Music: Journal Articles & Databases

Information about books, scores, CDs, journals, databases and other useful music resources.

What Is Peer Review?

Articles in peer reviewed journals have been assessed before publication by subject experts. This means they are the 'gold' standard in academic articles. You will be expected to use peer reviewed journal articles in your assignments.

Finding Articles on Reading Lists

Try this first

You can look up articles in OneSearch, our resource discovery service.

Put the exact title of the article in inverted commas.

If we can provide an instant link you will see the journal article displayed - click Full Text Online to access the text.

Next steps:

If we cannot provide a quick article link or it fails, then search for the name of the whole Journal instead of the article title e.g. "Journal of Common Market Studies"

For print-only journals you will be shown the location and shelfmark, so that you can locate the volume on the shelf

For electronic journals, click to link to the full journal and then navigate to the year, volume and issue that you want to see your article: or there may be an option to search for the article title provided by the online journal portal in which case key in the article in that box.

Search for a Journal Title

Not seeing a searchbox? Click here

Key Databases for Music

Databases allow you to search across a range of different journals, books and other publications for information on a specific topic. Databases contain peer-reviewed, scholarly material. Links to the full-text will be provided, where available, by UCD Library.

JSTOR This link opens in a new window
Digital library of important scholarly archived journals spanning many subject disciplines. IReL provides access to the following collections: Arts & Sciences I-VII, XI-XII; Ireland Collection; Life Sciences Collection.
MLA International Bibliography (EBSCO) This link opens in a new window
The MLA International Bibliography contains more than 1.7 million records for books and articles published on modern languages, literatures, folklore, and linguistics.
Naxos Music Library This link opens in a new window
Large collection of classical and world music that includes several big labels including EMI, Naxos, and Marco Polo. The recordings are accompanied by descriptions, translations, essays, etc.
Oxford Music Online (OUP) This link opens in a new window
Oxford Music Online offers a dynamic research tool combining the full text of the 29-volume print edition with the added benefit of sophisticated search capabilities, one-click cross-referencing, and an ever increasing network of web-links to musical sites around the world.
RILM Abstracts of Music Literature (EBSCO) This link opens in a new window
Produced by Rapertoire International de Litterature Musicale, this comprehensive music bibliography features citations, abstracts and subject indexing. RILM Abstracts of Music Literature's coverage spans 1967 to the present, and the database is updated monthly.

RISM Music Manuscripts Database
Provides details of music manuscripts dating from between 1600 and 1800 preserved in national, public, and academic libraries in the U.K., and in the country's record offices and other public archives. It also includes details of music manuscripts held by some Dublin libraries.