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About SciFinder Scholar

SciFinder Scholar (1879+) identifies articles from journals, patents, conferences, books and dissertations in chemistry, medicine and related subjects, with some links to full text via Chemport and SFX.

How To Access SciFinder Scholartab

People currently affiliated with IUPUI or Indiana University may use SciFinder Scholar on computers at IUPUI University Library. Only 7 people from all of the IUPUI & IU campuses, combined, may use the database at the same time. Special software is required and may be installed on lab, office or home computers. This database is unavailable on Saturday evenings to Sunday mornings due to weekly maintenance. Check System Availability for details. A new web version of SciFinder is now also available (you must first register and activate an account).

Instructions for accessing the Web Version of SciFinder (NEW) or SciFinder Scholar software for PC or Mac installation

  • For help installing the software contact Amanda Lavender
  • For basic help using the program contact IUPUI Chemistry liaison Eric Snajdr (274-0494)
  • For advanced help using the program contact IUB Chemistry Librarian Roger Beckman (812-855-9792)

This database may be used off campus via IUPUI VPN software. You can preview the database with the SciFinder Scholar How To Guides provided by Chemical Abstracts Service (CAS).

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SciFinder Scholar In Detailtab
Searching is easy and may be done by substance name, structure, substructure, CAS Registry Number, molecular formula, organization, as well as the traditional research topic, and author searching. A specific citation and abstract can be found using the locate bibliographic information.

This database is especially useful for finding out if a substance exists (via a structure search), finding articles on preparation or biological activity of a substance, finding "review" articles or finding articles by an author on a particular subject. The database is known for its broad substance coverage, and its intuitive searching. For example, when searching author names, spelling alternatives are offered for last names. Hill Order is not required for molecular formula searching. Functional groups may be searched and stereochemistry may be specified in reaction searching. When substructure searching, a simililarity search may be performed to help identify most relevant results.

Additional advantages for this database are that patent family information is available to determine related and equivalent patents. Records may be exported to EndNote, RefWorks or another reference manager. Table of contents of journals may be browsed. Substance records often include calculated and sometimes experimental property data and spectra. Citation searching is available from 1998 on and may retrieve different results than Science Citation Index (SCI) searching. Chemical catalogs and related regulatory information is helpful and easy to access. Molecules can be viewed in 3D.

There are a few drawbacks, mainly that in this database you can't search for substance names using name fragments. Structure and substructure searches often produce large results sets that require "analyzing" for precision. Only "novel" reactions are indexed.

SciFinder Scholar searches several files: Arrow Return to Top

Tips and Techniques For Improving Your Searchingtab
  1. Work through one of these tutorials:
  2. Resources
  3. Tips from Sue Cardinal (University of Rochester Libraries)
    • Author Search: Enter as much of the name as you know. Select obvious matches and review results. If search must be comprehensive, go "Back" and select Last name with first initial (by itself). Analyze and refine results by organization or time period or CAS Section name to locate works by your author. Spelling alternatives are offered for last names only.
    • Research Topic Search: Use prepositions (in, of) when possible and limit use of "and" and "or" as they may not work as expected. "Closely Associated" means the terms appear in the same sentence.
    • Molecular Formula: Capitalization is very important to differentiate various elements (CO and Co). Ovoid using parentheses. Hill order is not required,
    • Substance Search:
      • For more precise match, indicate hydrogens using common abbreviations found under the "Short" icon (example: Me or Ph).
      • Ignore valency error messages when drawing coordination compounds.
      • For complex structure like coordination compound, draw unconnected pieces of compound and do substructure search.
      • For a quick structure drawing, copy a registry number from substance results screen. Do a new search (new task) for chemical substance by structure and paste into structure drawing window.
      • In results, older substances are listed last. Order may be reversed using "View" "Reverse Order" from the text menu at top of screen. More common substances can often be found by refining to commercial availability.
      • Draw multiple ring structures quickly using using the ring tool. Specify number of sides for each ring and how they are connected. For example, 66u5 means 3 rings, 6 membered attached to 6 membered, attached on the higher side to a 5 membered ring (u means up and d means down).
    • Reactions: Reaction roles are automatically assigned with when arrow is drawn.
    • Spectra search: Find substance. Get References. Limit to references associated with spectral properties. Refine results with name of technique in "research topic".
    • Browsing Table of Contents: Use "Edit", then "Find" and enter journal name.

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Maintained by Eric Snajdr, Chemistry Subject Librarian.

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