Databases

A federated search engine for multiple science and technology databases maintained by the U.S Departement of Energy (DOE). It includes reports of past and current DOE research, energy-related conference proceedings, e-prints, citations, patents and web sites. The list of searchable databases includes The Information Bridge (full-text documents and citations in physics, chemistry, materials, biology, environmental sciences, energy technologies, engineering, computer and information science, renewable energy, and other topics of interest related to DOE's mission) and the Energy Citations Database (bibliographic records for energy and energy-related documents from 1948 through the present).

The Science Citation Index (SCI) is a database of bibliographic data in combination with citation data. The citation analysis of around 3800 mainly English-language journals from the fields of medicine, technology and science is the data source for the SCI. Journals covered by the SCI are a subset of journals covered by the Science Citation Index Expanded. According to Thomson Reuters, the producer of the index, “the SCI has been strictly limited to include only the highest ranked journals in each category and, as much as possible, the highest ranked journals from each country or region”. The SCI, first produced in 1965, was the original database for the Journal Citation Reports and the calculation of journal impact factors but has been supplanted by the Science Citation Index Expanded. The list of included journals changes from year to year and the inclusion or exclusion of a journal is controlled by Thomson Reuters. Thomson Reuters announces criteria used in the evaluation of journals but this process is not entirely transparent.

The Science Citation Index Expanded (SCIE) is a database of bibliographic data in combination with citation data. The citation analysis of more than 8000 mainly English-language journals from the fields of medicine, technology and science is the data source for the SCIE. The citation data in this database is the basis for the Journal Citation Reports (the Science Edition) and the calculation of journal impact factors. In combination with the Social Sciences Citation Index, and the Arts & Humanities Citation Index the SCIE constitutes the Web of Science. In addition, the Conference Proceedings Citation Index became an edition of Web of Science in 2008. The list of included journals changes from year to year and the inclusion or exclusion of a journal is controlled by Thomson Reuters. Thomson Reuters announces criteria used in the evaluation of journals but this process is not entirely transparent.

SciFinder is a bibliographic database for chemistry, biochemistry, chemical engineering and materials science. It provides access to the Chemical Abstracts database and to the nearly 9500 journals indexed from 1907 to the present. Coverage includes technical reports, books, conference proceedings, dissertations, as well as patents from 50 patent issuing authorities around the world (complete list of sources). Links to full-text patents are also available in many cases. Special features allow users to search for information by drawing chemical structures or substructures, or by reaction, polymer and specific biosequence.

Note that you must first register and create a personal SciFinder account to use this database. Please contact InfoServices to obtain a login ID and password.

Scirus is a free search engine for scholarly, scientific content. It searches the open web (currently over 410 million science-related web pages), subscription databases of journal articles, and repositories. Scirus is provided by Elsevier and search results are also listed in Scopus under the Web tab.
Scirus is a good alternative to Google Scholar. Unlike Google Scholar, Scirus clearly lists its content sources and provides options (e.g. search restricted by discipline or source) for more precise searching. Both, Scirus and Google Scholar are good starting points for a quick, multidisciplinary search of a very specific topic. They are also useful for finding freely accessible versions (author-hosted article copies, preprints or postprints in repositories, etc.) of otherwise inaccessible articles.

Scopus is a large interdisciplinary bibliographic database. Scopus indexes more than 16500 academic journals, conference proceedings, trade publications and book series. It also covers scientific web sources, including 23 million patents from 5 patent offices (US Patent and Trademark Office, European Patent Office, Japan Patent Office, World Intellectual Property Organization and UK Intellectual Property Office) and pre-print servers (e.g. ArXiv.org).

Note that Scopus links papers together based on the references cited within the papers. This feature of the database allows the analysis of citations. Through a cited reference search, you can discover how an idea or innovation has been confirmed, applied, improved, extended, or corrected.

Want to use the Papers application from Mekentosj to search Scopus? To access Scopus from Papers, it requires that you configure it with our Scopus Account ID: 000045139
More infos about enabling access to Scopus from Papers are available here.

SDBS is an integrated spectral database system for organic compounds, which includes six different types of spectra under a directory of the compounds. The six spectra are as follows: an electron impact Mass spectrum (EI-MS), a Fourier transform infrared spectrum (FT-IR), a 1H nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectrum, a 13C NMR spectrum, a laser Raman spectrum, and an electron spin resonance (ESR) spectrum.

More info about searching and using the database

The Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI) is a database of bibliographic data in combination with citation data. The citation analysis of more than 2600 mainly English-language journals from the social sciences is the data source for the SSCI. The citation data in this database is the basis for the Journal Citation Reports (the Social Sciences Edition) and the calculation of journal impact factors. In combination with the Science Citation Index Expanded, and the Arts & Humanities Citation Index the SSCI constitutes the Web of Science. In addition, the Conference Proceedings Citation Index became an edition of Web of Science in 2008. The list of included journals changes from year to year and the inclusion or exclusion of a journal is controlled by Thomson Reuters. Thomson Reuters announces criteria used in the evaluation of journals but this process is not entirely transparent.

SpecInfo gives you access to some of the largest collections in mass spectrometry (MS), Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR), and Infrared and near Infrared spectroscopy (more info about the spectral library). Beyond the identification of known substances contained within the database, SpecInfo is a tool for elucidating the structure of unknown substances. This can be achieved both by using the NMR prediction facilities and also in a more automated way by using a structure generator, which assembles all possible isomers for a given molecular formula and performs an automatic ranking of the candidate structures.

This is a trial access for 2013. Please try out SpecInfo and let us know what you think. We are especially interested how this database compares to free spectra databases (e.g. MassBank, Spectral Databases for Organic Compounds) in regard to usability, functionality and content. Send your comments to eresources@lib4ri.ch.

The SpecInfo database collections are Java Swing applications that can be accessed through any standard internet browser that provides full support for Java applications. Browser settings must be set to «Enable» for Java applets and Javascript Active Scripting.

Getting Started Guide

SPIRES-HEP is a database of particle physics literature and information relevant to high-energy particle physicists. The database includes full-text of preprints, technical reports, theses, conference proceedings and citations since 1974. The SPIRES-HEP database is managed and maintained by the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, in collaboration with other high-energy physics institutions around the world.

SpringerMaterials, the new Landolt-Börnstein database, is a comprehensive database for physical and chemical data. The database covers information on 165,000 substances, 3,000 materials properties and more than 1.2 million literature references. The new interface includes a single line search, advanced search as well as browsing by subject area, Landolt-Börnstein volume, or periodic table.

STAT-TAB is the statistics database for Switzerland maintained by the Swiss Federal Statistical Office (BFS). Data on the current situation and development of the society, the economy and the environment in Switzerland is presented. STAT-TAB replaces Superweb, the former statistics database for Switzerland. Data is presented in multidimensional data sets (data cubes) with variables that can be interactively combined. The generated tables can be exported in various formats and re-used locally.

Swiss foreign trade statistics are available via the Swiss-Impex database: Swiss-Impex

Detailed data on several Swiss price indices are available as downloadable tables in .xls format in the Preis-Boutiquen. Click here to see the login and password required to access these files.

LIK-Boutique (Landesindex der Konsumentenpreise)
PPI-Boutique (Produzenten- und Importpreisindex)
PPLH-Boutique (Produzentenpreise in der Land- und Holzwirtschaft)
BAP-Boutique (Baupreise)

Most comprehensive legal database for Switzerland, providing access to more than 400'000 searchable full-text documents, including:

• Rulings of the Federal Court and the Federal Administrative Court
• Ruling of the Federal Criminal Court
• Rulings of various cantonal courts
• more than 50 legal journals
• Commentaries, monographs, commemorative writings and doctoral theses

You need a login and password to access the database. Please contact eresources@lib4ri.ch if you are interested.

Video Tutorial

The database is made available by the Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property. It contains Swiss and European patents which are in force in Switzerland and Lichtenstein. This includes patents which are in force as well as patents which have been cancelled. Included are Swiss patents filed after January 1978 and European patents with effect in Switzerland after the number 00 000 001.