Materials Science research and the Library

Cynthia Bail

Science and Engineering Librarian

What resources does the library have?

Image credit: http://video.mit.edu/channel/materials-science/

eBooks

Journals

Databases

• ACM Digital Library• ASME Digital Library• Compendex• IEEE Xplore• Inspec• SAE Digital Library• Scopus• SPIE Digital Library• SpringerMaterials• Web of Science Image credit: http://www.engineering.uottawa.ca/downloads/pdf/mcg_rsch_mat_eng.pdf

How do you discover these resources?

Image credit: http://video.mit.edu/channel/materials-science/

Image credit: http://news.discovery.com/tech/a-3-d-display-made-bubbles-120703.htm

Library catalogue subjects

Catalogue title or keyword searches

Library guides

• Suggested article databases

• Links to ebook collections

• Hints about searching for:– Dissertations– Conference proceedings– Standards– Patents

Engineering and Scientific data

• Handbooks and reference books are found as print and e-books

• Searching within an ebook collection means digging deep into chapters of a wide range of handbooks (not just one).

Examples:• Knovel• CRCNetBase

Knovel sample ebook

Materials Science –titles from Knovel collection

Knovel subjects

Publishing trends in engineering

• Subjects are multidisciplinary• Indexing of journal articles can span several databases• Journals, ebooks sold by 3rd party vendors and publishers• Search interfaces for articles and ebooks have powerful features• Search interfaces for articles and ebooks have flaws• Companies are buying each other up

Materials science can include…

All Materials Science Materials Science Special Topics

Analysis/Characterization of Nanosystems Materials for Energy Systems

Batteries & Fuel Cells Metals & Alloys

Biomaterials Optical & Non-Linear Optical Materials

Biopolymers Optics & Photonics

Carbon Materials Organic Electronics

Ceramics Photonics & Lasers

Composites Polymer Characterization

Condensed Matter Polymer Physics

Construction Materials Polymer Science & Technology General Corrosion Polymer Synthesis Crystallography Polymer processing Dental Technology & Materials Science Polymers Special Topics Electronic Materials Porous Materials Failure Fracture Properties of Materials General & Introductory Materials Science Semiconductor Physics Joining, Welding and Adhesion Sensor Materials Magnetic Materials Soft Matter Magnetism Solid State Physics Materials Characterization Theory, Modeling & Simulation Materials Processing Thin Films, Surfaces & Interfaces

Publishing trends

•Journals indexed inmultiple databases

Publishing trends

More databases provide citation counts

•Citation counts measure the impact of a journal or an author.

•Many databases count the number of times an article is cited by other works.

•Each database or search engine’s counts can be different.

Publishing trends

Personal accounts

•Search alerts•Cited by alerts

Journals with impact

• What are the top journals in the field• Do we subscribe to these?• How do we know who is citing these?• Are we publishing in these?• Are we citing these?

Top journals in Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science

Note: Journal Citation Reports (JCR) database provides rankings by Impact Factor and other indices of journal quality.

Journal Title 2011 Total Cites

Impact Factor

5-Year Impact Factor

Immediacy Index

2011 Articles

Cited Half-Life

Eigenfactor Score

Article Influence

ScoreIn Catalogue?

Nature Materials 39242 32.841 36.732 6.246 134 4.7 0.22091 17.925 Yes

Nature Nanotechnology 16581 27.27 33.781 5.496 117 3.1 0.12858 14.885 Yes

Progress in Materials Science 5017 18.216 23.899 5 23 6.6 0.01513 9.271 Yes

Nano Today 2170 15.355 16.078 2.324 37 2.8 0.01213 5.167 Yes

Materials Science & Engineering R-Reports 4487 14.951 16.5 1.75 12 7.9 0.00815 5.695 Yes

Advanced Materials 79860 13.877 12.813 2.155 789 5 0.26241 4.071 Yes

Nano Letters75287 13.198 13.843 2.082 955 4.2 0.34591 5.07 Yes

Annual Review of Materials Research 4964 13.073 12.451 1.353 17 >10.0 0.01171 6.258 Yes

ACS Nano22409 11.421 11.708 1.631 1141 2 0.12083 3.767 Yes

Advanced Functional Materials  28503 10.179 9.92 1.514 533 4 0.11269 2.945 Yes

Does we subscribe to top journals?

• We have 100% of the top 10 titles with highest impact in the field (according to JCR)

• A further analysis of the top 50 showed that we have subscriptions or open access to current and some or all backfiles for 94% or 47 titles.

How do we know who is citing these?

Citation counts

Are we publishing in these journals & citing them?

A few searches with a small sample of materials researcher names showed articles in 2 of the top 50 journals

– ACTA MATERIALIA– INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF PLASTICITY

Who is citing one or more articles: • Set an autoalert• Use the option “View Citation overview” (SCOPUS)• Create a citation report (Web of Science)

Review and questions

Are library resources exploited to their full potential?

•Top journals by impact factor•Citations in two sample databases illustrated some of your materials colleagues publish in top journals

Materials related citations discovery @ the library

•Journals•Article Databases•Ebook collections

Publishing trends in engineering disciplines make discovery options more complex.

•Journals may be indexed in multiple databases•Database interfaces have different search, display and cited search features

Are you aware of all the journals and databases that could be used in your teaching and research?

•Working with you to discover appropriate journals, databases, ebooks•Can embed links to the library resources within your course website

Are your students using library resources or just Google?

•Bringing the relevant literature closer to your students could enrich the discovery process and further improve the quality of literature reviews.

How well do materials science journals, databases, ebooks meet your needs?

Gaps in our resources:

ASM handbooks within Knovel ebooks collection

METADEX (METals Abstracts/Alloy InDEX) database covering literature on metallurgy and materials

Have you experienced situations where articles, proceedings or other materials were not easily discoverable or accessible?

Enhance the understanding of resources available to Materials Science researchers

• Was this goal achieved?

• Would you recommend any significant resources that we are missing?

• Do you see the benefits of embedding library content in course websites?