This guide was created on 8/30/24 using the University of San Francisco: Dorraine Zief Law Library - Preemption Checking for Law Reviews and Journals as a template.
Beware of the so-called "full text" law review databases and sources.
Don't rely on solely on "full text" law review databases and sources on HeinOnline, Lexis, and Westlaw. No "full text" database truly has the text of all published law review and journal articles. You could miss plenty of preempting articles unless you use other article-finding tools — especially indexes — too.
It is particularly risky to limit your preemption check searches to the Lexis and Westlaw "full text" journal sources ("Law Reviews & Journals" on Westlaw and "Law Reviews and Journals" on Lexis). Here's why:
HeinOnline's Law Journal Library is almost comprehensive, but it lacks some journals, and sometimes lacks the latest volume of the journals it does have. Also its search engine, while quite powerful, does not readily let you limit your search to articles that are about a case, statute, or subject.
The law review and journal databases and sources on Lexis and Westlaw, while large, are not comprehensive, and are especially sparse before about 1995. And both Lexis and Westlaw have only a handful of articles published before 1980.
Natural language searches in the Lexis and Westlaw article sources, though not dispositive for preemption checks, can surface a selection of in-depth articles that should then cite to other relevant scholarship. Just be sure to combine those searches with terms and connectors searches and with searches in indexes and other sources.
Use the "advanced" search template to boost the relevance of your results.
Use the "Advanced Search" template to boost the relevance of your results.
SSRN and bepress specialize in scholarly working papers (articles in progress) and articles recently accepted for publication. Neither is a comprehensive source, but both will help you learn whether you might be preempted by an article that is about to be published.
Offers working papers and pre-prints from scholars and professionals at top law schools around the world.
Google Scholar, while not comprehensive, provides a quick way to get a cross-disciplinary set of articles. It can be especially useful as you start your research and are still refining your search terms.
Indexes scholarly materials such as journal articles. Also provides searchable full text access to federal and state case law.
So you have a citation to a great-sounding article — but not direct link to the full text.... How do you tell if the article is available at BLS? Just use BLS's "Find a Source" to look up the title of the journal that published the article. If that journal is available at BLS, it will (usually) show up in Find a Source.
(One caveat: Find a Source doesn't tell you if a journal is on Westlaw or on Lexis Advance.)
A to Z list of full text journals available in the library's subscription databases. Also includes selected open access journals. Use this list to find articles from a known citation.