Chemical Literature. Chemical Abstracts Since Chemical Literature. Chemical Literature. Types of Scientific Literature

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1 Abstracts (millions) Chemical Literature Why a course in chemical literature? huge: Chemical Abstracts: indexes 10,000 journals currently 50,000 journals since 1907 > 39 million abstracts > 89 million organic and inorganic substances Chemical Abstracts Since Beilstein: Gmelin: > 9.6 million organic compounds > 10 million reactions > 2.4 million inorganic and organometallic > 1.2 million reactions Year Chemical Literature Why a course in chemical literature? Chemical Literature Why a course in chemical literature? complex: overlaps with physics, biology, medicine, pharmaceuticals, geology, materials, forensics not just keyword searches: numerical data chemical formula structural features chemical nomenclature search tools evolving rapidly Web: Google Science Citation Online: Web of Science Chemical Abstracts Online STN SciFinder Scholar Beilstein and Gmelin Online: Reaxys Types of Scientific Literature Types of Scientific Literature Primary Journals peer reviewed not magazines Conference Proceedings lectures presented at conferences in book form usually reviewed by a single editor Dissertations (Ph D), Theses (Masters), Grant Reports not as easy to find Secondary Treatises muli-volume on a single subject; comprehensive detailed bibliography over a long period Multigraphs and Monographs multiple or single authored book on one topic usually smaller then a Treatise Encyclopedias and Dictionaries broad and not detailed 1

2 Types of Scientific Literature Types of Scientific Literature Secondary Reviews review articles, narrowly defined extensive bibliography Indexing and Abstract Journals Chemical Abstracts, Science Citation, Beilstein up-to-date, published frequently Tertiary Guides to Literature references to references Computerized Search Engines electronic Chemical Abstracts, Science Citation, Beilstein Scientific Literature Scientific Journals Journals vary widely in specialization: very broad, covering all of science (more or less...) Primary Literature: publication: the making public of information, by whatever means oral, printed or electronic publication has become a means not only for disseminating information, but also a tool for evaluating a scholar's performance: "Publish or perish" Nature Science major subsection of science Journal of Organic Chemistry Inorganic Chemistry Dalton Transactions highly specialized area of research Biogeochemistry Nano Letters Crystal Growth and Design Scientific Journals Journals vary widely in types of articles: major reviews: longer articles summarizing research in a particular field, usually over a specified chronological range; generally written by experts Accounts of Chemical Research Chemical Society Reviews Chemical Reviews major original papers: most have full-length articles on original research Perkin Transactions Tetrahedron brief communications: some specialize in rapid publication of short announcements of research results Organic Letters Chemical Communications main purpose: report new results and to relate results to previous knowledge most follow a standard format: divided into several sections, each serving a specific purpose exact format may vary slightly; only full articles contain all sections letters and communications are shorter, containing a brief introduction, combined results/discussion and no experimental 2

3 bibliographic information title, authors, author addresses (may include ) Abstract (Summary) usually at beginning; may not be given a title serves as a summary of paper generally contains a brief background to topic; describes concisely major findings of paper and relates these to other work logical order is also that of the paper as a whole Introduction not always given that title gives background needed to understand why findings of paper are important typically describes state of knowledge in the area, then focuses on particular aspect that led directly to the work described in many papers, major conclusions of the paper are presented at the end, so the reader knows the major answers to the questions just posed Experimental (Materials and Methods) often comes last or after Introduction describes materials used in experiments and how experiments were done in principle, description should be detailed enough to allow other researchers to replicate the work in practice, descriptions often highly compressed and often refer to previous papers by the authors or others digital object identifier note: DOI Discussion Results describes experiments and reasons they were done generally, logic of Results follows directly from Introduction. Introduction poses questions addressed in early part of Results beyond this point, Results differs widely; sometimes presented without extensive discussion; reserved for following section several purposes: data are interpreted or analyzed to show what authors believe the data show; any limitations to interpretations should be acknowledged, and fact should clearly be separated from speculation findings related to other findings in the field to show how they contribute to knowledge, or correct the errors of previous work often combined with Results 3

4 Conclusion may or may not be given by that title paragraph summarizing and reiterating main points of Results and Discussion sometime a conclusion paragraph may appear at the end of Discussion Acknowledgements contributions of other workers (not listed as authors) recognized and any funding sources References Structure References list of papers and other works cited in the text may come at the bottom of each column (as footnotes) or a separate section at the end typically, citation is given as a superscript in text last name, initials separation Veliz, E. A.; Easterwood, L. M.; Beal, P. A. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2003, 125, journal abbrev. year volume page numbers (inclusive) ACS Style Guide page 287 abbreviations of most cited journals, page 328 figures, tables and schemes found in most papers contain data described in paper figures and tables also have legends, whose purpose is to give details of the particular experiment or experiments shown there look for numbering schemes throughout text, particularly in synthesis articles article usually has Associated Content, containing supplementary or supporting information links to the material online crystal structures should have.cif files that contain details of the structures precise structure required will vary somewhat from journal to journal; nearly all have an "Instructions to Authors" section 4

5 Peer Review Reading a Scientific Paper Step 1 Majority of scientific journals publish peer-reviewed articles, also called refereed articles. In these journals, the editor sends submitted articles out to persons expert in the field of the article. The referee comments on the article and the research it presents. The editor then decides whether to accept the article as is, send it back to the author for revision, or reject it outright. Although it is tempting to read the paper straight through as one would most text, it is more efficient to organize the way one reads. Generally, one first reads the Abstract in order to understand the major points of the work. Reviewing helps uphold scientific standards, but it adds to the delay between research and publication - often a year between submission and publication. Reading a Scientific Paper Step 2 Reading a Scientific Paper Step 3 Once you know the general idea of the paper, quickly skim the paper (only a couple minutes) Note basic headings, figures, etc. Don t try to understand (just get an overview) and DO NOT PANIC!!! One extremely useful habit in reading a paper is to read the Title, Abstract and Introduction and before going on, review in one's mind what one knows about the topics and concepts discussed. If there are terms/concepts you are unfamiliar with you may need to do some background reading. Often the Introduction will contain many references, some of which may help, but you may find yourself in need of more general information. For more general background go to the secondary source of literature we have discussed in class (books, encyclopedias, etc.). Reading a Scientific Paper Step 4 Reading a Scientific Paper Step 5 Once you have gained any background you may need, it is time to tackle the Results and Discussion. Read through the rest of the paper once, including the conclusion. Still don t worry if you don t get everything, you just want to understand the big picture of what the author is trying to tell you. Now it s time to re-read the paper in order to comprehend the whole thing! As you are reading, ask yourself the following questions: 5

6 Reading a Scientific Paper 1. What is the main point? What scientific issue is the author addressing? What questions are asked? What is the purpose of this research? 2. What work has been done previously on this topic? How does the author s questions/purpose fit into this context? How does it fit into the big picture? 3. How does the author propose to answer these questions? What techniques or methods does the author use? How will these lead to the answer? 4. What were the results for the experiments? What did the author observe when the experiments were run? 5. What did the author conclude from these results? Were the results justified? Did they give the results the author was seeking or expected? Did they answer his question? 6. Did the results lead the author to suggest further or different experiments to be done? A Final Thought You are not obliged to accept the paper as fact. However, rejecting it requires sufficient background and fundamental knowledge of the subject that is acquired by reading the literature and/or contributing to it. 6