WISER Science Electronic Resources for Biology

1. WISER ScienceElectronic Resources for Biology Roger Mills and Kate Williams January 2006

2. Types of resource • Electronic journals • Some packages with own search interface • Bibliographic databases with abstracts • Various search interfaces • ‘Hard’ data bases • Especially in molecular biology • Gateways to web sites • Some subject-specific e.g. BIOME

3. Getting together • The different types are converging • Molecular biology model likely to extend • Important to be clear what you are searching; the same data can be accessed in different ways and interfaces look very different

4. E-journals • Access via TDNet • Publisher packages – Elsevier ScienceDirect • Subject-based packages – BioOne • TOUR links from other bibliographic databases • Alerts available from most collections

5. RSS feeds • Increasingly popular for ‘keeping up’ • Easy to set up, use an RSS reader or Firefox • Look for the RSS logo

8. Secondary sources • Bibliographic databases: • Web of Knowledge (sub) • SCOPUS (sub) • Electronic Reference Library (sub) • SciFinder (Chemical Abstracts) (sub) • PubMed (free)

11. Hard data sources • Entrez

14. Gateways to web sites • Resources selected by subject specialists • Much more focussed than Google • Independent evaluation • UK Resource Discovery Network • BIOME

17. Why use an abstracting service? • Plus points: • Wide coverage • Content chosen by independent subject specialists • Publisher independent • Long back runs • Minus points: • No full text within database • Complex searching

18. Biological abstracting services • Leading products available in Oxford • Biological Abstracts • CAB Abstracts • Zoological Record • Forest Science Database (TreeCD) • Medline • Cambridge Scientific Abstracts

19. Access • Via OxLIP • Biological Abstracts • CAB Abstracts • Zoological Record • TreeCD • Medline [moving to OVID Web gateway Feb 06] • All above are on ERL (using Ovid [SilverPlatter] software) • CSA uses different software

20. Access outside Oxford • For ERL use Virtual Private Network (VPN) – set up BEFORE leaving Oxford • http://www.oucs.ox.ac.uk/network/vpn/oucs-service/ • For CSA use ATHENS http://www.oucs.ox.ac.uk/athens/

21. ERL databases • Choice of web or windows software • Multiple database selection • Cross- searching of different services simultaneously possible BUT • Thesauri will not work • Some fields are database-specific

22. Main scope • Very broadly: • Biological Abstracts: pure science • CAB Abstracts: applied science • Zoological Record: zoology • Forest Science Database: forest science • Medline: medicine • CSA: all, particularly environmental

23. Overlap • Significant across all, but: • High proportion of references unique to one database • Duplicates may be abstracted/indexed from different viewpoints • No automatic de-duplication

24. Today • Biological Abstracts (BA) • CAB Abstracts (CAB) • Zoological Record (ZR) • For others see other talks • For more detail on above see individual talks • www.plantlib.ox.ac.uk/courses

25. Biological Abstracts • Over 5.5 million records from 1980 to date • Annual growth c. 360,000 records • OXFORD: • electronic version 1985-date • print version 1926-1984 (in RSL)

26. BA geographical coverage • 4000 journals from 90 countries North America (31%) Asia, Australasia (14%) Central & S. America (2%) Europe & Middle East (52%) Africa (1%)

27. BA subject coverage • Traditional topics: • Molecular biology, Botany, Zoology, Ecology and the Environment,Microbiology • Interdisciplinary areas • Experimental, Clinical and Veterinary Medicine, Biotechnology and Genetics,Agriculture and Nutrition, Biochemistry,Pharmacology, Public Health • Related areas • Methods, Instrumentation

28. Zoological Record • Over 1.5 million records from 1978-present • Annual growth c.72,000 • Monthly updates

29. ZR • First published 1865 as The Record of Zoological Literature • Originally produced by a group of zoologists associated with the Zoological Society of London and the British Museum • From 1980-2002 published jointly by BIOSIS and the Zoological Society of London • 2003- published by BIOSIS • 2004 BIOSIS sold to Thomson

30. ZR in Oxford • Available in Oxford • Printed version: 1864 – date: • RSL pt. 1-20. (1864- date) • OUM (1864-1965) pt. 1. Comprehensive Zoology; pt.12. Aracnida; (1864-1989) pt.13. Insecta; pt. 20; List of new taxonomic names • ZOO-AL (1870-1998) pt.18. Aves • ZOO-EL (1902-1990 imp.) pt.19.Mammalia • Electronic version: 1978 – date

31. ZR subject coverage • All aspects of zoology and animal science • Experimental and domestic animals (and humans) generally not included • Behaviour, biodiversity, biochemistry, conservation, ecology, evolution, freshwater biology, genetics, marine biology, morphology, palaeontology, parasitology and diseases, reproduction, systematics, techniques, zoogeography

32. ZR geographical coverage • Source material from 100+ countries North America (20%) Asia, Australasia (19%) Central & S. America (4%) Africa (2%) Europe & Middle East (55%)

33. CAB Abstracts • Over 4 million abstracts • Print publication in numerous separate subject sections, with different start dates – 1930’s on • Online since 1972 • Certain sections from vol 1, including forestry (1939-)

34. CAB subject coverage • Plant Science, Animal Science, Human Health, Parasitology, Ecology, Forestry, Soil Science, Food Science & products, Agricultural Economics, Biotechnology, Agricultural Engineering, Leisure and Tourism.

35. CAB geographical coverage • Source material from 100+ countries North America (26%) Asia, Australasia (22%) Central & S. America (4%) Africa (2%) Europe & Middle East (46%)

36. Common fields • AU, TI, SO, PY, AB • Sort by these to identify duplicates when cross-searching • Note that author names are always in the form Bloggs-AB • Controlled terms linked with hyphen if more than one word • e.g. forest-ecology

37. Database-specific fields • Indexing terms differ • Field labels for controlled terms MAY differ • They may be the same e.g. DE but the contents may not be equivalent – so hyperlinks may mislead

41. In general • Start with a general search across all likely databases • Refine by searching within individual databases on their own • Use the help to discover what is in index fields and how the controlled vocabularies work • More help on database websites • See links from www.plantlib.ox.ac.uk/courses

42. Today’s search topic Research into establishing the feeding behaviour of elephants. What are the 3 key concepts to use in your search?

43. Search terms • The main concepts to search for: • elephant • feeding • behaviour

44. Searching techniques • To combine search terms: • AND, OR (Boolean connectors) • AND to narrow the search • OR to broaden the search (British/American spellings, synonyms)

45. OR, AND

46. Search tips • Wildcards • Use a question mark (?) to replace a single character • E.g. Wom?n finds woman or women • Use an asterisk (*) to truncate terms • E.g. enzym* for enzyme, enzymes, enzymology etc • Search for an exact phrase using double quotes • E.g. “feeding behaviour” will retrieve different results from feeding behaviour.

47. Search string • Search terms: • elephant* AND • Behavio?r OR habit* AND • eating OR feeding OR diet* • You will probably find more search terms from retrieved records while searching.