Bioinformatics & Computational Biology Resources  Tags: bioinformatics computational_biology science  

Both of the following "special" issues of Nucleic Acids Research are published yearly. This is a great resource to learn about new databases.

Because of the interdisciplinary nature of bioinformatics and computational biology, there are many article databases that may be useful in locating journal literature and conference proceedings about your topic.

• PubMed
  Freely available version of MEDLINE. Provides access to human medicine journals and many life sciences journals. Be sure to access PubMed through the library website to view the "Get it@ISU" button in the citation record. Coverage: 1948 - present. More information: PubMed Tutorials and Quick Tours - http://www.nlm.nih.gov/bsd/disted/pubmed.html
  
  
• Biosis Previews (Part of the Web of Knowledge)
  Covers virtually every life science discipline: agriculture, biochemistry, biotechnology, botany, ecology, immunology, microbiology, neuroscience, pharmacology, public health, and toxicology. Includes some conference proceedings, meeting reports, and patents. Covers much of the same literature as PubMed. However, this is definitely worth searching if you're working in plant biology, and evolution/systematics. Coverage: 1926 - present. More information: Recorded training and quick reference card, http://science.thomsonreuters.com/training/biosis/
  
  
• CAB Abstracts (Part of the Web of Knowledge)
  Comprehensive database that covers: agriculture; animal and veterinary sciences;  human health, food and nutrition; microbiology and parasitology; plant sciences. It is the most comprehensive database for agriculture and veterinary medicine.  Includes many international publications. Coverage: 1910 - present. More information: Recorded training and quick reference card,  http://science.thomsonreuters.com/training/cab/
  
  
• SciFinder Scholar
  Searches Chemical Abstracts and MEDLINE. Important resource for some areas of bioinformatics research, e.g. proteomics, protein folding, mass spectrometry analysis, sequencing technologies. Note: As of early summer 2009, SciFinder Scholar now has a web-based version as well as a client version. Both versions are now accessible off-campus.
  
  
• Web of Science (Part of the Web of Knowledge)
  Provides access to the ISI Citation Indexes: Science Citation Index, Social Sciences Citation Index, Arts & Humanities Citation Index. The Science Citation Index has 6,376 covered journals and goes back to 1900. Search by keyword or cited reference. A cited reference search will show you who has cited the article since it was published. More information: Recorded training and quick reference card, http://science.thomsonreuters.com/training/wos/
  

There are also several useful databases for computer engineering.

• Computer Science Index
  Covers academic journal articles, professional publications, and other reference sources in computer science at a scholarly/technical level. The collection indexes more than 6,500 periodicals and books, with material back to the 1960s.
  
  
• Computer and Information Systems Abstracts
  Provides broad coverage of journal articles and conference papers dealing with computer and network technology and their applications, as well as developments in theoretical computer science. Coverage: 1981 - present.
  
  
• Compendex
  A comprehensive engineering abstracts database, containing over than five million records, with 220,000+ records added annually. Publication types covered include journals, conference papers, and technical reports. Indexes Lecture Notes in Computer Science. Coverage extends 1884-present.
  
  
• Guide to Computing Literature
  Covers works from major publishers in computing. Includes full text of every article ever published by the Association of Computing Machinery (ACM Digital Library), with some material dating back to the 1950s.
  
  
• IEEE Xplore
  Full-text online access to publications of the IEEE and the IET. Content includes journal and magazine articles, conference papers, standards, and books, and includes IEEE Computer Society publications. Contains full-text proceedings from IEEE Symposium on Computational Intelligence in Bioinformatics and Computational Biology; IEEE Symposium on Bioinformatics and Bioengineering as well as others. Most IEEE publications should be indexed in Compendex.

Consult the Computer Science Resources guide for additional information.