Doing Research in the Sciences: The Science Index Databases at UMW
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The library provides access to over 100 databases covering all subject areas for your use, so in addition to the databases listed here that focus on the sciences, you may use one of our General Indexes (a general index is one that covers all fields), although these usually do not provide good coverage of science topics. It is best to use the individual subject area lists of databases to see which databases are best for different subject disciplines.

Simpson Library provides access to science indexes/databases from these sources:

Cambridge Scientific Abstracts(CSA)
Cambridge Scientific Abstracts produces numerous specialized indexes, organized into meta-databases covering broad topic areas. Update schedules vary; most are monthly. Also, some databases are cross-listed into multiple catagories. In the life sciences, CSA is strong on the biomedical, plant, and environmental sciences, but weaker on animal science. In the physical sciences, CSA is strong in materials engineering and computer technology, but weak in the rest. Most of these indexes include citations for journal articles, books and book chapters, dissertations, government publications, technical reports, conference publications and selected web resources. International in scope so check language of publication.

Agricultural Sciences - Includes: AGRICOLA, Plant Science, and Agricultural and Environmental Biotechnology Abstracts

Aquatic Sciences - Includes ASFA: Aquatic Sciences and Fisheries Abstracts (subfiles: ASFA 1 Biological Sciences and Living Resources; ASFA 2 Ocean Technology, Policy and Non-Living Resources; ASFA 3 Aquatic Pollution and Environmental Quality; ASFA Aquaculture Abstracts; ASFA Marine Biotechnology Abstracts), Conference Papers Index, Oceanic Abstracts, and Water Resources Abstracts

Biological and Medical Sciences - Includes AGRICOLA, Biological Sciences (subfiles: Agricultural and Environmental Biotechnology Abstracts; Algology, Mycology and Protozoology Abstracts; Animal Behavior Abstracts; ASFA 1 Biological Sciences and Living Resources; ASFA Aquaculture Abstracts; ASFA Marine Biotechnology Abstracts; Bacteriology Abstracts; BioEngineering Abstracts; Calcium and Calcified Tissue Abstracts; Chemoreception Abstracts; CSA Neurosciences Abstracts; Ecology Abstracts; Entomology Abstracts; Genetics Abstracts; Health and Safety Science Abstracts; Human Genome Abstracts; Immunology Abstracts; Industrial and Applied Microbiology Abstracts; Medical and Pharmaceutical Biotechnology Abstracts; Nucleic Acids Abstracts; Oncogenes and Growth Factors Abstracts; Toxicology Abstract; Virology and AIDS Abstracts), AIDS and Cancer Research Abstracts, Biology Digest, and Biotechnology and Bioengineering Abstracts.

Computer Technology - Includes Computer and Information Systems Abstracts and Electronics and Communications Abstracts

Earth and Environmental Sciences - Includes Conference Papers Index, Environmental Sciences and Pollution Management (subfiles: Agricultural and Environmental Biotechnology Abstracts ; ASFA 3 Aquatic Pollution and Environmental Quality; Bacteriology Abstracts; Ecology Abstracts; EIS:Digests of Environmental Impact Studies; Environmental Engineering Abstracts; Health and Safety Science Abstracts; Human Population and Natural Resource Management, Industrial and Applied Microbiology Abstracts; Pollution Abstracts; Risk Abstracts; Toxicology Abstracts; Water Resources Abstracts), and TOXLINE

Engineering Specialties - Includes BioEngineering Abstracts, Environmental Engineering Abstracts, Electronics and Communications Abstracts, Mechanical & Transportation Engineering Abstracts, Mechanical Engineering Abstracts, METADEX, and Solid State and Superconductivity Abstracts

Materials Science - Includes Aluminium Industry Abstracts, Ceramic Abstracts/World Ceramics Abstracts, Copper Data Center, Corrosion Abstracts, METADEX, Materials Business File, Mechanical Engineering Abstracts, and WELDASEARCH

Key features: thesauri for various databases; ability to limit to newly added citations; selected web references; link to UMW Libraries catalog search; links directly to articles in selected UMW Libraries electronic journals; automated ILL request generation; ability to save searches for reusing later without recreating them (can be saved 5 full months; always cleared on first of month); automatic alert service (run weekly; email notification of newly added items that a saved search strategy generates)

WilsonWeb

General Science Full Text (core periodical publications in various science disciplines; small, including only about 240 English language journals)

Key features: Full text from over 70 publications; thesaurus; ability to save search and reuse at a later date

UMI Proquest

Applied Science and Technology Abstracts (physics, astronomy, chemistry, mathematics, engineering, computer science, energy studies)

OCLC FirstSearch

GEOBASE (geography, geology, ecology)

GeoRef (geology, earth and environmental sciences, oceanography, paleontology)

Key features: ability to use "Suggest best" to test a term in multiple indexes for index selection purposes; ability to limit to UMW Libraries holdings (NOT 100% accurate); link to UMW Libraries catalog search; automated ILL request generation

EBSCO

CINAHL (Nursing and Allied Health disciplines; focus is more on clinical rather than biomedical research)

Key features: links directly to articles in selected UMW Libraries electronic journals; ability to limit to newly added citations; thesaurus

InfoTrac

Computer Database (computer science, electrical engineering, computer industry; both consumer publications and scholarly research materials)

Health and Wellness Resource Center (health and medicine; both consumer publications and scholarly research materials)

Key features: full text for many publications; HWRC includes reference sources as well as journal articles; link to UMW Libraries catalog search

NLM/NCBI (National Library of Medicine/National Center for Biotechnology Information)

PubMed/Medline (all aspects of health, healthcare, biomedicine, bioethics, and areas related to health and medicine; wide range of publications included)

Key features: links directly to articles in selected UMW Libraries electronic journals; thesaurus (MeSH); ability to limit to newly added citations; ability to limit to human or animal studies, by gender, by age group, and by index subset

Micropaleontology Press

Ellis and Messina Catalogues - Ostracoda and Foraminifera catalogues only (paleontology)

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