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Biology 

This is a guide to the major resources for the biological and life sciences here at Boston College
Last update: Nov 02nd, 2009 URL: http://libguides.bc.edu/biology  Print Guide  RSS Updates

Find Journal Articles             Print Page
  
 

Is it peer-reviewed?

Some databases will have a box on the search page which you can select to limit your results to  peer-reviewed journal articles.  Others may have a tab on the results page for "scholarly articles."  If the database doesn't identify the journals as peer-reviewed, you can look the journal up in Ulrich's International Periodicals Directory.  Ulrich's identifies peer-reviewed (refereed) journals with this icon:

 

Where's the Article?

If a database search tells you about an article but the full article's not there, don't despair.  Look for the "FindIt" button:

Integrated by the BC Libraries into many databases, "Find It" helps you get the article in one of three ways:
  1. If an article cited in one database is available in full text in another online source, there will be a direct link to the full article or, in a few cases, to the journal.

  2. If the journal in which an article appeared is available in hard copy in the BC Libraries, there will be a link to Quest, the BC Library Catalog. Click on that link and then on Availability to see where in the libraries you can find the specific issue.

  3. If the article is not available electronically or in hard copy at BC, there will be a link to Interlibrary Loan Request, which will bring up a form through which you can request the Libraries to obtain the article for you (usually within 24 hours) from outside BC.
More about FindIt
 

Electronic Journals

Electronic Journals
Electronic journals can also be found listed on the Electronic Journals page, by title and subject. If you don't find what you need listed, try Quest since Quest will provide access to any journal we own, whether in print or online.

 
 

Databases for Biology

  • PubMed  
      
    The premiere index for biomedical journal literature. Many article references link to full-text documents. Links are also provided to the wide array of non-bibliographic NCBI databases, as part of the Entrez retrieval system.
  • Biosis Previews (BC Community Only)  
      
    Online version of Biological Abstracts and Biological Abstracts/RRM, covers >5000 journals, conference proceedings, reviews, and reports. Strong in areas of zoology, botany and ecology.
  • Web of Science - Science Citation Index (BC Community Only)  
      
    Web of Science covers core literature in the sciences. It is particularly useful for identifying newer articles which cite important older works (citation searching). Includes Index to Scientific & Technical Proceedings
  • SciFinder Scholar (BC Community Only)  
      
    Online version of Chemical Abstracts, covering the literature of chemistry and related disciplines from 1907 – present with strong coverage of geochemical topics in journal articles, books, conference proceedings, reports, web sites and dissertations.
  • EBSCO GreenFILE  
      
    Bibliographic database of information about environmental concerns. GreenFILE indexes scholarly and general interest titles, as well as government documents and reports.
  • scirus  
      
    A search engine for finding good quality, science-specific web-based materials.
 

Access to Journal Literature for the Non-Specialist

  • Academic OneFile (BC Community Only)  
      
    A good multipurpose database covering a wide array of subjects -- including the sciences -- providing access to both scholarly and more popular articles. Many articles are providing in full-text.
 

Supplementary Indexes for the Biological Sciences

  • Dissertations & Theses Full Text  
      
    (BC Community Only)
    Citations and abstracts to more than 2 million dissertations and masters theses in all fields from 1861 to the present. The full text of dissertations published since the mid-1990s are also available for download.
  • Genetics Abstracts (BC Community Only)  
      
    Genetics Abstracts covers the worldwide literature of genetics, spanning all aspects (molecular genetics, DNA, protein synthesis, ribosomes and gene regulation) and providing the widest perspective from humans to plants and microbes.
  • Embase: Drugs and Pharmacy (BC Community Only)  
      
    Comprehensive, global coverage of drug and pharmacology literature. Includes: effects and uses of drugs and drugs being developed, clinical and expermental aspects of pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics, side effects and adverse reactions.
  • INSPEC/Physics Abstracts (BC Community Only)  
      
    INSPEC is the major indexing/abstracting tool for physics, making it an important database to include in searching for biophysics-related topics.
  • Environmental Abstracts (BC Community Only)  
      
    Formerly LexisNexis Environmental. Search here for articles on the impact of people and technology on the environment and the effectiveness of remedial policies and technologies, as well as energy issues.
  • Agricola  
      
    The National Agricultural Library's database is extensive and covers many areas of interest to life sciences.
  • Excerpta Medica  
      
    Strong coverage of European literature. Titles available at Boston College include:

    Section 3 (Endocrinology), Section 20 (Gerontology and Geriatrics) and Section 22 (Human Genetics)
 

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