Journal coverage is an important factor to consider when evaluating a database. In this study, we counted the number of articles (including early access articles) in newly-launched journals (2018-2022) from two major association publishers in engineering and computer science: the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and the…

This study examines the indexing of open access journals in the engineering disciplines. The sample used in this study was generated from a title listing pulled from the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) in late 2013. Indexing data from four prominent commercial databases in the discipline, Compendex, Web of Science, Inspec, and Scopus,…

Chemical substances from theses are not widely accessible as searchable machine-readable formats. In this article, we describe our workflow for extracting, registering, and sharing chemical substances from the University of Alabama theses to enhance discovery. In total, 73 theses were selected for the project, resulting in about 3,000 substances…

Search result retrieval was compared across eight research literature databases (AGRICOLA, AGRIS, BIOSIS, CAB Direct, FSTA, Google Scholar, Scopus, and Web of Science) for three topics from different agricultural disciplines to compare retrieval results based on searcher experience. Precision, recall, and uniqueness were analyzed by rating search…

The number of systematic reviews (SRs) published continues to grow, and the methodology of evidence synthesis has been adopted in many fields outside of its traditional health sciences origins. SRs are now published in fields as wide ranging as business, environmental science, education, and engineering; however, there is little research looking…

The authors conducted six focus group semi-structured interviews consisting of graduate students and postdoctoral researchers within the College of Engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) in order to understand their roles within research groups and their ability to manage research data. More specifically, participants…

Agricultural researchers and science librarians must understand which research literature databases provide the most comprehensive coverage of agricultural subjects to support their inquiries. Once the domain of a few specialized databases, agricultural research literature is now covered by broad, multidisciplinary databases. The purpose of this…

The field of communication disorders encompasses the health science disciplines of both speech-­language pathology and audiology. Pertinent literature for communication disorders can be found in a number of databases. Librarians providing information literacy instruction may not have the time to cover more than a few resources. This study develops…

Although scholarship has addressed issues around serving international students in U.S. and Canadian libraries, reports on how Chinese graduate students use information in Chinese universities, especially for a particular discipline, are rare. In this study, the author interviewed 15 graduate students and researchers in a top-ranked chemistry…

Quantitative measurements can be used to yield lists of top journals for individual fields. However, these lists represent assessments of the entire "universe" of citation. A much more involved process is needed if the goal is to develop a nuanced picture of what a specific group of authors, such as an academic department, is citing. This article…

Undergraduate STEM students are increasingly expected to have some data use skills upon graduation, whether they pursue post-graduate education or move into industry. This project was an initial foray into the application of data information literacy competencies to training undergraduate students to identify markers of data and information…

Science researchers at the University of California Santa Cruz were surveyed about their article database use and preferences in order to inform collection budget choices. Web of Science was the single most used database, selected by 41.6%. Statistically there was no difference between PubMed (21.5%) and Google Scholar (18.7%) as the second most…

In the wake of the September 2001 attacks, the U.S. government founded the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) with responsibility to develop a National Infrastructure Protection Plan for securing critical infrastructures and key resources. DHS established interdisciplinary networks of academic expertise administered through Centers of…

Nearly every commercial database that covers natural sciences and engineering offers some type of current awareness (CA) service that provides regular updates to users on current literature in a selected field of interest. Current awareness services include e-mail alerts, tables of contents, and RSS feeds. This study was designed to find out what…

Science and engineering libraries have an important role to play in preserving the intellectual content in research areas of the departments they serve. This study employs bibliographic data from the Web of Science database to examine how much research material is required to cover 90% of faculty citations in civil engineering and computer…