiv

A repository of preprints, arXiv (external link) is one of the best places to freely access research in the field of physics, mathematics, computer science, quantitative biology, quantitative finance, statistics, electrical engineering and systems science, and economics.

7. SocArXiv

The open archive of social sciences, SocArXiv (external link) provides a free platform for social scientists to upload working papers, preprints, and published papers. The subjects include Social and Behavioural Sciences, Law, Education, and Arts and Humanities.

8. National Trust Research Repository

For ecology and nature-related work, The National Trust Research Repository (external link) is an open access repository for the research outputs produced by staff, either individually or in collaboration with research associates of the National Trust.

9. Elicit

Elicit (external link) is an AI-powered research assistant designed to streamline academic literature reviews. It can help generate summaries, identify key papers, and uncover relevant methodologies based on your research questions.

10. JSTOR

Anyone can sign up for a free Jstor (external link) account which is a fantastic place to find digitized back issues of academic journals. The database contains journal articles, books, images and primary sources in many disciplines from around the world.

Some more tips:

Use keywords and Boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT) with keywords to refine your search.

For example, you may be interested in how waste collection affects community health outcomes. Typing “waste collection community health” might give too many results, some of which may be irrelevant. If you specify “waste collection” AND “community health”, you will get search results that contain both these terms. You can also use OR to capture different ways these concepts are discussed. So, (“waste collection” OR “garbage disposal” OR “waste management”) AND (“community health” OR “public health” OR “health outcomes” OR “disease prevention”) may give you more comprehensive and relevant results.

Look for systematic reviews and meta-analyses when you want high-level summaries of research evidence.

Don’t hesitate to reach out to authors for copies of papers or further clarification. Academic authors can increasingly be reached on LinkedIn too, and universities have public engagement and policy dissemination teams who can also help access research. Core message: do not be deterred by the paywall!


Page last updated: 29 May 2025, 01:49 PM