LibGuides: Biomedical Engineering Research Guide: Databases

Databases

PubMed (Medline) This link opens in a new window
1966-
MEDLINE is the National Library of Medicine's premier bibliographic database covering the fields of medicine, nursing, dentistry, veterinary medicine, the health care system, and the preclinical sciences.

Note: Beginning June 1, 2021, users of NCBI services will need to login with their MSU Net ID instead of a NCBI-generated account. The NLM has more information about this change and how to link your existing NCBI account with your MSU Net ID. A Microsoft Word document containing step by step instructions is avaialble for download.
EMBASE (including EMBASE Classic) This link opens in a new window
A large European-based database with journal articles and other biomedical literature from an international perspective. Contains the entire Excerpta Medica database (EMBASE) supplemented with MEDLINE records dating back to before 1966. Particularly strong in pharmaceutical research.
Compendex This link opens in a new window
Compendex is one of the most comprehensive engineering literature databases available to engineers with 14 million records across 190 engineering disciplines. Available on Engineering Village, users get results that are consistently accurate. Relevant. Up-to-date. And easy to find. Compendex indexes 1,031 journals that contain articles-in-press. Compendex covers subjects in every engineering discipline including: Chemical Engineering, Civil Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, and Mining Engineering.
IEEE Xplore This link opens in a new window
IEEE Xplore contains full text access to the technical literature in electrical engineering, computer science, and electronics.
SPIE Digital Library This link opens in a new window
The SPIE Digital Library is the most extensive resource available on optics and photonics, providing unprecedented access to more than 450,000 technical papers from SPIE Journals and Conference Proceedings from 1962 to the present. More than 18,000 new technical papers are added annually.
Knovel Life Sciences, Chemistry, Food Science & Metals/ Metallurgy Collection This link opens in a new window
Searchable, full-text handbooks and reference works in biochemistry, biology & biotechnology; chemistry & chemical engineering; civil engineering & construction materials; food science; and metals & metallurgy.
Materials Research Database This link opens in a new window
"Weldasearch is a comprehensive database containing abstracts to journal articles, research reports, books, standards, patents, theses and special publications in the areas of joining metals, plastics and ceramics, metal and ceramic spraying, thermal cutting, brazing, soldering and related topics. Every aspect of welding and allied processes is covered including design, metallurgy, fatigue and fracture mechanics, equipment for joining and cutting processes, corrosion, surfacing, micro joining, quality control, nondestructive testing, safety, commercial applications, market statistics and news of the industry."
SciFinder-n This link opens in a new window
SciFinder-n is the new interface for the classic version of SciFinder. If you have already registered for Classic SciFinder, that login should work for SciFinder-n.
Web of Science This link opens in a new window
Includes the Institute for Scientific Information Citation Indexes - Arts and Humanities, Social Science, and Science. It indexes science, social sciences, and arts and humanities information from nearly 9,300 of the most prestigious, high impact research journals in the world.
Scopus This link opens in a new window
Find citations for a broad range of scientific literature (including patents) and track, analyze and visualize citations by document, author, zip code, or institution.
ProQuest Research Library This link opens in a new window
ProQuest Research Library contains over 2,000 periodicals (nearly 1,000 of them in ASCII full-text or full-image formats) in a wide range of subject areas. In addition to general interest publications, ProQuest Research Library covers titles in the following areas: Arts, Business, Children, Education, General Interest, Health, Humanities, International, Law, Military, Multicultural, Psychology, Sciences, Social Sciences, and Women's Interests.
Science.gov This link opens in a new window
"a gateway to authoritative selected science information provided by U.S. Government agencies, including research and development results." Allows users to browse or search government scientific databases from 12 major science agencies using a single search.
JoVE Science Education This link opens in a new window
JoVE Science Education is a library of simple video demonstrations teaching scientific fundamentals in biology, chemistry, physics, engineering, environmental sciences, psychology, and clinical skills. Includes a collection of Biomedical Engineering videos.

Google Scholar
Provides users with a single access point to a broad range of topics across many disciplines and many types of information resources including journal and conference articles, books, reports, theses, and government publications. While Google Scholar searches can identify information sources in many formats and covering a wide range of topics it is not the only or best tool for finding information on all topics.
PubChem
PubChem is an open chemistry database at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). It includes information on chemical structures, identifiers, chemical and physical properties, biological activities, patents, health, safety, toxicity, and more.

Additional Databases

If addition to the databases listed here, there are a number of additional databases available in Medicine and Engineering.

Medical Databases
Databases commonly used in medical research.
Engineering Databases
Databases commonly used in engineering research.

Finding Full Text Articles

Note: You cannot use the catalog to find individual articles within a journal. For this you must search in the journal itself or use an article database.

To find the full text of articles:

First, while in the database, look for the white full text buttons.
Check the A to Z Electronic Journal list.
Search the MSU Libraries Catalog.
Place a MARS or ILL request.

Setting Up Google Scholar for MSU Access

Google Scholar can be set up so that it recognizes you as an MSU user and will give you access to full-text articles where possible.

1) Go to Google Scholar; login to your account if you have one.

2) Access settings by expanding the menu at the top left of the page, then clicking on the gear icon.

3) Select Library Links from the menu on the left.

4) Search for Michigan State University. From the results list put a check in the box by Michigan State University - MSU Access. Click Save.

5) When you do a search on Google Scholar a MSU Access link will appear to the right of the articles that the full text is available for. Clicking this link will take you to a page where you can download the PDF. You may be prompted to log in with your Net ID and password.

Be aware that a MSU Access link will not appear for all articles that the full text is available for. You may need to locate them by searching for the journal in the A-Z Electronic Journal List.

PubMed vs Web of Science vs Google Scholar

Google Scholar can be a useful tool but it is important to know some of the main differences between it and databases when searching the literature. Some key differences are: what is included in each and how content is selected, how data is entered, and what is search.

PubMed vs Web of Science vs Google Scholar
Detailed comparison of some of the key differences between PubMed, Web of Science, and Google Scholar.