Search Options
Use the Lib4RI Search Tool to quickly find:
For books, journals and reference works, you can also directly search in Lib4RI's library catalogue swisscovery (including e-resources) and find borrowing options from print collections. In some cases, searching on journal and book publishing platforms directly may also be useful. Feel free to browse our full list of available databases and check upon our curated list of reference works. The institutional bibliographic (DORA) and data repositories (EnviDat, ERIC, Materials Cloud Archive, PSI Public Data Repository) of the four RIs, allow access to more than 100,000 full-text publications and many corresponding research data. Standards can be searched and ordered (registration required) via the Nautos Standards Portal. If you cannot access or find a document, Lib4RI’s Document Delivery Service can help obtain articles, books, reports, standards and other materials from external sources.
Also consider our four-page info sheets on Search & Read.
For broader thematic searches and exploration of a research topic, Lib4RI provides access to both interdisciplinary and subject-specific databases and search guidance. Use the Databases page to identify suitable databases for your discipline and research question. In particular, the interdisciplinary bibliographic databases Scopus and Web of Science (core collection) are recommended.
The info sheet Topic Search explains how to develop a search strategy (including the use of Boolean operators, truncation and wildcards), identify keywords and search efficiently across multiple information sources.
You may also use AI-supported research/database tools included in the Search & Read section of our toolbox – such as Consensus or scite.ai (both are fully licensed by Lib4RI) – to support research summaries, literature discovery, topic exploration and search refinement. These AI tools can also be connected to generative AI chatbots such as ChatGPT or Claude, enabling AI-assisted database searching directly from within the chatbot of your choice.
Albeit much more in depth and typically with the ultimate goal of writing a dedicated review article, many of the principles discussed in the section Systematic Literature Search also apply to a plain topic search.
Systematic literature searching aims to achieve comprehensive and reproducible retrieval of scientific literature, typically as preparation for a systematic review or evidence synthesis. Lib4RI supports researchers with:
The section Resources & more comprises valuable links to tools dedicated to Systematic literature search.
