Overview

What are indexes, abstracts, and citation indexes?
Indexes are books or online databases that provide an organized list of articles than can be browsed or searched in a variety of ways, such as by topic, author, or title. Abstracts are brief descriptive or evaluative summaries of the content of journal articles, conference proceedings, or other materials. Many indexes will offer abstracts to aid searchers in selecting the most relevant materials.

On page 625 of Reference and Information Services: An Introduction Smith writes, "the primary use of a citation index is to find, for a publication known by the searcher, later items that have cited it" (2010). Searchers can use these indexes to find the relationships between articles based on the patterns of citations to and from various works.

At one point, researchers had to rely only on print-based indexes in order to find journal articles; today, there are many different searchable databases brimming with citations and abstracts to choose from. The online format can make finding and accessing articles much easier, with links to the full text article often included with the search results. Not everything is easier, though; selecting a database to use and learning how to most effectively search it are two challenges that researchers face today.

What are some of the science and technology resources available?
The fields of science and technology are very broad, and as can be imagined, there are many, many resources out there. Some of these indexes are free, but most are subscription-based. Although there are still print indexes available, for this project, we have focused our attention on online resources. For a rather large list of print resources, please visit this page at the Library of Congress' Science Reference Services website, which is an alphabetical index of all the print abstracts and indexes they currently hold.

Some of the science and technology resources available (topic areas in parentheses) are:

• General Science Abstracts (general science)
• SciFinder (general science)
• MEDLINE/PubMed (biomedical science)
• Analytical Abstracts (analytical science)
• Wilson's Applied Science and Technology Abstracts (applied science and technology)
• ScienceDirect (general science)
• Biological Abstracts (biology)
• BioOne (biology)
• Compendex & Inspec (computer science, engineering, technology)

Some science and technology citation indexes are:

• Science Citation Index/Thomson Reuters' Web of Science (general science)
• Scopus (general science)

Our group has written some more in-depth posts about General Science Abstracts, Analytical Abstracts, Wilson's Applied Science and Technology Abstracts, SciFinder, and Thomson Reuters' Web of Science/Science Citation Index. We hope that you will learn a lot from our posts and we welcome your questions and comments. 




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Smith, L. C. (2011). Indexes and abstracts. In R. Bopp & L. Smith (Eds.), Reference and Information Services: An Introduction (pp. 619-625). Santa Barbara, CA: Libraries Unlimited. 

Evaluating and Selecting Science and Technology and Citation Indexes

Chapter 21 of Reference and Information Services: An Introduction focuses on indexes and abstracts.  According to the author of the chapter, Linda C. Smith, librarians "evaluate indexes and abstracts and choose those that will best reveal the contents of their own collections or that will refer users to needed information beyond library walls" (Smith, 2011).  Specifically, our group is focusing on Science and Technology indexes and abstracts.  One thing of note with regard to indexes of science materials is that some may focus on the popular science literature, where others cover more scholarly research literature (Smith, 2011).

There are six categories to be considered when evaluating indexes and abstracts.  These are:

1) Format
2) Scope
3) Authority
4) Accuracy
5) Arrangement
6) Special Features

Format
Though many abstracts and indexes are now accessible via the Web, some are still available in print and are actually more easy to browse in print form.  It is important to evaluate which format of the index/abstract works best for library users.  The readability of entries is also important, whether in electronic or print form -- examples of things that could make an entry hard to read include small type size and abbreviations.

Scope
Characteristics that make up the scope of indexes and abstracts include how long the material has been covered (not necessarily how long the material has been published), frequency of publication, and currency of publication. Types of materials covered are another aspect in evaluating scope.  According to Chapter 21, "some indexes and abstracts are more inclusive in the types of articles indexed, indexing such things as letters to the editor and editorials, whereas other services restrict their coverage to research articles" (Smith, 2011).

Authority
When assessing the authority of indexes and abstracts, the reputation of the publisher or sponsoring organization and the qualifications of the editorial staff should be considered.

Accuracy
Questions to consider when evaluating an abstract or index are:

-Are all authors associated with an indexed item included in the author index?
-Are all major facets of the content of the article represented by entries in the subject index?

Arrangement
Indexes usually employ an alphabetical arrangement.  Abstracts, however, often appear in a classified arrangement that makes it easier to browse entries for related material.  Indexes and abstracts in electronic form offer many additional options for searching, such as keywords from title and abstract, journal title, and author affiliation.

Special Features
Special features that indexes and abstracts may have should be noted when evaluating them.  Examples of such special features include a list of periodicals or other sources indexed and a published list of subject headings.


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Smith, L. C. (2011). Indexes and abstracts. In R. Bopp & L. Smith (Eds.), Reference and Information Services: An Introduction (pp. 613-617). Santa Barbara, CA: Libraries Unlimited.

General Science Abstracts

Overview

General Science Abstracts  is an index and abstract database created and maintained by the H.W. Wilson Company, and accessible through EBSCO Publishing.  This database covers a wide range of scientific articles from over 150 scholarly journals and popular science magazines published in the United States and Great Britain.  Indexing of articles is available dating back to 1984, and abstracts are available from 1993.  The variety of content would make General Science Abstracts of interest to academic and public libraries alike.

General Science Abstracts info page (click for larger view)

Searching

General Science Abstracts offers three search modes: basic, advanced, and expert.  The basic search utilizes keywords, authors, and titles.  The advanced search is essentially an expanded basic search that includes additional fields, such as Journal Name, Abstract, and Descriptors. The expert search allows for more sophisticated searching using a variety of operators and symbols.  The proximity operator ADJ is automatically inserted between search terms.  Other operators include the Boolean AND, OR, and NOT and proximity operators NEAR and W/#.  Truncation searches make use of the asterisk symbol (*) while wildcard searches use either the pound sign (#) or question mark (?), depending on how many characters are allowed in place of the sign.  Use # for exactly one letter, and ? for up to nine letters.

Once a search is completed, the user has a couple of options to further refine the results.  The results can be

·         ranked by relevance or date,

·         sorted by date, author, or title,

·         expanded through related works by the authors, or by the subject headings, or

·         limited to articles with access to the full text.

When an article is selected, the user has the option to save, print, or email it.

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Wilson General Science Abstracts Full Text Database Search Tips. (2000). Retrieved from Vietnam National University Library: http://www.vnulib.edu.vn:8080/HWWGSA/operators.nsp?view=HWWGSA

General Science Abstracts Tip Sheet. (2004, March 4). Retrieved from Richard Stockton College Library: http://intraweb.stockton.edu/eyos/library/content/Static/LibEducationPg/Database_Tips/General_Science_Abstracts.htm

Dialog, LLC. (2011). General Science Abstracts. Retrieved from http://library.dialog.com/bluesheets/html/bl0098.html

EBSCO Industries, Inc. (2012). General Science Abstracts. Retrieved from EBSCO Publishing: http://www.ebscohost.com/public/general-science-abstracts

Analytical Abstracts

Overview

Analytical Abstracts is one of six databases created and maintained by the United Kingdom’s Royal Society of Chemists “(f)or coverage of the latest techniques and applications. [It is t]he premier current awareness and information retrieval service tailored to analytical scientists” (Royal Society of Chemists, 2012).  It is available by subscription, to RSC members and libraries/library consortia.  The print version of Analytical Abstracts dates back to 1939 and is published monthly, the abstracts in the database date back to 1980 and the site updates weekly.  Over 80 publications are represented by Analytical Abstracts, covering subject areas such as General Analytical Chemistry, Inorganic and Organic Analysis, and Pharmaceutical Analysis.  As a database of highly technical and advanced scientific information, collected from journals around the world, this database would most likely be of interest to academic and medical libraries.

Searching

Analytical Abstracts basic search page (click for larger view)

Analytical Abstracts has both basic and and advanced search options available.  It allows the use of Boolean operators AND, OR and NOT in between search terms.  Wildcard searches make use of the asterisk (*) symbol.  Analytical Abstracts also compares each search term to a thesaurus in order to return records that use related words.  The basic search is essentially a keyword search across all fields while the advanced search allows the use of index terms and bibliographic data (title, author, etc.).  Analytical Abstracts is interesting in that for every abstract, there are three potential sets of index terms: analyte, matrix, and technique. 

Analytical Abstracts advanced search page (click for larger view)

Analyte terms refer to the chemical elements, compounds, and other substances that are identified or determined in the abstract.  These can be searched specifically by name, alternate name, abbreviation, CAS (Chemical Abstract Service) Number or generally by type.  Matrix terms refer to the “medium in which the analyte has been measured” (Royal Society of Chemists, 2012).  Technique terms refer to the methodology or apparatus used in the analysis or applicable field of study.  For both Matrix and Technique terms, there is an index of controlled vocabulary.  This is accessible by subscribers through the arrow icon.  Clicking on an index term will include it as a search term. 

Once a search has been completed, multiple records can be selected via checkboxes.  These records will be remembered throughout the browser session.  Records can also be emailed and exported to reference software, such as Endnote, for quick access later.

Availability of full text articles is not guaranteed, but dependent on the access the user has to the source, either through the library or personal subscription.  If the full article is available, it will be accessible via a link in the full display of the abstract record.




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Dialog, LLC. (2006). Analytical Abstracts. Retrieved from: 
           library.dialog.com/bluesheets/html/bl0305.html
Royal Society of Chemists. (2012). Analytical Abstracts. Retrieved from RSC Publishing: 
           www.rsc.org/Publishing/CurrentAwareness/AA

Wilson's Applied Science and Technology Abstracts

Wilson's Applied Science and Technology Abstracts covers the subjects of Acoustics, Chemistry, Computers, Engineering, Metallurgy, Physics, Plastics, Telecommunications, Transportation and Waste Management.  Coverage of the database spans from 1983-Present, and it contains more than 700 core English-language scientific and technical publications.

This website: http://library.dialog.com/bluesheets/html/bl0099.html offers library professionals a wealth of information about Wilson's Applied Science and Technology Abstracts, including file description, subject coverage, tips, dialog file data, database content, document types indexed, geographic coverage, special features, DIALINDEX/OneSearch categories, contact, terms and conditions, sample record, basic index, additional indexes, limit, sort, rank, predefined format options, accession numbers, and rates.

Wilson's is a well-known source of information, as stated in chapter 21 of the Bopp & Smith textbook.  With the vast amount of information that Wilson's Applied Science and Technology Abstracts offer, the database would be a valuable purchase for a library to make for its users. 

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EBSCO Industries, Inc. (2012). Applied Science & Technology Abstracts. Retrieved from EBSCO Publishing: http://www.ebscohost.com/academic/applied-science-technology-abstracts

Smith, L. C. (2011). Indexes and abstracts. In R. Bopp & L. Smith (Eds.), Reference and Information Services: An Introduction (pp. 613-617). Santa Barbara, CA: Libraries Unlimited.

Thomson Reuters' Web of Science

Historical Background
In 1964, the Science Citation Index was published for the first time by Eugene Garfield, who had been working on the idea of citation indexing since 1955. The Science Citation Index was first available as an online resource back in 1972, and is now available on the web as a major part of Thomson Reuters' Web of Science, which is itself a part of their larger package of databases and indexes known as the Web of Knowledge (Garfield, 2007).

Web of Knowledge
Thomson Reuters' offers a variety of science databases and citation indexes that are bundled together as the Web of Knowledge. These resources are of use to researchers of both the hard and soft sciences, with databases for science, social sciences, and arts and humanities available. The Web of Knowledge is a commercial product, so to use it, researchers must either purchase access or be associated with an institution that has purchased access.

Which resources are a part of the Web of Knowledge?
According to the Web of Knowledge Help page, the following resources are available to search:
-Web of Science
-BIOSIS Citation Index
-Chinese Science Citation Index
-Biological Abstracts
-BIOSIS Previews
-CABI Databases
-Current Contents Connect
-Derwent Innovations Index
-Food Science and Technology Abstracts
-Inspec
-MEDLINE
-Zoological Record
-Journal Citation Reports

Web of Science
Web of Science is made up of nine databases and contains citations going back to 1899. Through Wayne State, we are able to access three of these databases: the Science Citation Index Expanded, the Social Sciences Citation Index, and the Arts & Humanities Citation Index.

According to the Web of Science factsheet, the Science Citation Index covers over 8,300 journals. There are many useful tools built into the Web of Science. The main draw is definitely the ability to search citations, which allows scholars and researchers to easily navigate between articles that cite each other. This function helps searchers to identify patterns in the research, create visual citation maps, and more easily find related authors, topics, and articles.

Based on its history, scope, and user-friendly search interface, I would highly recommend the Science Citation Index (and the Web of Science) to those who are researching topics in the sciences.

Searching Web of Science
I've created a short instructional video on how to perform a basic search on Web of Science:



Users can search Web of Science in a variety of ways: there are options for both basic and advanced searches as well as an author finder and a cited reference search. Searchable fields are topic, title, author, group author, editor, publication name, DOI, year published, and address.

A guide to search rules is available on the Web of Knowledge Help site, a screenshot of which is available below. Because it is a subscription product, you must be logged in to Wayne State's library site to view it.

For more help on searching Web of Science, there is a PDF reference card that can be found here: Web of Science Reference Card. This is an invaluable tool to use while searching; it graphically illustrates how to perform searches, look through results, and offers helpful tips and tricks.


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Garfield, E. (2007, January). The evolution of the Science Citation Index search engine to the Web of Science, scientometric evaluation and historiography. Paper presented at The University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain. Retrieved from http://garfield.library.upenn.edu/papers/barcelona2007.pdf

History of citation indexing. (2010, October 15). Retrieved from http://thomsonreuters.com/products_services/science/free/essays/history_of_citation_indexing/

Web of Knowledge help. (2011, October 31). Retrieved from http://images.webofknowledge.com.proxy.lib.wayne.edu/WOKRS55B6/help/WOK/hp_database.html

Web of Knowledge help: Search rules. (2011, October 10). Retrieved from http://images.webofknowledge.com.proxy.lib.wayne.edu/WOKRS55B6/help/WOK/hs_search_rules.html

Web of Science factsheet. (2011). Retrieved from http://thomsonreuters.com/content/science/pdf/Web_of_Science_factsheet.pdf

SciFinder

SciFinder is not available to the general public, however, it can be accessed through Wayne State University Libraries.  You must set up an account to obtain access to SciFinder, but after you do that, there is a wealth of information to explore.

SciFinder, according to the product overview on the CAS website, is "a research discovery tool that allows you to explore the CAS databases that contain literature from many scientific disciplines including biomedical sciences, chemistry, engineering, materials science, agricultural science and more!" (CAS stands for Chemical Abstracts Service).

Other features of SciFinder include*:

-Access to current, high quality scientific information

-Links to more relevant journal articles and patent documents than any other source

-The ability to significantly improve your productivity

-Capabilities for exploring substructures and reactions.

*These statements are made by CAS and do not reflect the views of the authors of this blog.

In SciFinder you can explore references, explore substances or explore reactions.  As this is a reference class, the explore reference tab is what we will focus on.

You can explore references by research topic, author name, company name, document identifier, journal, patent or tags.

Research Topic:

You can narrow your research topic search by language types, publication years, document type, author name or company name.

Author Name:

If you choose to search by Author Name, you may enter their first, middle, and last name, and check for alternate spellings of the last name.

Company Name:

To search the under a Company Name, you simply enter the name of the company you're searching for.

Document Identifier:

If you know the number/document code for the specific document you're searching for, you can enter it here.

Journal:

For a journal search you may search under the journal name, volume, issue number, starting page title word(s) and the author's name.

Patent:

To execute a patent search you must be able to enter either the patent number, the assignee name, or the inventor's name.

Tags:

Tags refer to keywords specifically linked to a document/or article.  One can search using these tagged keywords and find the document she/he is looking for.

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Cas:web verson of scifinder. Retrieved from http://www.cas.org/products/scifindr/sfweb/