The MLA Directory of Periodicals contains information on over 6,000 journals and book series that fall within the scope of the MLA International Bibliography. This information has been gathered by the MLA staff with the cooperation of MLA bibliographers and the editors represented in the listings. The entries list editorial addresses, phone numbers, fax numbers, e-mail addresses, frequency of publication, descriptions of scope, circulation figures, subscription prices and addresses, advertising information, links to online content, peer review, and submission guidelines. The directory also provides statistics on the number of articles and book reviews published each year, as well as how many are submitted.
You can read more about the The MLA Directory of Periodicals on the MLA website.
1. Advanced Search Form and Pull-down Menus
Boolean, proximity, and field codes are supported. The default is to search for ALL terms entered. Separate terms with OR to find any of the terms. To search for an exact phrase, use "quotation marks" around your search.
When running a search, the search default from the pull-down menu is set to Anywhere. Anywhere searches the full bibliographic record. Other search fields can also be chosen from the pull-down menu such as abstract, author, document title, and publication title.
For a full listing, description, and examples of how to format a search using field codes indexed in MLA International Bibliography, please visit the Searchable Fields tab of this guide.
2. Limits and fields
Peer reviewed is a limit that appear in the Directory of Periodicals. The visibility of this limit is determined by your ProQuest Administrator Module settings. Whether or not any of it is checked by default is also determined by your ProQuest Administrator Module settings.
Checking the Peer reviewed limit will restrict your search to only search and retrieve records for peer reviewed journals. Peer reviewed journals are defined as journals that undergo a review process where other experts (peers) in the field review the work before it is published in the journal. Peer reviewed journals are also commonly known as refereed journals.
Actively indexed my MLA means that the title is still being indexed by the MLA. Titles may have ceased or the MLA may decide that a particular journal has altered in its focus over the years and so now falls outside of their editorial criteria.
You can also limit to Source type: Journals only, Series only or Journals or Series.
For the limits Publication title, Subject heading (all), Language, Sponsoring organization, Publisher, Country and Editor you are able to use Look Ups.
You are also able to limit to Publication Information.
For more information about those specific fields and how to use look Ups please see the Searchable Fields tab of this guide.
3. Display Options
The Sort results by menu controls the sort order of the records that appear in the results page. Sort by relevance, date (oldest first), or date (most recent first). Relevance is determined by an algorithm that factors in the number of times your search terms appear in the record as well where in the record your search terms appear.
Items per page is used to select how many results will display on the results page. Choose from 10, 20, 50, or 100 items.
Duplicates can appear in ProQuest if the item is indexed in more than one database or collection. The default behavior is to suppress the duplicate, however, if you would like the duplicate items to appear in the results, select to include duplicate documents.
4. Thesaurus
MLA thesaurus and MLA Personal names
A thesaurus developed by the MLA thesaurus staff is used to standardize the terms used in the database. Terms come from the literature itself. To reflect the changing needs and interests of the scholarly community, the thesaurus undergoes constant revision. At present over 49,000 terms and 327,000 names are controlled..
For additional details on how to use the thesauri and search using the subject field, please see the Searchable Fields tab of this guide.
