Biological Sciences

From Nulislifesci

Journals and databases

Journals can be in paper or electronic format, some titles may be in both formats.

Most biological related titles are available at Merchiston Campus Library, but related titles may also be available at other Campus Libraries.

Use NUIN (the library catalogue) to find paper and electronic journals. This will provide information on the years/issues available and access details. N.B You can only search NUIN for journal titles not article titles or content.

To find journal articles you need to use databases. There are two ways to search databases:

NUINLink - this search tool groups electronic databases by subject and enables you to retrieve journal articles by performing a single search on several databases at once. NUINLink can also be used to search for individual electronic journals. N.B not all databases can be searched within NUINLink; some need to be searched individually. Read more information about using NUINLink.

Alternatively, you can search individual databases. Depending on the topic you are working on, you may wish to look at some of the databases of use to other subject areas e.g. Business or Psychology. The most useful for biological sciences are listed below. Some of these sources may provide full text articles (FT):

   * ASFA Aquatic Sciences via CSA Illumina
   * Biological Sciences via CSA Illumina
   * Biology Digest via CSA Illumina
   * Biotechnology and Bioengineering Abstracts via CSA Illumina
   * BHI - British humanities index via CSA Illumina
   * CAB Abstracts via Ovid
   * CSA Illumina (contains multiple databses)
   * Encyclopedia of Life Sciences (some FT)
   * Environmental Management (Info4Education) 
   * Environmental Sciences via CSA Illumina
   * Expanded Academic ASAP (some FT)
   * IngentaConnect (some FT)
   * ISI Web of Knowledge - Science citation index; Social sciences citation index; Web of science conference proceedings.
   * Medline via Ovid
   * Oceanic Abstracts via CSA Illumina
   * Sociological abstracts via CSA Illumina
   * SPORTDiscus via Ebsco
   * Wildpro (some FT)
   * Zetoc - search the British Library's Electronic table of contents 

Internet Journal Lists

   * Chemistry Journals Cambridge University list of Chemisty Journals - some links may lead to the full text of the journals, to tables of contents, or to supplementary material. Please note that Napier University may not have access to the full text of these journals. Check NUIN for Napier access.
   * Harvard Science Review

Internet Resources

Information gateways

Some of the best gateways for this subject area are:

Argus Clearinghouse

   Biology 
   Environmental sites 
   Science sites 

BUBL - a catalogue of selected Internet resources - search by subject menu BIOME - guide to quality Internet resources in the health and life sciences for students, researchers, academics and practitioners. ELDIS - a gateway to online information on development of the environment, focusing on countries of the South OMNI - UK's gateway to high quality biomedical Internet resources

SciCentral - gateway to science, engineering and medical online resources

   Biological Sciences 
   Earth & Space Sciences 
   Health Sciences 

VetGate - guide to quality Internet resources in animal health The Virtual Library of Sport - quality sports resources on the internet, mostly in English. World-Wide Web Virtual Library

   Natural Sciences - Biosciences, Earth Science, Physics, Chemistry... 

Yahoo

   Science - biology, earth sciences, ecology, life sciences, oceanography... 
   Biology 
   Sport 

Specific resources

The following sites may also be useful in finding information in Biological Sciences (and Chemistry). Apart from containing relevant information in their own right, many of them also provide helpful links to other useful sites.

Databases and websites

   * BIRDNET - provides information about ornithology, the scientific study of birds and includes access to Recent Ornithological Literature Online (ROL)
   * The Higher Education Academy - Centre for Bioscience - promotes the use of learning technology in life science teaching
   * ChemWeb - registration required (free)
   * CLUES Centre for Computer Based Learning in Land Use and Environmental Sciences
   * Ecotox - a source for locating single chemical toxicity data for aquatic life, terrestrial plants and wildlife
   * ExPASy Molecular Biology Server - focuses on the analysis of protein sequences and structures
   * Fishbase - a global information system on fishes.  Contains information on practically all fish species known to science - 29800 Species, 223700 Common names, 43900 Pictures
   * 4000 Years of Women in Science
   * GenomeNet - a Japanese network of database and computational services for genome research and related research areas in molecular and cellular biology
   * LIGAND Ligand Chemical Database for Enzyme Reactions - designed to provide the linkage between chemical and biological aspects of life in the light of enzymatic reactions
   * MARAQUA (Monitoring and Regulation of Marine Aquaculture) - concentrates on a review of existing information and the establishment of agreed guidelines for the monitoring and regulation of marine aquaculture
   * National Oceanographic Data Center US (NODC) - the world's largest collection of publicly available oceanographic data
   * National Water Archive
   * Species 2000 aims to enumerate all known species of plants, animals, fungi and microbes on Earth as the baseline dataset for studies of global biodiversity
   * UK National Digital Archive of Datasets NDAD - registration required (free) 

Government and related bodies

   * Central Science Laboratory
   * Centre for Ecology and Hydrology - an environmental research organisation addressing key issues in the terrestrial and freshwater environment
   * The Countryside Agency - working for people and places in rural England
   * Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs - aims to improve the quality of life by promoting sustainable development at home and abroad, and to protect and improve the environment
   * Environment Agency - news, information, research and data about the environment in England and Wales
   * National Science Foundation (USA)
   * Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) - responsible for the protection of the environment in Scotland
   * Scottish National Heritage - working with Scotland's people to care for our natural heritage
   * Scottish Executive
   * Scottish Parliament 

Pressure groups

   * Friends of the Earth - the largest international network of environmental groups in the world
   * Friends of the Earth Scotland
   * Greenpeace International - dedicated to the protection of the environment 

Professional bodies and associations

   * Biochemical Society
   * Biosciences Federation
   * British Ecological Society
   * Federation of European Biochemical Societies
   * The Geneticsl Society
   * Institute of Biology
   * Institute of Environmental Management
   * Mendel Bioinformatic Group - includes access to Mendel-GFDb and Mendel-ESTS data
   * The Royal Society - dedicated to promoting excellence in science
   * Society for General Microbiology (SGM) - promotes and supports the art, science and significance of microbiology worldwide
   * Society for Mathematical Biology 

Research Councils

   * Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council
   * Centre for Ecology & Hydrology
   * Medical Research Council
   * Natural Environment Research Council 

Other organisations

   * Envirolink - online environmental community
   * Marine Conservation Society - an environmental UK charity dedicated to protecting the marine environment
   * National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (US)
   * Roslin Institute - a major international centre for research on genetics of farm animals, and poultry science, the biology of reproduction, developmental biology and growth, and animal welfare and behaviour
   * Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh - a scientific institution, dedicated to research on the systematics and biology of plants
   * Royal Botanic Gardens Kew - aims to enable better management of the Earth's environment by increasing knowledge and understanding of the plant and fungal kingdoms - the basis of life on Earth
   * United States Environment Protection Agency - aims to protect human health and to safeguard the natural environment (air, water, and land) upon which life depends