Subject Guides: Chemistry: Journal articles and databases

Electronic article lookup

Full Text Finder quick search
When you already have an article’s citation details – works best with a DOI

Electronic journal search

MultiSearch

Academic journal articles

“Content providers” filter selected for providers more relevant to chemistry

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

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

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.

SciFinder Discovery Platform

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. In addition SciFinderⁿ includes PatentPak, MethodsNow, Retrosynthesis Planning and Biosequence Searching.
- System requirements
- If it is your first time using SciFinderⁿ, you need to register first.
  - Written instructions for registration
    Suggestion: use your UC username as your SciFinder username.
- Tutorials and user guides
Analytical Methods (CAS)
CAS Analytical Methods^TM is a curated collection of over 500,000 step-by-step analytical protocols, extracted from peer-reviewed literature and patent sources. Cut down on time searching for analytical methodologies with CAS Analytical Methods^TM, a platform containing collated methodologies highlighting analytes, matrices, reagents, instruments, consummables and validation information, in easy-to-read and downloadable documents.
Access CAS Analytical Methods^TM using your existing SciFinderⁿ username and password. If you do not already have a SciFinderⁿ username and password, you need to register first.
Formulus (CAS)
CAS Formulus® is a curated collection of over five million formulation records from peer-reviewed literature, patents and product inserts from the US FDA. Access a world-leading collection of formulations to evaluate ingredients, manufacturing processes and regulatory information in a user-friendly interface.
Access CAS Formulus® using your existing SciFinderⁿ username and password. If you do not already have a SciFinderⁿ username and password, you need to register first.

Scopus
Multidisciplinary, especially Life, Health and Physical Sciences.
ScienceDirect
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
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
Large biomedical database, provides greater coverage of European and International journals than Medline

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

Europe PMC
An open-access database of biomedical and life-sciences literature, including research articles, preprints, micropublications, books, reviews and protocols

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.

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