Selected Databases
- SciFinder-n This link opens in a new window
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NOTE: Links to the new CAS SciFinder-n (classic SciFinder is no longer available) - Web of Science (WoS) This link opens in a new window
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A collection of databases that can be searched individually or in various combinations. WoS indexs the world’s leading scholarly literature in the sciences, social sciences, arts, & humanities, as published in journals, conference proceedings, symposia, seminars, colloquia, & workshops across the globe. - Reaxys This link opens in a new window
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A search & retrieval system for chemical compounds, bibliographic data, & chemical reactions. Learn more about this database. - CRC Handbook of Chemistry & Physics This link opens in a new windowConcise, reliable reference source spanning the full range of the physical sciences & focusing on key data that are needed by R&D professionals, scientists, engineers, & students. Contains property data on chemical compounds & all physical particles that have been reported in the literature. (Coverage: Latest ed. plus archive back to 84th [2003-2004] ed.
- SpringerMaterials This link opens in a new windowCurated data & advanced functionalities to support research in materials science, physics, chemistry, engineering, & other related fields.
- Science of Synthesis This link opens in a new windowScience of Synthesis helps you get up to speed on a chosen field of research quickly and is essential in helping you complete the design of your synthetic strategy. See the "Vendor Training Materials" tab for more information.
- Cambridge Structural Database (CSD) This link opens in a new windowRepository for small-molecule organic and metal-organic crystal structures.
- ChemSpider This link opens in a new windowChemSpider is a free chemical structure database providing fast text and structure search access to 58+ million structures from hundreds of data sources.
- ICSD Web This link opens in a new windowA comprehensive database on fully determined inorganic crystal structures
- CompTox Chemicals Dashboard | EPAThe Dashboard contains chemistry, toxicity and exposure information for over one million chemicals, with over 300 chemical lists based on structure or category. Webpage provides links to the Dashboard and to its Resource Hub.
- ScienceOpenScienceOpen serves as a professional networking platform and offers a freely accessible search and discovery platform with smart filters, topical collections and input from the academic community (post-publication peer review, recommendation, social sharing).
- Academic OneFile This link opens in a new window
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A premier source for peer-reviewed, full-text articles from scholarly journals & other authoritative sources. Also includes thousands of podcasts & transcripts from NPR & CNN, as well as videos from BBC Worldwide Learning. (Coverage: 1980 --) - BIOSIS Citation Index This link opens in a new window
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Adds citation indexing to BIOSIS content & is a thorough reference database for life sciences. Includes cited references to primary journal literature on biological & medical research findings, discoveries of new organisms. Traditional areas such as botany, zoology, microbiology, as well as related fields like biomedicine, agriculture, pharmacology, ecology are covered. Interdisciplinary fields like medicine, biochemistry, biophysics, bioengineering, biotechnology are also included. (Coverage: 1926 --) - Biological Science Collection This link opens in a new window
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Iincludes the Biological Sciences, MEDLINE & TOXLINE databases. Provides full-text titles from around the world, including scholarly journals, trade & industry journals, magazines, technical reports, conference proceedings, & government publications. Can also be searched as part of the Natural Science Collection. (Coverage: 1946 --)
- PubChem PubChem, released in 2004, provides information on the biological activities of small molecules. PubChem is organized as three linked databases: PubChem Substance, PubChem Compound, and PubChem BioAssay. PubChem also provides a fast chemical structure similarity search tool.
- PubMed This link opens in a new window
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A free resource providing access to biomedical & life sciences literature. Contains millions of citations & abstracts, but does not include full-text articles. However, links to the full-text are often present from other sources, such UD suscribed titles, publisher websites, or PubMed Central.
- ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global This link opens in a new windowThe world's most comprehensive curated collection of multi-disciplinary dissertations & theses from around the world, offering over 5 million citations and 3 million full-text works from thousands of universities.
Finding Journal Articles
Step One: Choose a Database
Databases serve as indexes to magazines and journals. Some databases such as Academic OneFile and Web of Science cover general and multidisciplinary topics; others such as SciFinder and PubMed are specialized and cover one subject area in great depth. This page list databases most useful for chemists and biochemists.
If you already know the name of the database you would like to search, you can get to it directly by searching for its name on the Library databases page.
Step Two: Search for Articles within the Database
Identify important search terms and concepts. Make a list of key search terms that relate to your topic. PubMed has a thesaurus within the database which will help you identify related and synonymous terms.
Enter search terms and combine them for more effective searching. While databases vary, most of them allow you to use Boolean operators (AND, OR, and NOT) to combine terms. Examples:
Locating Gray Literature
Gray (or grey*) Literature generally refers to multiple document types produced on all levels of government, academics, business, and organization in electronic and print formats not controlled by commercial publishing, i.e., where publishing is not the primary activity of the producing body.
A few examples are newsletters, technical notes, working papers, white papers, patents, reports, conference proceedings, doctoral theses/dissertations.
To learn more about the topic, consult the website of GreyNet International (https://www.greynet.org/). See also the Gray Literature research guide from California State University, Long Beach.
*Is it "gray" or "grey" literature? In America, the spelling is grAy, while in England the spelling is grEy. [From https://www.greyorgray.com/].