Databases

Indexes & Abstracts

Indexes & Abstracts = Serials

When most librarians think about science and technology

they think about serials and the: importance of journals expense of some of these journals multitudinous number of these journals extensive conference literature number of tools to choose from

Before we get too deeply into this topic, let's talk briefly about

serials from a sci/tech librarian's point of view.

Serials: a publication, produced under one name, in successive parts, indefinitely

Generally broken down into: series periodicals journals newspapers yearbooks, almanacs, etc.

Just a quick reminder--the term series is used for those publications where each volume is a unique monograph [book], but all titles are held together by a series title, e.g. Monographs in Clinical Neuroscience.

• periodical and journal are used interchangeably by librarians

• scientists usually refer to them as journal because they regularly see citations to things titled “Journal of XYZ,” but almost never “Periodical of ABC”.

• common mistake by users is to add word journal to the front of a title

Example:

Journal of Materials Engineering--correct title

Materials Science and Engineering--correct title

Materials Science and Engineering is a journal--but that's not part of its name.

Periodicals

Markets for journals:

libraries

research lab, companies

individuals

Journals Historical means of scientific communication Record of past research Each discipline, field, sub-field has its own Expensive – publishers charge what market will bear

Publishers Societies

ASCE, American Society of Civil Engineers ACS, American Chemical Society AMA, American Medical Association

Commercial, for-profit Elsevier Springer-Verlag John Wiley

Companies Governmental agencies Universities

Yet, another way to look at journals is by whether the articles are :

refereed

not refereed

When a journal is refereed it means that before an article can be published it is sent to another person who is known as a referee. The referee reads the article, suggests improvements, and recommends publication or non publication. Some journals referee only selected articles, some referee all articles published and some don't referee any. The only way to know for sure is to check with the publication.

Refereed/Peer-reviewed

Another perspectiveScholarly – authored & refereedTrade – publications geared to industry, rarely refereed

News – industry news journals & newsletters, brief articles, not refereed

Often undergraduate students as part of a writing assignment are told that they must have 2-3 articles from scholarly journals and 1-2 from trade journals in their reference list. This confuses the daylights out of them.

Conference Literature Purpose

Share preliminary results Network, look for job See equipment

Publications No papers, nothing = no record Abstracts only, no papers published Full papers, not refereed Full papers, refereed

FrequencyOnce Occasional Regular

Expensive! Many journals published for library market Differential pricing, libraries vs individuals Examples

Tetrahedron Letters $26,000/yr Brain Research $20,000/yr Thin Solid Films $15,000/yr Nuclear Physics B $14,000/yr JGR Journal of Geophysical Research $10,000/yr

JGR & Brain Research are multiple parts

Databases/Abstracts/Indexes Tools for access to journals + One for every conceivable topic Database/Abstract/Index = all the

same Chemical Abstracts= SciFinder Scholar GeoRef = Bibliography & Index… Engineering Index= COMPENDEX Zoological Record = Zoological Record Index Medicus = MEDLINE = PubMED

Databases

Use the right tool, regardless of name

Divide by how they work Knowing your tools & what they

cover

Know your database Subjects Journals Dates of coverage Types of material Searching

Subjects Database subject scope statement

Search across databases & compare

Number of journals as indicator

Journals List of journals covered Number of journals

INSPEC = 3,500 MEDLINE = 4,300 Chemical Abstracts = 8,400 BIOSIS = 6,000 GeoRef = 3,500 Engineering Index = 4,500

Completeness of coverage Cover-to-cover vs selective (how selective?)

Nature 2000-2001 INSPEC = 830 articles MEDLINE = 5040 articles BIOSIS = 1103 articles Engineering Index = 48 (less)

articles Web of Science = 5891 articles

Dates of coverage Typically late 1960’s to present Notable exceptions Local service vs what’s available

Materials indexed Journal articles Books Book chapters Conference

proceedings Maps Theses/

dissertations

Technical reports Government

reports Book reviews Patents

U.S. Foreign

Included materials Articles Letters Editorials, correspondence Corrections Links related articles? Obituaries Etc.

Searching Keyword Codes Controlled vocabulary Special descriptors

Registry Number Enzyme Commission #

Searching con’t Common Sense Review full record Review available fields Help & database guides

Other

Frequency of update International coverage Database consistency over time

E.g. BIOSIS, changed author format Specialized databases, e.g.

ASFA Pollution Abstracts Water Resources International Pharmaceutical Abstracts

Correspondence to available collections

Keyword databasesExamples of databases where keyword is most useful approach

International Pharmaceutical Abstracts

Engineering Index INSPEC

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