The role of photography in our world and in our society is pervasive. Photography has been used not only (or even most importantly) as an art form but also to document, to teach, to illustrate, to advertise, to persuade - among many other things. For this reason, finding articles on photographs and photography can cross virtually every disciplinary boundary, including the scientific and technical aspects of photography that cover equipment, processing techniques, and materials.
Consequently, articles about the various aspects of photography can be found in many different types of databases and bibliographies and there is no one authoritative or central source for this literature. The researcher must be prepared to search in many different places.
Adding to the complexity of finding periodical literature in the field of photography is the necessity to make the distinction between articles on photography, its history/theory/philosophy and processes and artistic merits, and articles that include photography in ways that are innovative, historically important, or that come to be important in the study of the art and visual culture of the photograph.
Luckily, precisely because of these challenges, photography is a field in which much bibliographic work has been done. A few important and/or representative resources are suggested below, but a key suggestion is to try searching any library catalog, or WorldCat, for bibliographies on the area of photography being researched (e.g. photography and: medicine, fashion, war, journalism, advertising, propaganda, etc.)
For articles on photography, all of the following databases are important research tools. Finding periodical literature that includes photography is more challenging. The databases below may provide good starting points, but any research may also rely heavily on bibliography (and hopefully will also contribute to it!)