A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF GEOSCIENCE LITERATURE DATABASES

Information discovery has never been easier. It is, almost, all on the internet. There are many databases currently available for literature searches. Major, traditional indexes to the primary literature of geoscience include: GeoRef, Web of Science, and WorldCat. Other specialized indexes often useful include: Environmental Science and Pollution Management, Geobase, NTIS, and SciFinder. Newer indexes and search engines have appeared such as: Google Books, Google Scholar, Scirus, Scopus, and WorldWideScience.org. Many electronic journal packages are also available and can function as indexes and provide significant access to the primary literature of geosciences. All of these electronic databases were compared and ranked using quantitative criteria and search results. Database content was benchmarked against randomly selected bibliographies from graduate student theses and dissertations at the University of Montana. Criteria for evaluating databases included: coverage of the most important geoscience journals, freshness of indexing, and inclusion of citations from the bibliographies examined. Results from this analysis were compared to previous database studies. Researchers wishing to efficiently perform comprehensive literature searches are advised on which databases are best overall for geosciences.