LibGuides: Margaret Smith Library, SAIAB: Databases

What is a database?

Using a database

A library database provides specific information about what is inside journals or books.

In general, you use a database to find what has been published on a topic and parts of publications

articles
essays
chapters of books
conference papers
material that is difficult to obtain/unpublished (e.g.: theses) often referred to as 'grey literature'

Links not marked Open Access (OA) require Rhodes University Library authorised access through your library login.

African Periodical Literature This link opens in a new window
Citation database. Includes OA
There is a strong focus on journals published in Africa. Comprises: the original Africana Periodical Literature database, compiled by Davis Bullwinkle from 1974 to 2008; the Quarterly Index of African Periodical Literature (QIAPL), of the Overseas Office of the American Library of Congress in Nairobi from 1991 to 2011; ongoing contributions from Leiden African Studies Centre. Covers agriculture, geography, history, anthropology, women’s studies, medicine and health.
AGRIS This link opens in a new window
Open Access.
AGRIS contains more than 7 million bibliographic references on agricultural research and technology & links to related data resources on the Web, like DBPedia, World Bank, Nature, FAO Fisheries and FAO Country profiles. AGRIS includes records from AVANO :a marine and aquatic sciences OAI (discontinued)

Directory of Open Access Journals
Open Access
more...less...
DOAJ is a community-curated online directory that indexes and provides access to high quality, open access, peer-reviewed journals. DOAJ is independent.

ScienceDirect This link opens in a new window
ScienceDirect from Elsevier offers cross-searchable access to the full-text of over 2000 journals and several reference books. Remember that you can also search ScienceDirect on Scopus.
Scopus This link opens in a new window
Scopus is the largest abstract and citation database of research literature and quality web sources. Scopus also searches more than 2000 ScienceDirect journals.
ISI Web of Science This link opens in a new window
Abstract/Citation Database
ISI Web of Knowedge is a multidisciplinary index to the journal literature of the sciences. It is a multidisciplinary database and covers over 10,000 high-impact journals in the sciences, social sciences, and arts and humanities, as well as international proceedings coverage for over 120,000 conferences.

Why use a database to search for articles when you can simply “Google” something? Here's why!

Searchable collections include abstracts (short summaries) and citations (references) to articles in journals and newspapers; also include other publications like conference papers and chapters in books
Verified academic sources indexed to retrieve the most relevant results by subject or type of publication.
No irrelevant information like advertisements.
Links to older material Many sources such as journal back issues in print are not available on the open Internet; use the databases to link to older RU Library subscriptions.
Search simulataneously across many years and many publications instead of browsing through individual publications (imagine going through years and years of every issue of a journal).
Links to full-text articles from many database records.

Why use the Rhodes Library Google Scholar link when you can simply "Google" something? Here's why!

Searching for information via Rhodes University Library lets you access Rhodes Library subscribed journals
You can view the full text of the articles to these subscribed journals
Google Scholar is also a quick way to review the literature and find scholarly/academic research information