Discovering scientific information

Abstract

With so much information available on the Internet, it is difficult for users to figure out which resources are the most appropriate to use. Before going to a bibliographic indexing database, they often do a preliminary search in Google Scholar or in some other popular search engine. A large volume of searches, though, are now also occurring on Baidu Scholar, Dimensions, so.com, x.mol.com, and The Lens—newcomers that are beginning to play a critical role on the information landscape. As the integration of diverse information resources on a single platform is becoming a norm, bibliographic literature databases are sharing "home" with resources for finding properties of chemical compounds, patents, book catalogs, and other resources. This chapter presents different scenarios and strategies for discovering scientific information more efficiently. An overview of the current scholarly communication formats is followed by examination of the major science information resources. The process of discovering scientific information is presented through specific examples of searching for literature, properties of chemical compounds, research datasets, and other scientific information; refining and analyzing search results; and using bibliographic management tools to export, store, and cite references. The chapter also looks at some informal ways of keeping up with the most recent research, using social media and networking.