Subject Guides - Science

Science

Below are some suggested databases for Science.

Databases

Core Databases

Canadian Science Publishing (NRC Research Press) Back Issues

Canadian Science Publishing published 24 journals that cover the spectrum of natural and physical sciences and engineering, including three open access journals that are interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary.

Multidisciplinary Databases

EBSCOhost Academic Search Elite

Covering all major academic disciplines, Academic Search Elite is a rich resource spanning a broad stretch of academic subjects with thousands of full-text journals and abstracted and indexed journals.

Journals

Core Journals

Science

Science, founded by Thomas A. Edison in 1880 and published by AAAS, today ranks as the world’s largest circulation general science journal. Published 51 times a year, Science is renowned for its highly cited, peer-reviewed research papers, its special strength in life science disciplines, and its award-winning coverage of breaking science news. The online edition includes not only the full text of current issues, but also Science archives dating back to Edison’s first edition in 1880. Science Careers, found in print and online, provides relevant career articles published weekly, thousands of job postings updated several times a week, and other career related services. The online Science Multimedia Center features Science Podcasts, images and slide shows, videos, seminars, and other interactive features.

Science Advances

Science Advances is the American Association for the Advancement of Science’s (AAAS) open access multidisciplinary journal, publishing impactful research papers and reviews in any area of science, in both disciplinary-specific and broad, interdisciplinary areas. The mission of Science Advances is to provide fair, fast, and expert peer review to authors and a vetted selection of research, freely available to readers. Led by a team of distinguished scientists and allowing flexible article formats, Science Advances supports the AAAS mission by extending the capacity of Science magazine to identify and promote significant advances in science and engineering across a wide range of areas. The journal’s use of evolving digital publishing technologies plays a critical role in building and sustaining AAAS’s mission as a global participant and advocate for the communication and use of science to benefit humankind.

Nature Methods

Nature Methods is a forum for the publication of novel methods and significant improvements to tried-and-tested basic research techniques in the life sciences. This monthly publication is aimed at a broad, interdisciplinary audience of academic and industry researchers actively involved in laboratory practice. It provides researchers with new tools to conduct their research and places a strong emphasis on immediate practical relevance and potential to advance new biological applications.

 

The journal publishes method developments (Articles, Brief Communications), performance comparisons of related, established methods (Analyses), and collections of tools or datasets of broad interest (Resources) as primary research papers. The journal also publishes overviews of recent technical and methodological developments (Reviews, Perspectives) and opinion pieces (Comments). We are actively seeking papers of relevance to the broad life sciences basic research community, including methods grounded in chemistry, physics and computer science.



Books

Physical Collections

Q1-390 Science (General)

  • QA1-939 Mathematics
  • QB1-991 Astronomy
  • QC1-999 Physics
  • QD1-999 Chemistry
  • QE1-996.5 Geology
  • QH1-278.5 Natural history (General)
  • QK1-989 Botany
  • QL1-991 Zoology
  • QM1-695 Human anatomy

Keywords

  • Climate
  • Data/datum
  • Immunology
  • Microbiology
  • Physical science
  • Volcanology
  • Genome

Subjects

  • United States — Intellectual life
  • Indigenous peoples — Science
  • Science — Philosophy
  • Science — Social aspects
  • Religion and science
  • Science — Alberta
  • Forensic sciences
  • Science — Study and teaching

Web Resources

Web Resources

Public Library of Science (PLOS)

An open access journal for biology, medicine, and genetics.

ComPADRE

A digital library of educational resources used by instructors, researchers, and students in Physics and Astronomy

Citing & Writing

Citation Styles

APS (American Physical Society)

Print resource on Course Reserve. Please visit the Library information desk. 

Council of Science Editors Style Guide

Print resource on Course Reserve. Please visit the Library information desk.

Chicago/Turabian

Print resource on Course Reserve. Please visit the Library information desk.

IEEE Style Manual (PDF)

This style is commonly used for Electrical and Computer Engineering.

MLA (Modern Language Association)

Print resource on Course Reserve. Please visit the Library information desk.

Other Resources

The Purdue Online Writing Lab

The Online Writing Lab (OWL) at Purdue University houses writing resources and instructional material, and we provide these as a free service of the Writing Lab at Purdue. Students, members of the community, and users worldwide will find information to assist with many writing projects.

Research Tips

Primary Articles

Original Research Articles

These are articles reporting on original research and include elements such as a hypothesis, background studies, literature reviews, detailed methodologies, results, interpretations of findings, and discussions on possible implications and future research. Original research articles are typically longer, ranging from 3, 000 – 12, 000 words. These articles are peer reviewed and cite relevant publications from other authors that relate to the research being conducted.

Case Studies

These articles report on the in-depth study of a specific person, group, or event. They are used in a variety of fields such as psychology, medicine, education, political science, and social work in order to seek patterns and causes of behaviour.

Secondary Articles

Literature Reviews

A literature review is a systematic summary and synthesis of what has been published on a topic by accredited scholars and researchers. They frequently convey what knowledge and ideas have been established on a topic, as well as critically assessing the strengths and weaknesses of the field. They will often lack a ‘Methods’ section, though they are often peer reviewed.  

Systematic Reviews

These reviews are often designed to provide an exhaustive summary of current evidence in relation to a specific research question, synthesize findings qualitatively or quantitatively, and critically appraise research studies. Systematic reviews use rigorous and transparent review methodologies with the aim of assessing and minimizing bias in the findings. 

Meta-analyses

A meta-analysis is a statistical analysis that combines the results of multiple scientific studies addressing the same question. The primary aim is to use statistical analyses to determine common truths. Meta-analyses can be part of a broader systematic review.
 

Special Articles

Including letters to the editor, correspondences, short communications, editorials, pictorial essays

Tertiary/ Gray Literature

Broadly speaking, gray literature is information produced outside of the traditional academic publishing and distribution systems such as academic journals and monographs. Gray literature can include reports, policies, working papers, newsletters, speeches, government documents, and more.

As grey literature is produced directly by an individual or organization, for their own either use or wider sharing, it is often more current than academic publications as it is not subject to the delays found in traditional publishing processes.

As grey literature does not go through a rigorous peer review process the quality can vary significantly, and it is recommended that these sources be critically evaluated.

Technical reports

These can include scientific studies conducted by Government agencies and NGO which are often not peer reviewed. These types of reports can be found in both scholarly databases and freely on the web.