UCI Law Research Guides: Foreign Law Research: Journal Articles

Source Collection

Step 1: Try HeinOnline

HeinOnline - Law Journal Library
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In addition to U.S. law journals, HeinOnline contains the full text PDFs for many foreign (including non-English language) journals in its International & Non-U.S. Law Journals collection.

Search HeinOnline for articles by citation: [Volume] [Journal Title Abbreviation] [First Page]

Step 2: Decipher the citation

If the article isn't in HeinOnline, find the complete journal title using Cardiff. If Cardiff is unsuccessful, try the print resources on the Cases page.

Cardiff Index to Legal Abbreviations
Search for the name or abbreviation of law reports or law periodicals from over 295 jurisdictions worldwide to find information about the publication and its jurisdiction. Knowing the full name of the publication and relevant country can help you locate the law report or periodical online or in the library catalog.

Step 3: Locate a copy of the journal

Use the journal title (not article title) to find a copy of the journal, electronically or in print. Then, use the article citation to locate your article within the journal. If you're unsuccessful with one journal finding method below, try the other options.

UC Library Search
Search the library catalog by title to see if the journal is at UCI electronically or in print, or if you can request it via interlibrary loan.

Example: Advanced Search: Title contains Journal of the Indian Law Institute - Available in JSTOR.

UCI Libraries: Find e-Journal

Example: Boletín Mexicano de Derecho Comparado - Click UC-eLinks to find multiple electronic access options

Google Scholar (& Google)
Search the web using Google Scholar and Google or your search engine of choice to locate the journal or article on the web. Try searching the journal title, article title, and/or author's name. Use advanced search features for targeted searching. Articles might be available on the publisher's website, posted by the author on a site like SSRN, etc.

Example: ti:Kenya Law Review - Opening the first result shows selected journal volumes are in print at UC Berkeley and UCLA, and some non-UC libraries.

Request your article via interlibrary loan if your article is unavailable through UCI resources or on the web. Another library will typically scan the article and send it as a PDF. More details: ILL Q&A.

Researching Journal Articles

Legal journal indexes provide citations and selected access to articles published in the U.S. and worldwide. If full text for an article isn't available through the index, follow the Source Collection steps to locate it.

HeinOnline - Law Journal Library
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More than 3,300 law journals, including both primarily U.S.-focused journals and all journals in the International & Non-U.S. Law Journals subcollection.
HeinOnline - International & Non-U.S. Law Journals
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Sub collection of the HeinOnline Law Journal Library which contains over 1,500 journals on the subject of international law and/or published outside of the the U.S.

Legal Source
Citations from over 1,200 legal journals, yearbooks, institutes, bar association organs, law reviews, and government publications originating in the United States, Canada, Great Britain, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. Includes book reviews. Coverage: indexing since 1981; abstracts since 1990; select full text since 1995.
LegalTrac
Citations from over 1,200 journals, including major law reviews, legal newspapers, bar association journals and international legal journals. International coverage includes the British Commonwealth, European Union, and international law. Coverage: Indexing since 1980; full text of over 250 journals, some as early as 1980.
Index to Foreign Legal Periodicals
The Index to Foreign Legal Periodicals (IFLP) is the preeminent multilingual index to articles and book reviews appearing in over 800 legal journals published worldwide. It provides in-depth coverage of public and private international law, comparative and foreign law, and the law of all jurisdictions. IFLP also analyzes the contents of approximately fifty individually published collections of legal essays, Festschriften, Mélanges, and congress reports each year.

Legal Journals Index
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Indexes articles from legal journals published in the United Kingdom and Europe as well as journals covering topics pertaining to the laws of the European Community and its Member States.