Which business and management journal database is best?

The following graphic from JISC-ADAT (Academic Database Assesment Tool) illustrates why there is no definitive answer to questions like:  

• Is ABI Inform (Proquest) or Business Source Premier (EBSCO) better?

The ADAT screenshot below shows the results of comparing:

• ABI Inform (Proquest) – over 3000 business and management publications – many in full-text
• Business Source Premier (EBSCO) – over 6000 business publications – many in full-text
• Scopus – over 18,000 top journals (all subjects) bibliographic information only

Journal database comparison from JISC ADAT - Click on image and then select ABI/INFORM, Business Source Premier and Scopus to re-create

Comparing ABI Inform and Business Source Premier: While there is an overlap between these two, searching just one of these databases will ignore a large number of publications/titles that is available in the other.

Comparing ABI Inform, Business Source Premier and Scopus: Most top academic journals are covered by Scopus, but these are just part of what is available through ABI Inform and Business Source Premier. Even considering just the publications/titles covered by Scopus, only about half of the titles are covered by both ABI Inform and Business Source Premier.

Related Manchester Business Answers 24/7 (FAQ) Questions:

• Why are there different databases providing journal articles?
• Where can I find journal articles for my research topic?
• Where can I find information about doing a literature search?

It is best to explore different journal databases – you will probably find what is best depends on the type of results you are seeking.

Literature searching

We have updated some FAQ entries related to literature searching:

• Where can I find information about doing a literature search?
• Where can I find journal articles for my research topic?
• Why are there different databases providing journal articles?

A standard literature search involves an actively searching e-journal databases. An alternative approach is to use current awareness services:  set up one or more alerts or RSS filters for your topic and get the latest research sent to you.

Whatever the scale of your literature search you need to consider how you are going to manage the references you gather. You can use a reference management software package (e.g. EndNote, EndNote Web, Zotero, …) or keep your own “master file” with the full citation information for all your references.

If you have suggestions for making literature searching more effective and efficient, please leave a comment.

Additional notes:

It has proved surprisingly hard to find  journal articles about literature searching for business and management.  A couple are included in the answer, “Where can I find information about doing a literature search?“ If you are looking for something short and readable, the article “Conducting a literature review” (Rowley and Slack, 2004) aims to provide pragmatic guidance to students rather than contribute to academic research on literature searching.

Rowley, J. and Slack, F. (2004) Conducting a literature review, Management Research News, 27 (6), 31 – 39. Available from http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/01409170410784185 [Accessed 09 Nov. 2010].

Journal Rankings

Journal rankings are often used to identify the top research journals in a field.

We have updated the FAQ answer:
Where can I find a ranking and rating of business and management journals?
to make the distinction between general rankings and those specific to business and managment clearer.

Journal ranking is not perfect and there is significant research into its effectiveness. For example, the Journal Citation Report (JCR) rankings are strict in terms of the journals covered (with natural and life sciences better covered than social sciences) so journal focussed on new emerging areas do not score well.

Brief demo video http://screencast.com/t/gHdnrEvcwH accessing JCR rankings