I average a little over three hours weekly scanning medical and psychological journals on the internet. Typically I zoom through the article titles looking for anything relevant to stress, health & wellbeing. If something seems interesting, I read the article's abstract.  I may well then download it to my bibliographic database - I use EndNote. Currently I have well over 19,000 references stored and the number grows steadily.  Sometimes I'll get hold of the text of the full article - by subscribing to the journal, buying the article, searching for the author's academic website, or emailing the corresponding author directly.  I use this information I glean to improve my treatment of clients who come to me for help, and as a basis for talks and articles.

I also send monthly lists of relevant articles to four groups I'm involved with - the charity Action on Depression Scotland, accredited members of the British Association for Behavioural & Cognitive Psychotherapies (BABCP), the journal editor of the British Holistic Medical Association (BHMA), and members of the BABCP special interest group on Compassion.  I post copies of these four mailings onto this blog each month too under the heading "Recent research: articles from ... journals".

I routinely scan over 50 journals (see below for the current mix) and I also scatter-gun out from there following up leads to other interesting research. It may all seem a lot, and it is ... but I'm very lucky to be fascinated by this emerging research. I quite often get the same kind of excited pleasure from opening up these journals as I used to as a kid when I got my hands on a new comic.

Weekly journals: British Medical Journal; Journal of the American Medical Association.

Fortnightly journals: Psychiatric News

Monthly journals: American Journal of Clinical Nutrition; American Journal of Psychiatry; Behavior Research and Therapy; BMC Psychiatry; British Journal of Psychiatry; British Journal of Sports Medicine; British Psychological Society Research Digest; Cochrane Library; Greater Good Digests; JAMA Psychiatry ; Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry; Journal of Clinical Psychiatry; Journal of Personality and Social Psychology; Journal of Psychosomatic Research; Journal of Sexual Medicine; Mindfulness Research Guide; Psychological Medicine; Psychological Science; Psychiatric Services; Psychosomatic Medicine; Social Indicators Research 

Every two months: Academic Psychiatry; Attachment & Human Development; Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy; Behavior Modification; Biopsychosocial Medicine; Bipolar Disorders; BMC Psychology; Cognitive Therapy and Research; Emotion; International Journal of Wellbeing; Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology; Journal of Happiness Studies; Journal of Positive Psychology; Journal of Research in Personality; Journal of Traumatic Stress; Psychotherapy Research; Social Psychological & Personality Science

Every three months: Applied Psychology: Health and Well-Being; Behavior Therapy; Cognitive and Behavioral Practice; Cognitive Behaviour Therapist; Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice; FOCUS; Group Dynamics; Journal of Cognitive Psychotherapy; Journal of Marital and Family Therapy; Mindfulness; Motivation and Emotion; Personal Relationships; Psychology of Well-Being