A Quick Look of a Few Free Science Search Tools (Scirus, Live Search Academic, Google Scholar, Scitopia, Global Science Gateway, and More
Two caveats before we begin our tour. No list could be even close to 100% comprehensive. Simply defining "science" in this sense could be enough for several posts. So, what follows is a selected list of some of the larger databases. We hope to get to others in our regular daily postings and perhaps again with another overview post in the early Fall.
The second caveat. Remember, (it's easy to forget) that not every article found in Scirus, Live Academic, Google Scholar, etc. is not always free. Variables can include:
+ Publisher and/or Scholarly Organization
+ Author (you might find a pre-print on an web site but be careful, as it might not be the published version. In some cases, the pre-print is fine. Just a note to be careful.)
+ Date (Older material is free, new material is fee-based)
+ Registration. For example, The Lancet offers a selected amount of full text material for free for registered (free) users.
So, if you do find free content (cool!) but in other cases you'll need to have a subscription (check with your library about remote access that your library card can offer) or pay-per-article. Also, an entry on a results list does not mean the full text is available for free.
Bottom Line: Confusion for many and sometimes, people spending $ on content their library offers at no charge.
Now, with that out of the way, off we go.
Over the weekend, ResourceShelf friend, librarian, and one of the very best resource compilers, David Dillard posted two items on Net-Gold regarding some Elsevier content now being found in the Google Scholar database. Here's post one (with a link to an O'Reilly post by Peter Brantley) and post number two. This is exciting news for GS users. Our only issue is that Google still does not provide a directory/catalog/list of what sources (and their run dates are in Google Scholar).
This is an issue we've brought up several times in the past. Here's an example and a look at what others offer. Btw, we once again checked the Google Scholar advanced search section and documentation and still were unable to find a "catalog" of sources. Yes, you can search by journal name but that's a trial and error situation since no definitive source is a available.
So, with that news in mind, here's a list of a few other sources to find "scholarly" science content. Again, what is "scholarly" to some is not to others. However, that's a discussion for another time. :-)
Scirus
One of the first "science focused" specialty databases on the open web. After many years or mediocrity, it received a very positive review from Peter Jacso about six months ago.
Scirus is owned and operated by Elsevier using search technology from Fast Search and Transfer. As would be expected, plenty of Elsevier content is in the database via Science Direct. In the past few months they have become OpenURL compliant and continue to add data from a variety of sources including institutional repositories.
In the past few weeks, Scirus announced a deal with FAST Search to build topic-specific pages and sites.
While far from ideal, you can do some limiting by source here. Because Science Direct is listed as a source, you can use their directory of publications by title or subject. Of course, PubMed/Medline also provides a source list. Here's a quick review of what's in the Scirus database. Assuming this page of sources hasn't been update lately, it appears that just about the entire Science Direct database is included in Scirus.
Btw, here is the same article (via Scirus) that David Dillard found in Google Scholar and we just linked to from Live Academic.
Microsoft Live Search Academic Microsoft Live Search Academic used to provide a title/archive list of sources but that's no longer
available. However, the do offer a list of some participating publishers. Elsevier is listed by the way.
Elsevier Entries in Microsoft Live Search Academic
First, a search for Elsevier.
Second, a search that David Dillard ran for a specific article.
Access: click the "The Hallmarks of Cancer - Published Version (2000)"
Then, select, personal sub to "Cell"
You're then taken to Science Direct to view the full text of the review online or download as a PDF.
Btw, it's very useful (if possible) to be able to quickly identify the published version of an article as seen in some MS Live Academic results. Other results, like this one from PubMed are also listed. It will also take the user to the Elsevier page to access the full text.
Finally, the sorting feature is now more visible (no longer in a drop-down menu). You can sort results by:
+ Relevance
+ Date
+ Oldest Date
+ Newest Date
+ Author
+ Journal
+ Conference
Useful, yes, but an advanced interface is also needed.
Finally, we wish we would here more form Live Search Academic. Their last blog post was three months ago.
New and Ready to Demo
The past few weeks have been a busy time for databases with a focus on science. Two new resources have gone online as beta releases.
+++ The Scitopia portal is now available for beta testing. 15 scholarly organizations are supporting it. The current beta test using ExplorIt federated search technology (simultaneous search of multiple databases). Also worth noting is this list of RSS feeds that provide table-of-contents info for the various publications/organizations involved with the project.
+++ The Global Science Gateway is also new online.
It's a partnership between US DOE, The British Library, and 8 other countries.
More Sources
+ CiteSeer
Not only useful but also one of the first web tools of its kind. This database has been online for many years and it introduced the world to automated citation indexing. Citeseer has a focus on computer sciences, telecom, Internet, etc. It's founder, lead developer, and IR legend, Dr. Lee Giles, continues to operate the site. In the early days at NEC, such search luminaries as Gary Flake (now at MS Live Labs) and Steve Lawrence (now at Google) worked on the project. CiteSeer continues to offer citation indexing, document conversion, related papers, links to an home pages, etc. A second, specialty engine, focusing on academic business literature, SmealSearch, is still online but doesn't seem to have been updated in recent months.
See Also: CiteSeer Being Used to Feed Microsoft Live Search Academic
See Also: More About Dr. Lee Giles
See Also: ISI Licenses NEC Technology (2004)
+ OAISTER
While not all of the content in this union catalog is "science related" it is more than worthy of your attention. At last count (July 8th) , OAISTER (pronounced "Oyster") database contained 12,264,397 records from 851 contributors. OAISTER harvest metadata records from sources that are are OAI-PMH (the Open Archives Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting) compliant. Search and browse contributors using this page.
+ The Highwire Press Archive is nearing 1.7 million free, full text articles. They provide a list of titles and related info.
+ National Science Digitial Library
This is an essential resource for science educators. Well, not really, it's a great resource for anyone interested in science.
+ Biomed Central
Access to the content is free. However, you do need to register(free) to search. Here's a list of journals. Articles are marked:
+ Subscription (you know what that means)
+ Free. Once registered the content is free.
+ Open Access:
"Articles with this logo are immediately and permanently available online."
+ Directory of Open Access Journals
Again, not all science but still worth a mention here. This directory contains information about nearly 2800 open access publications. 800+ of them can also be searched at the article level. Browse titles here. Search here. You can also review new titles as they enter the directory database.
We could go on and on but let's leave it here for know. Plenty to demo, share, and use. More to come. Stay tuned.
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