BIOL 232 - Plant Physiology: Online Databases for Biology

Online Databases for Plant Biology

Full Text (articles attached) resources:

• Science Direct 
  • Journals, and ebooks from Elsevier Scientific Publishing.
  • Most are in full-text
• BioOne 

  • 100% full text.

  • Journals from scientific associations and non-commercial publishers.

  • Focus on biological, ecological, and environmental sciences.
  • Especially good for research in entomology, ornithology, and herpetology.

Citation databases (more titles, less full-text):

• Web of Science  
  • Also called Science Citation Index.
  • Articles are linked through bibliographies.
  • Citations going back to early 1950s.
  • Premier science database at KU. 
  • Use Interlibrary Loan for articles.
• Biological Abstracts
  • Largest citation database.
  • EBSCO interface.
  • Use Interlibrary Loan for articles.

Other databases to consider:

• JSTOR 
  • Use Advanced.
  • Select from 234 Biological Sciences journals, most of which are in full-text.
• Agricola 
  • U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Agricultural Library.
  • A very broad definition of "Agriculture"
  • Excellent source for U.S. Government-sponsored information 
  • The citations are comprised of journal articles, monographs, theses, etc.
  • Can be searched simultaneously with BIO ABSTRACTS and GREENFILE
• GreenFILE
  • Ecology and Environmental Science Journals and Magazines
  • Most citations have full-text of the article included.
  • EBSCO search engine
  • Search along with BioAbstracts by using the "Choose Database" link.
  • Can be searched simultaneously with BIO ABSTRACTS and  AGRICOLA

• Dissertations and Theses - Doctoral dissertations and Masters Theses from US schools dating back to the late 1800s.

In the last 10 years, scholarly publishing has been plagued by explosive growth of bogus scientific journals, sometimes called "predatory journals." 

Library databases will screen out these fake journals for you, but if you are picking something from the public internet, you need to add an extra step to your research.  You need to make sure the article you are looking at comes from a genuine peer-reviewed journal.  

There is a library database called Cabell's that lists predatory journals:    Cabell's Predatory Reports.  Go to this database and type in the name of the journal you found on the web.  If you find the journal in this database, you should not use the article in your research.