Introduction to the Chemical Literature and Library Research

CHEM 496January 30, 2008

Elizabeth Brown

ebrown@binghamton.edu

(607)777-4882

Science Library 102A

How are Journals and Magazines Different?

Scholarly Journals, Peer-reviewed Journals, Research Journals

Peer-reviewed by scientists and researchers. Articles have been selected and published from submissions.

Popular Journals, Magazines, Newspapers NOT peer –reviewed. Submissions are accepted and corrected grammatically. Scientific content of the article is not evaluated.

Chemical and Scientific LiteraturePrimary Literature: original research results

and data. Journal articles, dissertations, patents, research

reports, journal article supplementary material

Current Research @ BU

Secondary Literature

Analyzed, summarized, synthesized data Indexes and abstracts of the scientific literature –

Scifinder Scholar, INSPEC, Web of Science

Tertiary Literature

Collections of previously published material, data, and ideas Textbooks, Review articles, Handbooks,

Encyclopedias

How Are Scientific Papers Published?Scholarly articles go through the peer review process:

Articles submitted to a journal by researchers Referees (reviewers) chosen to read submissions and judge quality of

the research in the manuscript Referees - senior researchers, tenured professors Several referees evaluate each submitted article Referees evaluate the manuscripts

reject a submission recommend changes be made before publication accept the paper without changes

Depending on selectivity and prestige of a journal, acceptance of a paper can be either very selective or non-selective

Prestigious Journals in Chemistry – Some Examples

Types of Research Articles - Letters

Letter (or Communication) (1-2 pages) Short article on a new research discovery or breakthrough Usually a single experiment or idea is discussed Part of the letter discusses the importance of the results shown

Types of Research Articles – Journal ArticlesJournal Article (or Article) (5-20 pages) Medium-length summary of a series of research experiments Most common-type of peer-review publication Usually written within one research group, but frequently

collaborators in different labs and departments work together

Types of Journal Articles – Review Articles

Review Article Long review of developments in a general research field, usually

100 pages or more. Usually written by one author, someone well known and

respected in that field. Will have many references to previous journal literature articles

(over 100 references total.)

Locating Journals in the Science Library

Search infoLINK Library catalog for journal titles Request pre-1990 journals from the Library Annex - online request

form available Use ILLiad Interlibrary Loan for items not in infoLINK ILL can take 1-2 weeks or more - plan ahead!

How do I find Journal Articles?

Scifinder Scholar (Chemical Abstracts Online) Indexes chemical research in universities, national labs, and

chemical industry Contains journal articles, conference proceedings papers, and

patents Over 27 million documents are indexed from 10,000 chemistry and

chemistry-related journals Covers research from 1907 to the present in

Chemistry, Chemical Technology, Biochemistry, Materials Science Published by Chemical Abstracts Services (CAS), a division of the

American Chemical Society (ACS)

Using Scifinder Scholar

Databases: Chemical Abstracts – chemistry journal

literature Medline – medical journal literature CAS Registry: 33 million organic and inorganic

substances, 50 million genetic sequences Casreact: 14 million single and multi-step reactions Chemcats: catalogs of commercially available chemicals Chemlist: chemical regulations

Scifinder Searching

I. Explore by Research Topic

II. Analyzing Results

III. Explore by Author Name

IV. Explore by Chemical Structure

V. Locate by Bibliographic Information

VI. Printing and Saving Results

I. Explore by Research Topic

Select Explore Select Research Topic

Topic Candidates

II. Analyze Results

Analyze Results

III. Explore by Author Name

IV. Explore by Chemical Structure

Explore by Chemical Structure

Other Chemical Literature DatabasesMDL Crossfire Commander 7.0 (Beilstein Crossfire)

organic chemical preparations, reactions, and propertiesBIOSIS – biochemistry, medicinal chemistryEngineering Index (Compendex) – mechanical engineering, civil

engineering, conference papersINSPEC – physical chemistry, materials science, electrical engineering,

computer science, information technology, conference proceedings papers

MEDLINE – biochemistry, medicinal chemistry, pharmaceutical and drug developments

Web of Science – interdisciplinary areas, keyword and phrase searching

Journal Articles Online

metaLINK Chemistry Subject Resources Publisher web sites:

American Chemical SocietyRoyal Society of ChemistryScienceDirect (Elsevier)Wiley InterscienceSpringerLINK

Citing the Chemical Literature

Coghill, Anne M. and Lorrin R. Garson, The ACS Style Guide: Effective Communication of Scientific Information, 3rd ed., ACS Publications, 2006 Science Library Reserves QD8.5 .A25 2006

Citing References According to the ACS Style Guide (Class Handout)

Chemical Spectra

The Aldrich library of C13 and H NMR spectra QD96.F68 P67 1993 (Science Reference)

The Aldrich library of NMR spectra QD96.N8 P68 1983 (Science Reference)

The Sigma library of FT-IR spectra QD96.I5 K45 1986 (Science Reference)

Sadtler Research Laboratories Spectra Series (green binding): Absorbance, IR, NMR (Science Lib. Indexes)

Web of Science

1983-2008 8,600+ journals total

• Physical and Life Sciences – 6,100• Social sciences – 1,790 titles• Arts & humanities – 1,125 titles

Contains• journal articles• conference proceedings• book and product reviews

Web of Knowledge 3.0 Home Page

Web of Knowledge 3.0 Home Page

Web of Science 7.0

“Quick Search”

Easy To Search!Easy To Search!

General, Cited Reference, Chemical Structure, and Advanced Search options

Databases and Depth-of-File

Web of Science 7.0

.

Easy To Search!Easy To Search!

Topic

Author

Group Author

Source Title (Journal Title)

Address

The General Search is designed to be simplistic

enough for virtually anyone to begin to use with little-to-no training.

Go to Current Contents

Connect

Go to BIOSIS Previews

Current Contents Connect

CC Connect Table-of-

Contents

BIOSIS Previews

Journal Citation Reports

Link to the full-text within e-journals to

which your institution subscribes.

Current Contents Connect

CC Connect Table-of-

Contents

BIOSIS Previews

Journal Citation Reports

Cited Reference Search

To be truly comprehensive in your search efforts, the Cited Reference Search is

essential in that it can retrieve information often missed through use of Key-words alone.

Identify an Author or Paper that is very relevant to your search topic.

Identify an Author or Paper that is very relevant to your search topic.

As little information as an author name is sufficient to initiate a

Cited Reference Search.

Works for Cited Authors are identified.

The “Finish Search” option will retrieve papers that have referenced the work or

works we have selected.

The Cited Reference Search –

Easy to Perform, and Extremely Valuable for Comprehensive Searching.

2004

Cited References

20001998

2001

1993

2003Times Cited

Related Records

2003

2004

1999

2002

1994

2004

Citing

From just a single record within the Web of Science,

expand your search by simply following the links designed

to drive discovery.

… moving Backward in time via Cited References, Forward in time via Times Cited,

and through Related Records.