Guides @ UF: Materials Science and Engineering: Finding Journal Articles

Journals and Databases

The best way to search for peer-reviewed journal articles is to use a literature database. Databases index the research articles in journals and have powerful search filtering tools. Most databases also have quality standards that journals need to meet to be included, which limits your chances of encountering predatory publications.

Scientists publish research articles in journals. Databases index journal articles and add keywords. Readers use databases to search for articles on a topic.

Some of the most useful databases to get started with for Materials Science and Engineering are the following:

Web of Science Requires UF Authentication

New to using databases? I recommend starting here for undergraduate students
Web of Science is a general science database with good coverage of the major engineering journals. It is an excellent choice for finding how your research intersects with other scientific disciplines. This database can also help you study how an idea has evolved over time using the citation network feature. Because of its user-friendly and visual interface, Web of Science is one of the easiest database to start using if you're new to searching.

Engineering Village / Compendex Requires UF Authentication

If you need: the largest engineering database available
Engineering Village is the most comprehensive engineering database we have access to. It includes engineering journals, technical reports, conference proceedings, and (non-scholarly) trade publications. It includes the ability to filter results by physical, chemical, electrical properties and more. This database searches two major engineering indexes: Compendex and Inspec Archives (1898-1969).

ProQuest Materials Science Database Requires UF Authentication

If you need: materials across a broad range of engineering fields
This database searches journal articles and trade publications across materials science and engineering, including intersections in related engineering and chemical science fields.

ASM Handbooks Online Requires UF Authentication

If you need: property data about metals and materials
American Society for Metals (ASM) publishes this online handbook with information about structure, properties, processing, performance, and evaluation of metals and some nonmetallic materials.

Because materials science and engineering intersects with many other disciplines, these databases may also be useful:

SciFinder-n Requires UF Authentication

If you need: polymers or chemistry of materials
SciFinder is the online database of the Chemical Abstracts Service (CAS). It searches chemistry journals as well as patents. This database is the most comprehensive chemistry database, making it a good choice for polymers chemistry topics, chemical syntheses, or anything related to small molecules. In order to use SciFinder, you must register for an account using your Gatorlink email address.

ASCE Library Requires UF Authentication

If you need: materials related to civil engineering
The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Library is a database of civil engineering research and practical publications. Includes journals, conference proceedings, standards, manuals, trade publications, and reports.

IEEE Xplore Digital Library Requires UF Authentication

If you need: materials related to electrical and electronics engineering
The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) hosts the IEEE Xplore discovery tool, where you can search for journal articles, technical papers, book chapters, standards, and conferene proceedings across many engineering fields with a special focus on electronics.

ACM Digital Library Requires UF Authentication

If you need: anything related to computer science and engineering
The Association of Computing Machinery (ACM) Digital Library is a database to support computing research and practice. It covers computing information from journals, magazines, books, conference proceedings and papers, and special interest groups.

MEDLINE (PubMed)

If you need: anything medical and health related
PubMed is the definitive database to use for health science and medical information. Maintained by the National Library of Medicine, this database is publicly free to use. PubMed has a variety of unique filtering capabilities not available in other databases (such as Clinical Trials, Phase I; Human vs. Animal studies, and more).

Scopus Requires UF Authentication

If you need: broad scope, ability to look at author networks
Scopus is a wide-coverage database, making it a great choice for researching interdisciplinary topics that extend outside engineering. This database also includes author and citation networks, allowing you to look at data about particular authors' publications, awarded grants, and collaborations.

Need something else? Take me to the long list of science databases, or the UF-wide list of databases A-Z

Preprint Servers

Preprints are early versions of research articles which have not yet been peer-reviewed. Scientists may choose to disseminate their research as preprints before submitting to an academic journal, which can make the research reported very cutting edge, but these reports should be read critically as they have not yet been reviewed by other experts.

engrXiv

If you need: the latest engineering research that hasn't yet been peer reviewed
engrXiv (pronounced "engineering archive") is dedicated to the dissemination of engineering knowledge quickly and efficiently. engrXiv was launched in beta in July 2016 under the direction of Devin R. Berg, associate professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Stout, and in partnership with the Center for Open Science.

ChemRxiv

If you need: the latest chemical science research that hasn't yet been peer reviewed
ChemRxiv ("chem archive") is a server for unpublished preprints in chemistry and related chemical sciences. ChemRxiv is co-owned by five of the largest chemistry academic societies - the American Chemical Society (ACS), Chinese Chemical Society, Chemical Society of Japan, German Chemical Society (GDCh), and the Royal Society of Chemistry.

arXiv

If you need: latest research in related fields that hasn't yet been peer reviewed
arXiv ("archive") is a free an open-access archive for over two million preprints in the fields of physics, mathematics, computer science, quantitative biology, quantitative finance, statistics, electrical engineering and systems science, and economics.

Connecting from off campus? You will need UF authentication to access many of the electronic resources in this guide, including databases, journal articles, and e-books. Learn how to connect from off campus.