LibGuides: Chemistry: Journal Articles

Journal Article Databases

Search these databases to find journal articles.

SciFinder This link opens in a new window
Scifinder is a database specialized in chemistry, chemical engineering, biochemistry, medicine, materials sciences, pharmaceutical sciences and related disciplines. Search for chemical substances and properties, spectra, reactions, and literature collected by the American Chemical Society’s Chemical Abstracts Service since the early 1800’s. To access SciFinder you must register for an individual account using your YorkU e-mail address.
Visit the SciFinder Training Site for help using SciFinder.
See YouTube videos
More information about SciFinder.
Reaxys This link opens in a new window
Database of organic, inorganic and organometallic chemistry information curated and indexed by chemists from peer-reviewed literature, patents, conference abstracts, and substance data from publicly available and proprietary databases such as Beilstein and Gmelin. Search for chemical substances, properties, reactions, and literature from as far back as 1771. See tutorials and videos

Web of Science
Contains a broad selection of journal articles from the sciences, social sciences, and humanities going back over 100 yeras. Useful for citation chaining as lists of citing and cited articles are highly interconnected. Maintained by Clarivate Analytics. Coverage information is available at the Clarivate website. Visit the Web of Science Training Website for help.
Scopus
Contains journal articles from the sciences, social sciences, and humanities. Useful for citation chaining as lists of citing and cited articles are highly interconnected. Maintained by Elsevier. Coverage information is available at the Elsevier website. Visit the Scopus Training Website for help.
PubMed
Contains journal articles from the biomedical sciences. Provided free of charge online by the US National Library of Medicine (NLM) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Coverage information is available at the NIH website. Coverage overlaps significantly with MEDLINE; see the NLM Fact Sheet What's the Difference Between MEDLINE and PubMed for more details. Visit the PubMed Tutorial Page for help.
MEDLINE (Ovid)
Contains journal articles from the biomedical sciences. Maintained by the US National Library of Medicine (NLM) and provded through an Ovid interface. Coverage overlaps significantly with PubMed; see the NLM Fact Sheet What's the Difference Between MEDLINE and PubMed for more details. Visit the Ovid Online Training website for help.
Google Scholar
More a search engine than a database, Google Scholar searches the scholarly literature broadly. Use Google Scholar to quickly find known journal articles, view citing articles (useful for citation chaining), and locate free full text copies of journal articles. Make sure that your Google Scholar is connected to York University Libraries by clicking on Settings > Library Links and searching for York University.
Organic Chemistry Portal
Search organic name reactions and syntheses, view organic chemistry highlights, abstracts, reducing/oxidizing agents, and more.

Types of Scientific Journal Articles

Primary research article: a report on an original experiment performed by a researcher or researchers. It usually has sections similar to those found in a lab report, such as methods, results, and discussion.

Review article: a report on all of the research that’s been done on a particular problem or topic. Review articles are a great place to start your search.

Getting the Full Text

When working off-campus, ALWAYS sign into the library website before beginning your research to access online journals & ebooks.

Here are some ways to get the full text of a journal article:

Search for the journal title in the Omni search box.
- Access the journal.
- Search for the article from the journal page.
Click the "full text" or PDF links from within a journal database (e.g. SciFinder, Reaxys).
Use this Google Scholar link to search for articles online & connect to library subscriptions.
Try searching for the article title in a search engine. Search tips:
- use quotes around the article title
- add PDF to the search box or specify the file format in Advanced Search options.
Use RACER (interlibrary loan) to get an electronic copy of the article emailed to you from another university library.
Contact the library if need help finding an article or book.

Reading Journal Articles

Check out this video from Western Libraries on how to read a journal article.

Database Help

SciFinder

Reaxys

Chemistry: Journal Articles

About

Journal Article Databases

Types of Scientific Journal Articles

Getting the Full Text

Reading Journal Articles

Database Help