Subject and Course Guides: Biological Sciences Research Guide: Articles & Databases

Biological Sciences - Best Bet Databases

Key Science Databases

BIOSIS Citation Index, 1926- (Web of Science) This link opens in a new window Contains journals, conference proceedings, books, & technical reports in all aspects of the life sciences including developmental biology, organismal biology, ecology, molecular and cell biology, pharmacology, genetics, neurosciences, and psychology. Includes the Biological Abstracts & BIOSIS Previews databases.
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Biological Abstracts, 1926- (Web of Science) This link opens in a new window Articles from life sciences journals, covering topics ranging from botany to microbiology to pharmacology. (Index)
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BioOne Complete This link opens in a new window Journals covering the biological, ecological, and environmental sciences. (Full-Text)
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PubMed (MEDLINE) This link opens in a new window Biomedical literature from MEDLINE, life science journals, and online books. Produced by the U.S. National Institutes of Health's National Library of Medicine (NIH/NLM). (Index)
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Key Multidisciplinary Databases

Academic Search Premier This link opens in a new window Academic Search Premier is an excellent place to start your research, providing comprehensive multidisciplinary content. The database contains articles from scholarly journals, popular magazines, and newspapers from a wide range of disciplines.
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Web of Science Core Collection, 1900- This link opens in a new window The Web of Science Core Collection is an excellent place to start your research. The Core Collection offers access to scholarly research in all areas of study. You are able to search by author, keywords, and cited references. Cited reference searching allows you to track prior research, see who is citing a work, and measure the influence of someone's work. The following databases make up the Core Collection: Science Citation Index, Social Sciences Citation Index, Arts & Humanities Citation Index, Book Citation Index, Conference Proceedings Citation Index, Current Chemical Reactions, and Index Chemicus.
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Scopus This link opens in a new window Scopus is a comprehensive multidisciplinary database, covering journal articles in science, mathematics, engineering, technology, health and medicine, social sciences, and arts and humanities. Scopus also includes patent records, books, and conference proceedings.
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Biological Sciences - Additional Databases

BioMed Central This link opens in a new window Open access articles in biology, medicine, and health (Full-Text)

bioRxiv : the Preprint Server for Biology bioRxiv (pronounced "bio-archive") is a free online archive and distribution service for unpublished preprints (draft manuscripts) in the life sciences. It is operated by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, a not-for-profit research and educational institution.

CABI: CAB Abstracts and Global Health, 1910- (Web of Science) This link opens in a new window CAB Abstracts and Global Health, from CABI (Commonwealth Agricultural Bureaux International), covers international research in agriculture and all related applied life sciences and public health. Included are millions of citations, full-text articles, news items and reports across the applied life sciences.
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Earth, Atmospheric & Aquatic Science Database (includes Water Resources Abstracts) This link opens in a new window Covers the topics of aquaculture, atmospheric pollution, climatology, geology, oceanography, marine biology, meteorology, and water quality. Includes the following subcollections: Water Resource Abstracts, Meteorological and Geoastrophysical Abstracts, and Aquatic Sciences and Fisheries Abstracts. Includes journal articles, dissertations, and other scholarly materials. (Full-Text and Index) More Info
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Fish, Fisheries & Aquatic Biodiversity Worldwide This link opens in a new window Includes research on ichthyology, fisheries, aquaculture and aquatic and marine biology. Includes major fish and fisheries databases, such as FISHLIT, Aquatic Biology Citations, Fishing Industry Research Index, and the Fisheries Review. Includes journal articles. (Index and Full-Text)
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GreenFILE This link opens in a new window Focuses on all aspects of human impact on the environment, and connections between the environment and a variety of disciplines such as agriculture, education, law, health, and technology. Includes climate change, green building, pollution, sustainable agriculture, renewable energy, recycling, and more. Covers 1920s to the present. (Index)
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JSTOR This link opens in a new window Academic journals, books, and primary sources from many disciplines. Contains complete back runs of many journals; current issues are delayed by three to five years. (Full-Text) Note: UNL does not have full-text access to some materials on this platform.
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SciELO Citation Index, 2002- (Web of Science) This link opens in a new window Index of Open Access articles published in Latin America, Spain, Portugal, and South Africa covering agriculture, social science, biology, engineering, earth science, health, human sciences, linguistics, literature, and art. (Index)
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SORA, the Searchable Ornithological Research Archive Open access journal archive produced jointly by the University of New Mexico and other Ornithological organizations. Includes both international Ornithological literature as well as material documenting the history of Ornithology in North America over the last 120 years.Key journals include Journal of Field Ornithology, North American Bird Bander, Studies in Avian Biology, and Wilson Bulletin. (Full-Text)
TOXLINE - via PubMed The Toxline subset, from the National Library of Medicine's, covers the pharmacological, biochemical, physiological, and toxicological effects of drugs and other chemicals. Data from the public domain subfiles of NLM, including published material and research in progress, are included.
TOXNET (retired) Indexes publications on the toxicological, pharmacological, biochemical and physiological effects of drugs and other chemicals *NOTE* As part of a broader NLM reorganization, most of NLM's toxicology information services have been integrated into other NLM products and services. Follow this link to the "How to access TOXNET information" page.

Wildlife & Ecology Studies Worldwide This link opens in a new window Journals, magazines, books, and conference papers about wild mammals, birds, reptiles and amphibians.Major topic areas include studies of individual species, habitat types, hunting, economics, wildlife behavior, management techniques, diseases, ecotourism, zoology, taxonomy, and much more. (Index)
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Zoological Record, 1864- (Web of Science) This link opens in a new window Covers animal biology, biodiversity, the environment, taxonomy, paleobiology, veterinary sciences and zoology. It is a leading taxonomic reference, and with coverage back to 1864, acts as an unofficial register of animal names. May be used to determine the first appearance of an animal name or new species, track taxonomic and nomenclatural changes, and follow animal biology and biodiversity issues. Geographic searching is particularly comprehensive.
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These digital collections include ebooks, ejournals, dissertations, and/or images.
UNL may subscribe to only part of the content in the Publisher digital collections, such as ScienceDirect. Use Delivery/Interlibrary Loan to request copies of articles or other materials not directly available online.

ACSESS DL Journals (Alliance of Crop, Soil, and Environmental Science Societies) Full Text journals published by the American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America, and Soil Science Society of America

Annual Reviews This link opens in a new window Collection of journals with authoritative review articles, summaries, evaluations and bibliographies of research literature in many science and social science disciplines. Reviews the most significant primary (original) research literature to guide researchers to the principal contributions of their field and help them keep up to date in their area of research. Includes titles such as Annual Review of Plant Biology, Annual Review of Genetics, Annual Review of Virology, Annual Review of Microbiology, etc. (Full Text)
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BioMed Central This link opens in a new window BioMed Central provides free open access to original research papers published in peer-reviewed journals covering biology, clinical medicine, and health. All original research articles are made freely accessible online immediately upon publication and are indexed in PubMed. (Full text)
BioOne Complete This link opens in a new window Journals covering the biological, ecological, and environmental sciences. (Full-Text)
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Biodiversity Heritage Library A sizable collection of digitized, open access books and journals on biodiversity created by a consortium of natural history and botanical libraries. Searchable by title, author, subject, publication date, collection or contributing library. (Full-Text)
Cambridge Core (Cambridge University Press) Includes academic journal and book content from Cambridge University Press.

Directory of Open Access Journals, DOAJ This link opens in a new window Articles from open access, peer-reviewed journals in all subjects and languages. (Full-Text)
HathiTrust Digital Library This link opens in a new window HathiTrust (pronounced 'hah-tee') is a digital repository of scanned books, journals, and other library materials. All users may access the bibliographic information for materials in the database. In addition, full text is available for "Full View" (public domain and open access) materials. Those with a UNL NUID and password can download the full text of the Full View materials. HathiTrust is a partnership of major research institutions and libraries, including the UNL Library, working to ensure that these materials are preserved and remain accessible..
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JSTOR This link opens in a new window Academic journals, books, and primary sources from many disciplines. Contains complete back runs of many journals; current issues are delayed by three to five years. (Full-Text) Note: UNL does not have full-text access to some materials on this platform.
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Nature.com This link opens in a new window Journals in the life sciences, including Nature, Nature Communications, Nature Protocols, and Nature Reviews. (Full-Text) Note: UNL does not have full-text access to some materials on this platform.
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Oxford Academic This link opens in a new window General entry point to journals and ebooks published by Oxford University Press. Note: UNL does not have full-text access to some materials on this platform.
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PubMed Central This link opens in a new window Open access articles in biomedical and life sciences collected by the U.S. National Institutes of Health's National Library of Medicine. Included in the PubMed database. (Full-Text)
SciELO This link opens in a new window Open Access journals published in Latin America, Spain, Portugal, and South Africa covering agriculture, social science, biology, engineering, earth science, health, human sciences, linguistics, literature, and art. Articles are in English, Portuguese and Spanish. (Full-Text)
ScienceDirect Collections This link opens in a new window General entry point to journals and ebooks published by Elsevier Science and its subsidiaries. Covers life sciences, physical sciences, medicine, technology, social sciences and humanities. (Full-Text) Note: UNL does not have full-text access to some materials on this platform.
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SpringerLink This link opens in a new window General entry point to Springer publications - journals and books in the following fields: behavioral science, biomedical and life sciences, business and economics, chemistry and materials science, computer science, earth and environmental science, engineering, humanities, social sciences and law, mathematics, medicine, and physics and astronomy. Note: UNL does not have full-text access to some materials on this platform.
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Wiley Online Library This link opens in a new window General entry point to Wiley publications - journals and ebooks in the life sciences, health and physical sciences, social sciences, and humanities. Note: UNL does not have full-text access to some materials on this platform.
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Sage Journals A searchable index of journals from SAGE, primarily in business, humanities, and the social sciences, but also including science, technology and medicine. Includes full-text access to some of the content.

Annual Reviews This link opens in a new window Annual Reviews is a collection of more than 50 annual review journals covering many science and social science disciplines. Each journal exclusively publishes review articles which synthesize and summarize research within a field or discipline. Includes titles such as Annual Review of Plant Biology, Annual Review of Genetics, Annual Review of Virology, Annual Review of Microbiology, etc. (Full Text)
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Bioscience (AIBS) Presents articles dealing with current advances in the field of biological science for researchers, administrators and teachers. Published by the American Institute of Biological Sciences (AIBS). Full Text, with 12 month delay.
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Biological Reviews (Cambridge Philosophical Society)
Integrative and Comparative Biology Integrative and Comparative Biology (ICB), formerly American Zoologist, publishes high-impact, peer-reviewed articles in integrative, comparative and organismal biology. ICB is the official journal of the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology and includes the proceedings of symposia and Annual Meeting events.
Quarterly Review of Biology The Quarterly Review of Biology publishes review articles that are insightful historical, philosophical, and technical treatments of important biological topics, guided by an expansive, inclusive, and often humanistic understanding of biology. Beyond the core biological sciences, the QRB also includes reviews in related areas, such as policy studies and the history and philosophy of science. Full Text.
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F1000 Faculty Reviews F1000 Faculty Reviews includes unique, peer-reviewed reports on emerging themes in biology and medicine, providing coverage of the latest advances by selecting topics and nominating experts to provide context for the evaluated literature. Full Text.

What are Review articles?

Review articles are written to summarize the current state of the research on a particular topic.
Review articles are also referred to as meta-analyses, systematic reviews or literature reviews. They collect, analyze and summarize the research literature on a topic. Review articles are considered secondary sources (summaries or interpretations of original research). Secondary sources, particularly review articles, are often useful and easier-to-read summaries of research in an area.

Review articles will inform you about...

the key people working in a field
recent major advances and discoveries
significant gaps in the research
current debates
ideas of where research might go next

arXiv.org e-Print archive Free electronic preprint (e-print) service in the fields of physics, astrophysics, mathematics, non-linear science, computer science, and quantitative biology.
bioRxiv : the Preprint Server for Biology bioRxiv (pronounced "bio-archive") is a free online archive and distribution service for unpublished preprints (draft manuscripts) in the life sciences. It is operated by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, a not-for-profit research and educational institution.
ChemRxiv Preprints ChemRxiv is an open access preprint archive for chemistry. It is operated by the American Chemical Society, Royal Society of Chemistry and German Chemical Society.
EcoEvoRxiv Preprints A free preprint service for ecology, evolution and conservation.
MedRxiv Preprints medRxiv (pronounced "med-archive") is a free online archive and distribution server for complete but unpublished manuscripts (preprints) in the medical, clinical, and related health sciences. Preprints are preliminary reports of work that have not been certified by peer review.
OSF Preprints (Open Science Framework) Preprints search site - search for OSF Preprints, and also preprints on partner sites such as arXiv, AgriXiv, engrXiv, PsyArXiv and SocArXiv. Preprints may be deposited free of charge, and all published preprints may be downloaded free of charge.
PeerJ PrePrints Open Access, peer-reviewed, scholarly journal. It considers research articles in the Biological Sciences, Medical Sciences, and Health Sciences. Preprint server for Biology, Health Sciences, and Computer Science
PrePubMed Indexes preprints from arXiv q-bio, PeerJ Preprints, bioRxiv, F1000Research, preprints.org, The Winnower, Nature Precedings, and Wellcome Open Research. Articles are not stored on PrePubMed, but you will be linked to the article at the respective site.
AgriRxiv agriRxiv (pronounced ‘agri-archive’) is a free, open access source of unpublished preprints across the agricultural sciences.
F1000 Research covers broad life & biomedical research, including basic scientific, translational and clinical research within the life sciences and medicine

What are Preprints?

A Preprint is a pre-publication document, such as a draft or version of an article, that has not yet been published.
It may have been reviewed and accepted, or submitted but with no publication decision, or is intended for publication and is being circulated for comment.

Digital Commons @University of Nebraska - Lincoln This link opens in a new window
A public, full-text repository of UNL research, scholarship, and creative activity. Includes dissertations & theses, faculty publications, and more. (Full-Text)
Dissertations, University of Nebraska-Lincoln This link opens in a new window Dissertations and theses published at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (Full-Text)
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Dissertations and Theses (includes Dissertation Abstracts International) This link opens in a new window Dissertations and theses from United States and international institutions. Access full text through interlibrary loan; some dissertations are also available free online. (Index)
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