Research Guides: Physics and Astronomy Research Guide: Home

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Barry Brown

Science Librarian

Head, Access & Collection Services

Mansfield Library, The University of Montana

32 Campus Drive. #9936

Missoula, MT 59812-9936

406-243-6811; Office ML 327

Subjects: Biological Sciences, Chemistry & Biochemistry, Computer Science, Ecosystem and Conservation Sciences, Environmental Studies, Forest Management, Geosciences, Mathematical Sciences, Physics and Astronomy, Resource Conservation, Society and Conservation, Wildlife Biology

Quick Links

Start Here \ Best Databases

arXiv.org
A free distribution service and an open-access archive for 1,695,621 scholarly articles in the fields of physics, mathematics, computer science, quantitative biology, quantitative finance, statistics, electrical engineering and systems science, and economics. Materials on this site are not peer-reviewed by arXiv.
Astrophysics Data System
Digital library portal for researchers in astronomy and physics, operated by the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory.
Google Scholar
Scholarly literature across many disciplines and sources.

Web of Science This link opens in a new window
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Indexes the world's leading peer reviewed journal literature in the sciences, social sciences, arts, and humanities and provides searching of cited references, from 1900-present. Install the LibKey Nomad extension to improve your research experience.

Other Relevant Databases

For an outline of a comprehensive science literature review, click here: Science Literature Review.

For tips on improving database search results, click here: Improving Database Search Results.

Suggested databases:

Academic Search Complete This link opens in a new window
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Full text scholarly journal, trade publication, magazine and newspaper articles, books, book reviews, reports, and Associated Press video content, covering all subject areas.

Astronomy and Astrophysics Abstracts, 1969-2000 (520 X A859)

Dissertations & Theses Global, ProQuest This link opens in a new window
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Index to dissertations and theses from over 3,000 institutions in 88 countries. Full text coverage spans from 1743-present, with citation coverage dating back to 1637. NOTE: Dissertations & Theses Global may also be searched and accessed via Web of Science, as well as OneSearch.

INSPIRE: High Energy Physics Database
A community hub that helps researchers to share and find accurate scholarly information in high energy physics.

MathSciNet This link opens in a new window
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The electronic version of Mathematical Reviews, it contains full text reviews and indexes mathematical sciences journals, books, and conference proceedings from the early 1800s-present. Produced by the American Mathematical Society.

Science.gov
Searches over 60 databases and over 2,200 scientific websites to provide users with access to more than 200 million pages of authoritative federal science information including research and development results. NOTE: WorldWideScience.org provides similar access to foreign agencies.

SciFinder-n This link opens in a new window
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Index to chemical substances and reactions, as well as journal articles, patents, conference papers, dissertations, reports, and more, in chemistry and related sciences. Users new to SciFinder should see more... for details on completing the one-time registration. Current users in need of account assistance or help regaining access to an expired login should contact help@cas.org.
Click here to complete the initial registration for SciFinder Note that first-time registration requires a valid UM email address. See also: UM email support page for students OR UM email support page for faculty and staff

Scitation
Find physics, engineering, and general science journal articles, conference proceedings, and other special publications from the American Institute of Physics.

Journals

Search specialized journals when looking for articles on your research topic. Some of the suggested browsing examples are:

Advances in physics.
Backfile: Taylor and Francis
Annual review of astronomy and astrophysics.
Backfile: Annual Reviews
Annual review of nuclear and particle science.
Backfile: Annual Reviews
Astronomy and astrophysics
Nature
Physical review
Reviews of modern physics
Science

To browse journal titles, click here: Mansfield Library Journals.

Browse or search ejournal packages (NOTE: Some allow keyword searching of article full text):

Annual Reviews This link opens in a new window
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Full text journal review articles synthesizing current research and understandings in science and social science disciplines. Complete archives-present provided for most AR titles. NOTE: This Ejournal Package was cancelled beginning Jan 2021. Click more... for details.
Package title list: Annual Reviews
See the Library Guide to Finding Articles for information about the cancellations and other resources for obtaining full text.
Post-2020 perpetual access will include:
• Volume 1 through 2020.
ScienceDirect This link opens in a new window
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Full text of 2,500 scholarly journals and over 3,000 book series volumes and reference works, published by Elsevier in the fields of health sciences, life sciences, physical sciences & engineering, and the social sciences & humanities. Library licenses most ScienceDirect journals offered, including archival content dating back to volume 1 for many titles. Other than volumes published as part of book series, the library has minimal licensed books.
Springer This link opens in a new window
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Full text of over 50,000 scholarly e-books published by Springer 2005-2015, and over 2,200 current e-journals, with coverage dating back to volume 1 for many titles. Subjects include: biomedicine; business and management; chemistry; computer science; earth sciences; economics; education; engineering; geography; history; law; life sciences; literature; materials science; mathematics; medicine & public health; pharmacy; philosophy; physics; political science and international relations; psychology; social sciences; statistics. Deselect 'Include Preview-Only' from the top of a subject or content page to limit browsing to titles licensed by the library. NOTE: This Ejournal Package was cancelled beginning Jan 2021. Click more... for details.
Ejournal package title list: Springer
See the Library Guide to Finding Articles for information about the cancellations and other resources for obtaining full text.
Post-2020 perpetual access will include:
•All titles in the collection as of 2010 from Volume I through 1996.
•No perpetual access for 1997 to 2005.
•Perpetual access to all titles for 2006-2020.
Wiley Online Library This link opens in a new window
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Full text of over 1,600 e-journals covering life, health and physical sciences, social science, and the humanities. Coverage is generally 1997-present. The library does not license all content offered on the Wiley site. The 'Full Access' lock icon denotes content available to UM users.

Peer Review in 3 Minutes
How do articles get peer reviewed? What role does peer review play in scholarly research and publication? This video will explain.
Video: Types of Sources
Watch the video for an explanation of types of information sources

To evaluate, compare, and rank journals using citation data, click on Journal Citation Reports or Scimago.

Journal Citation Reports This link opens in a new window
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Resource tool for journal evaluation, using citation data drawn from over 11,000 journals dating back to 1997 and includes virtually all specialties in the areas of science, technology, and social sciences. Shows journal impact factors, highest impact journals, most frequently used journals, hottest journals and largest journals.

Book Catalogs

WorldCat (Discovery) This link opens in a new window
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Catalog of library resources held by institutions around the world. Find materials and place interlibrary loan requests for resources not owned locally.
WorldCat on the former FirstSearch platform is available from http://libguides.lib.umt.edu/worldcat-firstsearch

Google Book Search
Snippet and full-text views of books as they are scanned by the Google Book Project.

OneSearch This link opens in a new window
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The search engine for materials owned by the library, both on the shelf and online. Also provides millions of full text article and citation records harvested from publishers, open access repositories, and a large percentage of the library's licensed databases. Click here to view a list of databases with content not findable or only partially findable in OneSearch.
Tip: Remember to check "Include Results without Full Text" in the left-hand facets of OneSearch to expand your results set to citations matching your research interests; full-text can be acquired through interlibrary loan and delivered to you free of charge in a short amount of time.

Main Dewey Decimal call numbers for browsing physics materials in the Mansfield Library book stacks: 530-539.

Main Dewey Decimal call numbers for browsing astronomy materials in the Mansfield Library book stacks: 520-529.

For a detailed view of Dewey Decimal call numbers, click on Dewey Decimal Classification Summaries.

Dictionaries, Encyclopedias & Handbooks

Astronomical Information Center
The Astronomy and Astrophysics Encyclopedia (520.3 A859)
Atomic Line List
Concise Dictionary of Physics (530.03 D554)
Constellations
Contributions of 20th Century Women to Physics
CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics (541.9 H236)
Databases & On-line Data in Astronomy (025.0652 D232)
Dictionary of Astronomy (520.3 I36d)
Encyclopaedic Dictionary of Physics (530.3 E56)
Encyclopedia of the Solar System (523.203 E5632)
Extrasolar Planets Encyclopaedia
Facts on File Dictionary of Astronomy (520.3 F142)
Facts on File Dictionary of Physics (530.03 F1425)
Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature
Handbook of Nanostructured Materials and Nanotechnology (620.5 N173h)
History of Astronomy: an Encyclopedia (520.3 H673)
History of Space Exploration
Index to Physical, Chemical and Other Property Data
Information Sources in Physics (530 X I43)
Materials Information Resource
Messier Deep-Sky Catalog
Millenium Star Atlas (523.80222 S61796m)
NASA Atlas of the Solar System (523.20223 G794)
NGC 2000.0: ...Catalogue and Index...of Nebulae and Star Clusters (523.80212 D778n)
NASA / IPAC Extragalactic Database
NGC Catlog Online, Interactive
NIST Data Gateway
Nobel Laureates in Physics
Physical Reference Data
The Physics Quick Reference Guide (530 C678p)
Planetary Data System
Q is for quantum: an Encyclopedia of Particle Physics (539.7203 G846q)
USA in Space (387.80973 U11)
Wikipedia

Grants and Funding Sources

Foundation Directory Online This link opens in a new window
Directory of 108,000 foundations, corporate giving programs and grant-making public charities in the U.S.; a database of three million recently awarded grants; and a database of one million recently filed IRS forms 990 and 990-PF.
Foundation Grants to Individuals This link opens in a new window
Directory of close to 10,000 foundation and public charity programs that fund students, artists, researchers, and other individual grant seekers. Covers scholarships, fellowships, loans, and internships; awards, prizes, and grants by nomination; research and professional support; and general welfare and special needs.

National Science Foundation Award Search

Web Sites - Search Engines

Some suggested search engines are:

Web Sites - Meta Sites & Directories

Citation Guides

Here are some resources to help you manage your bibliographies:

Related Library Guides

Chemistry and Biochemistry

Computer Science

Geosciences

Mathematical Sciences

Maureen and Mike Mansfield Library

Physics and Astronomy Research Guide