Report:EBSCOhost/Data Coverage/Non Patent Coverage/Databases Accessed
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Databases Accessed
Encompassing the humanities, hard science, general news and more, EBSCOhost boasts broad coverage of a variety of topics spread over more than 120 databases, each with access to a different subset of information. A list of many of the databases with links to detailed coverage information is available from EBSCOhost. Some of EBSCOhost’s databases are proprietary, and consist of combinations of sources and publications collected by EBSCO. Some are licensed databases created by other companies, with some modifications from EBSCO.
EBSCOhost’s headlining proprietary databases are the Academic Search series, comprised of Complete, Elite, Premiere, and R & D. Each is targeted at a different market, and offers a corresponding selection of sources. The most comprehensive is Complete, with 10,100 abstracted journals and 6,100 full text. Premiere is specifically intended for academic institutional use, and offers more limited content than Complete: 8,318 abstracted journals and 4,542 full text. Elite is considered a lower cost “core resource” option, and is smaller still: 3,534 abstracted journals and 2,027 full text. R & D, which stands for Research and Development, is specifically focused on scientific and technical material to the exclusion of the social science and business data included in the other three Academic Search options. R & D offers more than 6,200 publications and over 3,600 of them include full text.
EBSCO offers several generalized collections such as the Science and Technology Collection and the Science Reference Center. In addition, the service lists the following subject-specific databases under the header of "Scientific and Technical Content."
- AGRICOLA
- Applied Science & Technology Abstracts
- Arctic & Antarctic Regions
- Biological Abstracts
- Biological Abstracts Archive 1926 - 1968
- Biological & Agricultural Index
- CAB Abstracts
- CAB Abstracts Archive
- Computer Science Index
- Computer Source™
- Computers & Applied Sciences Complete™
- Environment Complete™
- Environment Index
- Fish & Fisheries Worldwide
- FSTA - Food Science and Technology Abstracts
- Garden, Landscape & Horticulture Index
- General Science Abstracts
- GeoRef
- Information Science & Technology Abstracts
- Inspec
- Inspec Archive - Science Abstracts 1898-1968
- Internet & Personal Computing Abstracts
- Polymer Library
- Shock & Vibration Digest
- Water Resources Worldwide
- Wildlife & Ecology Studies Worldwide
Medical collections intended for health care professionals are also represented, with collections including the Cumulative Index for Nursing and Allied Health Literature Database (available in Full Text and Plus versions), Health Source: Nursing/Academic Edition, and Rehabilitation and Sports Medicine Source.
Editor's Note:Compared to other major scientific and technical literature search providers such as Dialog, STN and CSA, the range of databases offered by EBSCO is somewhat limited. In addition,the tendency to group all technical and scientific literature into very broad collections (e.g. Science and Technology Collection, Science Reference Center) may point to a general lack of depth in the subject area. More robust collections could be comfortably broken down into multiple subject-specific categories to allow users to subscribe to only the areas of greatest interest.
Editor's Note:Few of EBSCO’s remaining databases are of primary interest to patent and prior art searchers. Many collections focus on humanities and social sciences and contain little scientific or technical information, such as the Film & Television Literature Index, Race Relations Abstracts, and the International Bibliography of Theatre and Dance with Full Text. Several databases focus specifically on Canadian, Australian or New Zealand literature.
Notable licensed collections often accessed by prior art searchers include Inspec and Medline. One of the benefits of accessing a licensed collection through EBSCO is their full text linking feature. If a document is available from Medline with only an abstract or bibliographic data, but another database has the full text, EBSCOhost will provide a link to that full text from the Medline entry. This is a significant feature that may make paying for a licensed database from EBSCOhost an easier decision.
