Subject Guides: Chemistry: Journal Articles and Databases

Search Tips

Specific articles: search in one of the key chemistry databases and/or MultiSearch.

Journal title: in the Library catalogue do a "Journal title begins with" search OR use the Journal Search below. Results may include online, print, and/or older versions. Check what years/volumes we have

Print: see the details in red under “Library holds”
Electronic: see the dates in the links under “Web access”

Abbreviated title: in the Library catalogue do a "Journal title keywords" search and type an asterisk directly after each part of the abbreviation, e.g. Int* J* Biom*

Electronic Article Lookup

Citation Linker quick search
When you already have an article’s citation details

Journal Search

MultiSearch

Search across a range of Library resources, including

the Library Catalogue
most Library databases
some digital collections

Browse Chemistry Journals

Online

Electronic Journals in Physical Sciences & Mathematics
Online journals subscribed to by UC Library
DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals
Organic Syntheses
Online journal that provides “detailed, reliable, and carefully checked procedures for the synthesis of organic compounds”

In print

Recently received – EPS Library , on the ground floor in the QD classification sequence
Older journals – request through the Library catalogue

Interloan

If you cannot find it at UC Library or online, request an Interloan and we will get it for you from another library. There is no charge for this service

Comparing Journals

To compare journal bibliometrics consider using:

See also Measuring Impact for more information.

Key Databases for Chemistry

To find specific articles within journals, try one of the indexing services below. Each database has its own subject focus, date range and usage quirks – contact me for ideas on getting the best results

Subscribed Databases (paid for by the Library)

Subscribed databases are only available to UC students and staff: licensing, usage and access restrictions apply

SciFinderⁿ
Chemical Abstracts and Registry databases for a broad range of chemical literature and substance information. Coverage includes “chemistry” in its broadest sense, ranging from biochemistry to pharmacy to pharmacology to chemical engineering. SciFinderⁿ provides many of the same search capabilities as the older SciFinder (Web) listed below, along with a new search interface. In addition SciFinderⁿ includes PatentPak, MethodsNow, Retrosynthesis Planning and Biosequence Searching.
- System requirements
- If it is your first time using SciFinder or SciFinderⁿ, you need to register first
  NB. If you already have an existing SciFinder account, you can log into SciFinderⁿ with that username and password; you do not need to set up a new account.
  - Written instructions for registration
    Suggestion: use your UC username as your SciFinder username
- Tutorials and user guides
SciFinder
Access to SciFinder ceases 31 Dec. 2021, replaced by SciFinderⁿ
Chemical Abstracts and Registry databases for a broad range of chemical literature and substance information. Coverage includes “chemistry” in its broadest sense ranging from biochemistry to pharmacy to pharmacology to chemical engineering
- System requirements
- If it is your first time using SciFinder or SciFinderⁿ, you need to register first
  - Written instructions
    Suggestion: use your UC username as your SciFinder username
- Tutorials and user guides
- Searching Inorganic Substances in SciFinder (A. Ben Wagner)
- How to export references to EndNote
- SciPlanner – an interactive workspace to organise substance, reaction and reference search results and to plan syntheses projects before heading to the lab or for sharing with colleagues
Scopus
ScienceDirect Journals
Full text of journals published by Elsevier Science. Primary science, medicine and technology. Some titles from social science and commerce.
Wiley Online Library
Multidisciplinary collection of full-text resources covering life, health and physical sciences, social science, and the humanities. Formats included are journal articles, eBooks, reference works and laboratory protocols
MEDLINE (Online : OvidSP)
Provides combined access to Medline and Medline In-Process & Other Non-Indexed Citations. Includes biomedicine, dentistry, nursing and related topics. Logoff when you have completed searching.
Embase
Embase is a biomedical and pharmaceutical database covering the following fields: drug research, pharmacology, pharmaceutics, toxicology, clinical and experimental human medicine, health policy and management, public health, occupational health, environmental health, drug dependence and abuse, psychiatry, forensic medicine, and biomedical engineering/instrumentation.
Materials Science & Engineering Database
Provides full-text titles from around the world, including scholarly journals, trade and industry journals, magazines, technical reports, conference proceedings, government publications. Includes the METADEX and Polymer Library databases and specialized, editorial-controlled abstracting and indexing resources.

Open Access Databases (free)

ChemSpider
A free database of chemistry structures and their associated information. To draw and search on a structure or substructure, click “Structure search,” then click the pencil inside the diagram, then select “Draw or Edit”
- Search by Chemical Structure (YouTube video from RSC)
CCCBDB: Computational Chemistry Comparison and Benchmark Database (NIST)
Experimental and computed (quantum mechanics) thermochemical data for a selected set of gas-phase atoms and small molecules. Tools for comparing experimental and computational ideal-gas thermochemical properties
ChemRxiv
An open preprint server for Chemistry, managed by ACS. More details on the “What You Need to Know” page.
Crystallography Open Database
Open-access collection of crystal structures of organic, inorganic, metal-organic compounds and minerals, excluding biopolymers
ECS Electrochemistry Knowledge
Regularly updated index to the electrochemistry literature (books, proceedings, articles and websites) together with a dictionary and an encyclopedia
iScienceSearch
The Internet search engine for chemists and biologists; a federated search service that retrieves chemical compound information from a wide variety of databases.
medRxiv
An open preprint server for medicine and health sciences, managed by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. More details on the “About medRxiv” page.
PubChem
PubChem Structure Search allows the PubChem Compound Database to be to be queried by chemical structure or chemical structure pattern. The PubChem Sketcher allows a query to be drawn manually. Users may also specify the structural query input by PubChem Compound Identifier (CID) , SMILES , SMARTS , InChI , Molecular Formula , or by upload of a supported structure file format

PubMed
Medicine and related disciplines
PubMed Central
Medicine and related disciplines

Science.gov
Searches databases and websites from US federal government agencies with a focus on science information, including research and development results
ScienceOpen
A freely-accessible research network that aggregates open-access articles from a variety of sources.
Wikipedia Chemical Structure Explorer
My be easier than SciFinder for “common” compounds of significant environmental, toxicological or commercial interest

For certain aspects of chemistry, you could also explore the databases linked from other Subject Guides, e.g. Physics, Biological Sciences or Chemical Engineering

Google Scholar – Tips and Tricks

Provides a simple way to search broadly for scholarly literature

Use Scholar Preferences

to import references into EndNote, BibTeX, etc: amend Bibliography manager details in the Search results section
- Import one citation at a time using the “Import into . . .” link
- Log in to import several citations at once (instructions on the EndNote Guide )
to show Full-Text @ UC Library, choose ”University of Canterbury“ in the Library Links section

Use Google Scholar Library to organise your references

Library Subject Guides

Chemistry: Journal Articles and Databases