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The Strategic Guide to Quality Information in Biology, Chemistry, Computer Science, Mathematics, Medicine, Physics, and Psychology

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Computer Science--Core Indexing and Abstracting Publications

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The list of databases below is not intended to be exhaustive. Instead, Strategian aims to list the core publications--those indexes and abstracts covering Computer Science that are the best places to start or continue on to in order to identify the articles, books, or other publications that contain the information that you need.

Please keep in mind that the publications listed below are often available in various paper and electronic formats. If not available to you over the Internet, you will need to check if and how they may be available at the library or libraries you may use. How to do that? See Step 3: Locate of the Information Strategy for details.

If you choose to follow any links to outside Web sites listed below, you will be leaving the Strategian Web site. If you wish to return to this page from the Web page you are sent to, please use the Back option of your browser.

The databases below are listed in a suggested sequence of use--from (1) databases in which you can identify publications containing easier to understand, less technical information to (5) databases covering the topic in greater depth and indexing more research-oriented/scholarly publications:

  1. Periodical Abstracts (ProQuest Information and Learning)

    Indexes 2,100+ popular magazines and scholarly journals broadly covering the sciences, social sciences, and humanities.

    A good source to search when looking for information on a topic from both the research-oriented/scholarly and easier to understand/less technical perspectives. Magazines indexed here include Macworld and PC Magazine.

    Available electronically from 1987-present; about half the indexed magazines and journals provide the full text of some articles online. Updated weekly.


  2. OAIster (University of Michigan [USA] Digital Library Production Services)

    Searches and retrieves a wide variety of Open Access (free full text online) publications--journal articles, books, audio files, images, movies, dictionaries, directories, etc.--available from 240+ institutions/organizations around the world. The institutions/organizations searched include arXiv.org, BioMed Central, Institute of Physics, National Academies Press, PubMed Central, and SciELO.

    • Computing Research Repository--CoRR (Association for Computing Machinery, arXiv.org e-Print archive, Networked Computer Science Technical Reference Library, and American Association for Artificial Intelligence)

      An online repository of full text research reports and papers submitted by researchers from all areas of Computing.

      Available electronically from 1993-present.


    • DOAJ--Directory of Open Access Journals (Lund University Libraries, Sweden)

      Search, identify, and then access the full text of articles from a growing number of research-oriented/scholarly Open Access journals.


  3. Applied Science & Technology Index/Abstracts (H.W. Wilson)

    Indexes 720+ publications covering science and technology in the broad areas of Chemistry, Computers, Energy, Engineering, Mathematics, and Physics.

    The publications indexed are of many types--trade and industrial magazines and journals, professional and technical society journals, scholarly academic journals, conference proceedings, some popular magazines, etc. The publications of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), and Society for Industrial & Applied Mathematics (SIAM) are well represented.

    Available in paper back to 1913 (under the title Industrial Arts Index through 1957) and available electronically from 1983-present with abstracts from 1994-present; updated monthly.


  4. INSPEC (Institution of Electrical Engineers)

    Indexes and abstracts 3,400+ scholarly and technical journals and approximately 2,000 conference proceedings as well as books, reports, and dissertations published worldwide in the areas of Communications, Computers and Computing, Information Technology, Physics, Electrical Engineering, and Electronics.

    One of the two especially indepth sources to check for publications in Computer Science.

    This database is available in paper under the title Science Abstracts (covers 1898-1902), Science Abstracts. Section A, Physics (covers 1903-1940), Science Abstracts. Section A. Physics Abstracts (covers 1941-1971), and Physics Abstracts. Science Abstracts. Series A (covers 1972-present); available electronically from 1969-present; updated weekly.


    • MathSciNet (American Mathematical Society)

      The most indepth indexing and abstracting source for research-oriented/scholarly literature (approximately 1,800 journals plus conference proceedings and books) published internationally in Mathematics and related disciplines including some coverage of Computer Science.

      MathSciNet should be searched along with INSPEC; together they comprise the most indepth coverage of the scholarly literature of Computer Science.

      Contains the information in the print publications Mathematical Reviews and Current Mathematical Publications. Available in paper back to 1940 (updated monthly); available electronically from 1940-present (updated daily); the online version contains links to the full text of some publications.


  5. Science Citation Index (Institute for Scientific Information)

    A unique database that allows you to discover who has cited (referred to) a particular article or book since it was originally published. The citing publications are only journal and magazine articles--not books. The Science Citation Index can be particularly useful when conventional searching methods in sources like those above fail to identify other publications related to one or two that you are already familiar with. Covering the sciences broadly and in depth, this database indexes more than 6,000 journals published worldwide.

    Depending on specific needs, teachers/faculty sometimes turn to this database first while students and others may turn to this source, if needed, only after consulting the other relevant indexes/abstracts in a subject area.

    Available in paper and electronically back to 1945; abstracts available from 1991-present; updated weekly.


    • WorldCat (OCLC)

      A huge database comprised of the tens of millions of items covering virtually every subject cataloged by 17,000+ libraries worldwide. The database includes items in basically all formats (books, Web sites, videos, sound recordings, maps, etc.) save individual journal, newspaper, and magazine articles.

      Available electronically; updated daily. Materials in the database include items published anywhere from thousands of years ago to the present.


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Updated 2:00 p.m. CT December 13, 2004
Kevin Engel (kevin@strategian.com)
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