| BIOSIS Previews | Embase | |
|---|---|---|
| Quick guide | ||
| Years |
1926– |
1947– |
| Literature Types |
Journal articles, patents, books (and some book chapters), technical reports, dissertations, conference papers; 50+ languages |
Journal articles, books (and some book chapters), conference papers; 50+ languages |
| Purpose(s) | Breadth: comprehensively indexing worldwide life sciences literature | Breadth: comprehensively indexing worldwide biomedical literature |
| Updates | Weekly | Daily |
| Additional notes | Overlaps with PubMed content, but covers additional journals and additional literature types | Overlaps with PubMed content, but covers additional European and Asian journals and additional literature types; particularly strong coverage of literature on drugs and toxicology |
Note: Our current subscription permits searching Compendex and Inspec simultaneously, and then removing duplicates. Each database has unique indexing worth exploring when designing a search strategy.
| Compendex | Inspec | |
|---|---|---|
| Quick guide |
IET Inspec Engineering Village quick reference guide (PDF). Also see the Engineering Village: Access and Use Support Center. |
|
| Years |
1884– |
1898– |
| Literature Types |
Journal articles, books (and some book chapters), dissertations, preprints, conference papers, standards, patents, trade journals; 35+ languages |
Journal articles, books (and some book chapters), dissertations, preprints, conference papers, standards, patents, videos; 35+ languages |
| Purpose(s) | Comprehensively indexing worldwide engineering and applied physical sciences literature | Comprehensively indexing worldwide physics and electronics literature; selectively indexing computer science and information technology literature |
| Properties | Can search and/or filter results by reported values for > 60 properties and/or experimental conditions | Can search and/or filter results by reported values for 25 properties and/or experimental conditions |
| Updates | Daily | Weekly |
| Web of Science | Scopus | ProQuest Dissertations and Theses | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Quick guide | Web of Science Core Collection Reference Guide (PDF) | ||
| Years |
Source items from 1900– |
Source items from 1960– (with selected older material) |
1861– (with some European dissertations back from the 17th century) |
| Literature Types |
Journal articles, selected books (and some book chapters), selected conference papers, ; 35+ languages |
Journal articles, books (and some book chapters), conference papers, patents, trade journals; 40+ languages |
Master's and doctoral theses and dissertations; 50+ languages |
| Purpose(s) |
Citation database; also permits searching broadly across disciplines |
Citation database; also permits searching broadly across disciplines | Breadth: indexing and full text hosting of international culminating graduate work |
| Updates | Daily |
Daily |
Weekly |
| Additional notes |
Minimal subject indexing. Widely accepted in US academe (and sometimes abused) as a research impact assessment tool. |
Minimal subject indexing. Covers a larger range of sources than Web of Science, but less widely accepted as a research impact assessment tool in the US. | Full text may be embargoed 6 months–2 years |
