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 perspective Scholarly – authored & refereed Trade – 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 Frequency  Once  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 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 databases Examples of databases where keyword is most useful approach International Pharmaceutical Abstracts Engineering Index INSPEC Next Week: codes, trees, weird & special features