Content last reviewed:
Download ChemDraw (search for Carleton University and use your Carleton email address)
Research Tip Sheet - for systematically searching academic databases (+ video tutorial | 2:30 | Research Tip Sheet transcript)
Initial Reference Material
- Chemical Information for Chemists: A Primer
- ChemWatch Safety Data Sheets (SDS) - GOLD FFX
- via Carleton's Environmental Health and Safety
- VPN required for off-campus login
- scroll down for additional manufacturer-specific databases
- CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics
- Encyclopedia of Reagents for Organic Synthesis
- Hawley's Condensed Chemical Dictionary (16th, 2016)
- International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC)
- Naming and Indexing of Chemical Substances for Chemical Abstracts (pdf)
Chemistry Databases
- SciFinder-n - Carleton’s most comprehensive database for chemistry literature and patent searching. Also includes property data, experimental procedures, searching by chemical name, formula, structure, or identifier, and commercial supplier information. Create an account using your Carleton email address by scrolling down to 'Access Notes' following the link above
- Analytical Abstracts - Designed specifically for analytical scientists, this database includes articles from all areas of analytical chemistry. Search generally, or for specific analytes, matrices or techniques
- ChemRxiv - "A free submission, distribution and archive service for unpublished preprints in chemistry" giving researchers "the opportunity to share early results with colleagues and respond to comments and recommendations for improvement, ahead of formal peer review and publication."
Interdisciplinary Databases
- Annual Reviews - A collection of journals dedicated to review articles, including several focused on chemistry topics
- EI Engineering Village - Includes Inspec and Compendex offering a broad range of related fields including physical chemistry
- Google Scholar - A general search for academic information, including literature available through Carleton and on the web
- Knovel Library - although primarily an Engineering database, excellent coverage of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering literature as well as interactive equation worksheets - Knovel Video Tutorials
- Oxford Journals Online - Including eBooks, open 'Subject' (top-left), 'Browse all content', and explore under 'Subject' along the left
- PubMed - Biomedical and life science literature, including chemistry literature, one resource among many offered by the National Library of Medicine
- Scholars Portal Journals - Provides access to a large number of articles from major academic publishers covering all fields
- Scopus - Includes chemistry literature. Useful for citation searching
- Web of Science - Multidisciplinary database including chemistry literature. Useful for citation searching
Journal Collections with basic search engines
- ACS Publications - American Chemical Society journals from all areas of chemistry
- Royal Society of Chemistry Journals Collection - Journals in all fields of chemistry from the UK's professional body for chemical scientists
- ScienceDirect Journals - Elsevier journals in the physical sciences, engineering, life sciences, health sciences, and social sciences
- SpringerLink - Sciences and Engineering
- Thieme eJournals - Medicine, biochemistry, and synthetic chemistry
eBooks
- Ebook Central
- eBook Collection (EBSCOhost)
- National Academies Press eBooks
- O'Reilly
- Scholars Portal Books
- SpringerLink
- Also note that all of Carleton's ebooks can be found through the library's homepage, using the large search box. Conduct a keyword search, then isolate to Available Online (under Availability) + Books (under Resource Type)
- New Books added to collection (updated monthly)
PrePrints
- agriRxiv - Preprints for Agriculture and Allied Sciences
- arXiv.org* - Focus on Physics, Mathematics, Computer Science, Quantitative Biology, Quantitative Finance, and Statistics
- bioRxiv* - Preprint server for Biology
- ChemRxiv* - Preprint server for Chemistry
- Earth ArXiv - Preprint service for the Earth sciences
- eLife - Reviewed Life Sciences and Medicine PrePrints
- ESSOAr - Earth and Space Science Open Archive
- medRxiv* - The preprint server for health sciences
*can cross-search these repositories via Web of Science [on landing page, change "Search in" from "All Databases" to "Preprint Citation Index"]
Find more PrePrint resources from our Open Access (OA) Publications guide
- CAMEO Chemicals - Database of hazardous materials including fire and explosion hazards, health hazards, cleanup procedures, and reactivity when mixing chemicals
- Chemical Safety Library (CSL) - Hazardous reaction information crowd sourced from academic, industry, and government institutions from around the world
- ChemSpider - Free chemical structure database from the Royal Society of Chemistry to find properties, spectra, and literature references. Search by name or structure
- ChemSynthesis - Database of chemicals with synthesis references and physical properties
- CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics - The authoritative reference handbook for chemical and physical property information
- DrugBank - Data on drugs and drug targets
- DrugCentral - Information on active pharmaceutical ingredients approved by the FDA and other regulatory agencies (download | literature)
- e-EROS - Encyclopedia of Reagents for Organic Synthesis: Online encyclopedia with detailed information on reagents and catalysts for organic synthesis. Browse reagent or catalyst names or search by structure or reaction
- Knovel's Chemical Materials Search - click general search, Property Search, then Open Chemical Materials Search (on right)
- NIOSH Pocket Guide to Chemical Hazards - Workplace chemicals and their hazards
- NIST Chemistry WebBook - Access to chemical and physical property data for chemical species
- OECD's eChemPortal - The global portal to information on chemical substances
- Protein Data Bank (PDB) - Information about the 3D shapes of proteins, nucleic acids, and complex assemblies
- PubChem - Free set of databases with information on the biological activities of small molecules including safety and toxicity information. Search substances, compounds, and bioassays. Search by keyword, properties, or (draw) structure
- SciFinder-n - Includes property data, experimental procedures, searching by chemical name, formula, structure, or identifier, and commercial supplier information.
- ToxInfo.io - Toxicologoy, hazardous chemicals, and environmental health
- Wikipedia Structure Search - Search for Wikipedia pages by drawing chemical structures
Patents
- SciFinder-n - Allows for patent and literature searching and includes commercial supplier information from hundreds of suppliers. See PatentPak for more details
- World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) PatentScope - provides access to international Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) applications
- Espacenet Cooperative Patent Classification - Bilateral system jointly developed by the European Patent Office (EPO) and the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO)
- Google Patents - Search and read through the full text of patents from around the world, including a list of citing patents and non-patent references
- Lens.org - Find patents and associated scholarly research
- SureChEMBL - Search chemical patents by structure, part of ChEMBL, a database of bioactive molecules with drug-like properties
For More on Patents
- Patents, Standards, and Trademarks guide
- Information Sources in Patents by Stephen Adams
- What Every Chemist Should Know about Patents (4th Ed) from the American Chemical Society (pdf)
Suppliers
Theses and Dissertations
- CURVE - Includes Carleton theses and dissertations, as well as other research deposited by faculty, staff, and students
- Dissertations and Theses Global - Theses and dissertations from around the world
- Foreign Doctoral Dissertations - Indexes non-North American graduate and doctoral theses
- Other sources for Theses and Dissertations
- Thesis Requirements for Graduate Students at Carleton University
Advanced Researcher Tools
- Borealis, the Canadian Dataverse Repository - Repository for sharing and preserving research data, hosted in Ontario
- Cabells Predatory Reports - Investigate a journal for deceptive publishing practices which may undermine the quality of its published research.
- Journal Citation Reports (JCR) - Find journal profiles and evaluate a journal's impact factor over time using data indexed in the Web of Science Core Collection
- PubPeer - Forum for finding and posting comments/questions on published papers + browser extension to discover associated PubPeer comments in the course of your research
- RCS ShareFile for Research Data - Locally hosted (at Carleton) file sharing platform for ongoing research
- Research Professional - Seek out funding opportunities
- Retraction Watch Database - Determine whether an article has been retracted and the reason(s) why. See here for more details
- Scimago Journal & Country Rank (SJR) - Find journal profiles and citation metrics, as well as explore subject area publication metrics by country
- SciVal - Evaluate the research performance of institutions from around the world including by subject area, topic, and international collaborations, as well as performance metrics of individual researchers using data from Scopus and ScienceDirect
- Ulrichsweb - Find bibliographic information from a variety of serial publications including publisher and indexing details. Also includes the publishing history of a given title as well as reviews written by librarians
Library Guides for Advanced Researchers
- Conducting a Literature Review
- Covidence - For the production of knowledge syntheses
- Publisher Discount Agreements for Open Access Publishing
- Scholarly Communications - Including more resources for authors and researchers - especially Measuring your Research Impact
- Systematic Reviews and other Knowledge Syntheses
Writing Tools
- ACS (American Chemical Society) Guide to Scholarly Communication - Includes details on style conventions, journal authoring, effective writing, Open Access, Open Science, and data sharing
- Chemical Abstracts Service Source Index (CASSI) - Converts journal title abbreviations to full titles, and vice versa
- How to Write a Good Scientific Paper - SPIE Digital Library, teaching the style and conventions of writing for a peer-reviewed scientific journal
- Mastering the Art of Scientific Publication - ACS Publications
- Substance Search - A useful tool for converting between chemical names and CAS Registry Numbers
Tutorials, Further Learning
- ToxTutor - Self-paced tutorial on the key principles of toxicology from the U.S. National Institutes of Health
- UCI OpenChem - Open versions of chemistry lecture courses from University of California, Irvine, including recorded lectures. No registration required
- WolframAlpha - Search engine for factual and objective data
Videos
- Films on Demand - Click the three bars at the top left to 'View All' Subjects, including Chemistry
YouTube
- American Chemical Society
- Playlist: ACS AuthorUniversity (scientific writing and publishing)
- Playlist: Science Communication
- c&en
- Chemistry Abstracts Service
- Khan Academy Organic Chemistry
- Periodic Videos
- Royal Society of Chemistry
