Film and Media Studies

Selected databases

Film and media studies databases

Film & Television Literature Index This link opens in a new window
The definitive online tool for film and television literature including film & television theory, preservation & restoration, screenwriting, and production.

Multidisciplinary databases that include film and media studies-related content

Arts and Humanities Citation Index This link opens in a new window
Bibliographic and citation information for journal articles in the arts and humanities from 1975-present. Part of the Web of Science Core Collection.
JSTOR This link opens in a new window
JSTOR provides access to more than 12 million academic journal articles, books, and primary sources in 75 disciplines. Includes the full text of 19 Film Studies journals.
ProjectMUSE This link opens in a new window
Project MUSE is a digital library of books and journals in the humanities and social sciences from over 200 of the world’s most distinguished university presses and scholarly societies.
MLA International Bibliography This link opens in a new window
Indexes over 3,000 journals and series in the fields of literature, language, linguistics, film, folklore and drama. Also covers relevant books, working papers, proceedings, bibliographies, and other formats.

Databases for related fields

Women's Studies International This link opens in a new window
This database includes nearly 800 essential sources in women's and gender studies including journals, newspapers, newsletters, bulletins, books, book chapters, proceedings, reports, theses, dissertations, NGO studies, websites and web documents and grey literature.
Art & Architecture Source This link opens in a new window
Detailed indexing and abstracts for many leading academic journals, magazines and trade publications. More than 480 peer-reviewed full-text journals with 770 full-text journals in total as well as over 200 full-text books and a collection of over 63,000 images. Topics covered include art in all media, art history and criticism, architecture, archaeology, museum studies, graphic arts and advertising, product design, interior design, costume and set design, and television, video, & film from all parts of the world and all periods of time.
International Bibliography of Art This link opens in a new window
Includes abstracts and indexes (1945-) for books, articles, proceedings, and catalogues. Visual arts in all media are covered: painting, sculpture, drawing, video, installations, new media, decorative and applied arts, museum studies and conservation, archaeology, folk art and material culture, classical studies, antiques, architectural history.

Selected Journals

Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies
An international peer-reviewed academic journal which was set up in 1995 to address the creative, social, political and pedagogical issues raised by the advent of new media technologies.
Feminist Media Histories
Publishes original research, oral histories, primary documents, conference reports, and archival news on radio, television, film, video, digital technologies, and other media across a range of historical periods and global contexts.
Feminist Media Studies
A transdisciplinary and transnational forum for researchers pursuing feminist approaches within the field of media and communication studies. Focuses attention on the historical, philosophical, cultural, social, political, and economic dimensions of media and communication and provides analysis of sites including print and electronic media, film and the arts, and new media technologies.
Film Quarterly
This peer-reviewed journal from the University of California Press offers "analyses of international cinemas, current blockbusters and Hollywood classics, documentaries, animation, and independent, avant-garde, and experimental film and video" and examines "all aspects of film history, film theory, and the impact of film, video, and television on culture, society, and the academy."
International Journal of Communication (IJoC)
The International Journal of Communication is an interdisciplinary journal that, while centered in communication, is open and welcoming to contributions from the many disciplines and approaches that meet at the crossroads that is communication study.
Journal of Cinema and Media Studies
Formerly known Cinema Journal, the Journal of Cinema and Media Studies is the peer-reviewed, scholarly publication of the Society for Cinema and Media Studies (SCMS). JCMS's basic mission is to foster engaged debate and rigorous thinking among humanities scholars of film, television, digital media, and other audiovisual technologies.
Journal of Visual Culture
Journal of Visual Culture is an international refereed (peer-reviewed) journal that welcomes compelling, critically engaged contributions that explore and expand trans-disciplinary global visual cultures.
Media Industries Journal
Media Industries is a peer-reviewed, open access journal that supports critical studies of media industries, institutions, and policies worldwide.
New Media & Society
New Media & Society is a peer-reviewed, international journal that provides an interdisciplinary forum for the examination of the social dynamics of media and information change.
Social Media + Society
Social Media + Society (SM+S) is a peer-reviewed, open access journal that focuses on advancing the understanding of social media and its impact on societies past, present and future.
Surveilance & Society
The international, interdisciplinary, open access, peer-reviewed journal of Surveillance Studies.
Television & New Media
Television & New Media is peer-reviewed, international journal showcasing key intellectual developments in television and new media studies.
Velvet Light Trap (1990 - present)
The Velvet Light Trap is a scholarly, peer-reviewed journal of film, television, and new media. For earlier issues, use this link.

Is it peer reviewed?

Journals

Some of the library's databases search primarily scholarly, peer reviewed sources (for example, JStor and ProjectMUSE). Others provide filters that allow you to limit your results to scholarly peer-reviewed sources (for example, Discover, Film & Television Literature Index, MLA International Bibliography). Those filters are not always perfect, so keep in mind that you can also use Google to find a journal's website and check their "submissions" or "instructions for authors" information to determine if they are peer reviewed or refereed (another term sometimes used for peer review).

Note: Even if a journal uses the peer review process that does not mean that every item in the journal is peer reviewed! Research articles are, but shorter pieces like news articles, letters to the editor, and reviews (of a book, film, play, exhibit, etc.) are not.

Books

If a book is nonfiction and published by a university press, that's usually a pretty good sign that it has been peer reviewed. However, there are some commercial publishers that publish scholarly, peer reviewed books (for example, Routledge, Bloomsbury Academic, Wiley-Blackwell). When in doubt, ask a librarian!