LibGuides: Geological Sciences Library Guide: Databases

About Databases

Databases collect, organise and index information from journals, books, book chapters, theses and dissertations, magazines, newspapers and other sources. UCT Libraries subscribe to many databases covering a wide range of subject areas.

To get the most out of our databases, make an appointment with your Subject Librarian who will give you detailed information and useful tips about designing your search strategy, refining your results, and tracking down the articles you discover.

Cannot find an article or journal?

If you cannot find an article or journal title, you can request it via UCT Libraries Interlibrary Loans Department. The request can be done online or alternatively, you can visit the Department in the library and make the request in person. You will then be notified by e-mail when the article arrives in the library.

Find out more about the Interlibrary Loans service.

Database Tutorials

How to create a Researcher ID in Web of Knowledge
Sharing your data between ResearcherID & ORCID; Create a ResearcherID Profile; Adding Publications to Your ResearcherID Profile; ResearcherID Labs: Collaboration
and Citing Article Networks
ScienceDirect Slideshow
A detailed slideshow explaining the features of ScienceDirect
ScienceDirect Tutorials
ScienceDirect features - Online tutorials
Scopus Tutorials
SciVerse Scopus Online Tutorials
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Registering and logging in; Performing a document search; reviewing search results; reviewing documents; browsing and analyzing journals; using personalized features; author and affiliation search; cited reference searching
Web of Science
Web of Science Online Tutorials
Wiley Online Library Tutorials
"Self-learning tutorials are free to use, available 24/7 and contain full audio. They provide informative overviews and demonstrations of key products and services, with selected tutorials available in multiple languages."

Using Web of Science for your Research

Geological Sciences Databases

GeoRef This link opens in a new window
An earth sciences database that covers natural resources, pollution, the environment, geochemistry and geomorphology.
An earth sciences database that covers natural resources, pollution, the environment, geochemistry and geomorphology.
OpenGeoSci This link opens in a new window
A free-to-use tool for easy and fast discovery of digital objects, including maps, cross-sections, tables, figures, charts, and data sets, in and relating to full-text research materials.
Sabinet African Journals This link opens in a new window
This service is the most comprehensive, searchable collection of full-text African electronic journals available on one platform which focuses on information originating from or pertaining to Africa. Previously SA ePublications
SAGEOLIT This link opens in a new window
SAGEOLIT contains information on geoscience publications, selected from journal articles, publications of symposia, and published and unpublished reports and maps held by the Information Centre of the Council for Geoscience (CGS). Emphasis is placed on Africa, especially southern Africa, although records cover all aspects of geoscience worldwide. The map library of the Council for Geoscience is particularly useful, as it contains records of maps contained in publications and journals
Coverage: About 1880 to present
Updates: Monthly
Data Type: Bibliographic
Copyright: Council for Geoscience

ScienceDirect
ScienceDirect is the world’s leading full-text scientific database offering articles/chapters from more than 2,500 peer-reviewed journals and more than 10,000 books. There are currently more than 9.5 million articles/chapters, a content base that is growing at a rate of almost 0.5 million additions per year.

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ScienceDirect is the world’s leading full-text scientific database offering articles/chapters from more than 2,500 peer-reviewed journals and more than 10,000 books. There are currently more than 9.5 million articles/chapters, a content base that is growing at a rate of almost 0.5 million additions per year.

Elsevier has digitized as much of the pre 1995 journal owned-content as possible, bringing articles from as far back as 1823 to the desktop. In addition, since 2003, many authors have been submitting extra value-add content associated with the research, such as audio and video files, datasets and other supplementary content, effectively accelerating research beyond the print format.

The platform offers sophisticated search and retrieval functionality that enables the user to maximize the effectiveness of their knowledge discovery process. New tools facilitate research work flow aids such as access to content at an early publication stage and efficient downloading of content that can be shared, stored and passed to colleagues

Scopus This link opens in a new window
"Scopus is the largest abstract and citation database of peer-reviewed literature and quality web sources with smart tools to track, analyze and visualize research. It's designed to find the information scientists need. Quick, easy and comprehensive, Scopus provides superior support of the literature research process."
SpringerLink This link opens in a new window
SpringerLink is an integrated full-text database for journals, books, protocols, eReferences, and book series published by Springer.

Web of Science
Explore the world’s leading citation database with multidisciplinary coverage of over 10,000 high-impact journals in the sciences, social sciences, and arts and humanities, as well as international proceedings coverage for over 120,000 conferences.
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Explore the world’s leading citation database with multidisciplinary coverage of over 10,000 high-impact journals in the sciences, social sciences, and arts and humanities, as well as international proceedings coverage for over 120,000 conferences. Powerful tools include cited reference searching, Citation Maps, and the Analyze Tool.

Knovel [Online Engineering Handbooks This link opens in a new window
A collection of online engineering handbooks and interactive tools such as the unit converter. UCT Libraries subscribe to the following subject categories: Biochemistry, Biology & Biotechnology; Chemistry & Chemical Engineering; Civil Engineering & Construction Materials; Electrical & Power Engineering; Electronics & Semiconductors; Mechanics & Mechanical Engineering; Nanotechnology; Sustainable Energy & Development; Transportation Engineering.
Wiley Online Library This link opens in a new window
Wiley Online Library hosts the world's broadest and deepest multidisciplinary collection of online resources covering life, health and physical sciences, social science, and the humanities. It delivers seamless integrated access to over 4 million articles from 1500 journals, 9000 books, and hundreds of reference works, laboratory protocols and databases.
Advanced Technologies Database with Aerospace (a sub-set of Technology Research Database) This link opens in a new window
Provides bibliographic coverage of basic and applied research in aeronautics, astronautics, and space sciences. The database also covers technology development and applications in complementary and supporting fields such as chemistry, geosciences, physics, communications, and electronics.
Aerospace Database (a sub-set of Technology Research Database) This link opens in a new window
Applied research in aeronautics, astronautics, space sciences, chemistry, geosciences, physics, communications, electronics and military - journal articles

Access to Databases / Off campus login

You can access UCT Libraries databases through the A-Z List of databases, or via Databases by Platform.

The link to the databases can be found from the library home page, under 'Search & Find' (on the top menu bar) - choose Databases.

It is possible to access our databases off-campus using our proxy server: Click on the off campus login button on the library page.