Scientific databases and information skills

1. Politechnika Gdańska realizuje projekt
dofinansowany z Funduszy Europejskich
„Zintegrowany Program Rozwoju Politechniki Gdańskiej”
Celem projektu jest podniesienie jakości kształcenia na studiach
II i III stopnia, zwiększenie efektywności zarządzania
Politechniką Gdańską oraz podniesienie kompetencji kadr.
Dofinansowanie projektu z UE: 28 905 073,51 zł
POWR.03.05.00-00-Z044/17

2. Scientific databases
and information
skills
Magdalena Szuflita-Żurawska
Biblioteka Główna PG
Head of the Scientific and Technical Information Services
Leader of Open Science Center

3. Basic information
▪ Gdansk University of Technology (GUT) Library provides access
to a huge range of electronic resources (e-resources) to support
you in your studies, research and teaching. Use of the e-
resources is subject to copyright law and the licence agreements
that GUT signs with the e-resource providers - please make sure
you read the terms and conditions of use!
▪ Many electronic resources do not require a login from computers
on the GUT network. However, if you are using a computer which
is not on the GUT network, then when you follow links to
electronic resources from the GUT Library Services website, you
need use HAN system.
▪ YOU NEED enter your GUT User ID and password!
How to use e-resources?

4. Basic information
How to use e-resources?

5. ORCID
▪ The ORCID (Open Researcher and Contributor iD) is a code to uniquely identify
academic authors and contributors. ORCID provides a persistent identity for
humans and is similar in use to DOIs (digital object identifiers) which provides
a persistent identity for content-related entities on digital networks by digital
object identifiers (DOIs). More about ORCID identifier, how to register and use
it, you can read here - https://orcid.org/help. Every researcher taken into
account in the evaluation process in 2021 should connect ORCID iD with the
profile in the Polish Scientific Bibliography.
▪ The Bridge of Knowledge as GUT Institutional Repository
(https://mostwiedzy.pl/en/) is supposed to provide free access to the research
created and gathered at the University. The objective of the platform is to
promote the research and educational potential of the University. It is also a
communication tool between researchers and a platform for cooperation
between science and business. The platform will be made available to other
universities in order to create common knowledge resources.
▪ First task! (to set up two profiles).
ORCID ID and the Bridge of Knowledge

6. Decide the topic of your search
▪ You should start by deciding the topic of your search. This means
identifying the broad topic, refining it to establish which
particular aspect of the topic interests you, and reframing that
topic as a question.
▪ Once you have a searchable question, highlight the major
concepts.
▪ You should then find keywords and phrases to express the
different concepts.
Decide the topic of your search

7. Searching strategy
Step by step approach to searching for a literature review, including
how to identify your search words and modify and combine them to
get the best results.
▪ Methods
• Formulating search
• "Scoping study" - a quick search of a key database.
• Brainstorming
Searching strategy

8. Searching strategy
▪ Following activities
• Establish your search terms
• Decide on any limits to your search
• Set out your search strategy in writing or on a spreadsheet
• Decide on the initial databases for your topic
Searching strategy

9. Searching strategy
Each database works differently so you need to adapt your search
strategy for each database. You may wish to develop a number of
separate search strategies if your research covers several different
areas.
Searching strategy
Citation searching
▪ Citation searching is a method
to find articles that have been
cited by other publications.
• find out whether articles
have been cited by other
authors
• help make your literature
review more
comprehensive

10. Boolean Operators
▪ Use the Boolean operator AND - Narrows a Search
The AND operator tells the computer that both terms must be present
in the record.
▪ Use the Boolean operator OR - Broadens a Search
Using OR tells the computer that either (any) term must be present in
the record.
▪ Use the Boolean operator NOT - Narrows a Search
The NOT or AND NOT (depending on the search engine) allows the
first term to be search while subtracting the terms following the NOT
operator.
▪ Use quotation marks when searching for “exact phrases”.
Phrase searching tells the computer to search for two or more words in
the exact order in which they are entered. Use quotations marks.
▪ Use truncation in searches to expand you search enclose the
phrase.
Boolean Operators

11. Limitations
By type of document
• Scientific books (knowledge prior to 5-10 years)
• Monographs, dissertations (knowledge prior to 5-10 years)
• Scientific journals (knowledge before 1-2 years)
• Reports, applicable standards and patents (current knowledge)
By methodology
▪ Do you just need quantitative studies? Or qualitative studies? Or
mixed methods?
By country or area
By language
Limiting your search

12. How do I find out which e-resources GUT has
access to?
▪ List of all databases available at GUT (subscribed and open
access) - http://pg.edu.pl/biblioteka-pg/alfabetycznie
▪ Multisearch engine (available from main Library website)
▪ Polish Standards – available in e-format only at Standards
Reading Room in Main Library
Databases, e-journals, standards

13. Identifying relevant resources
You will need to use several different databases in order to retrieve
material for your literature review.
E-books & scientific articles
• General databases
• Subject databases
• Indexing & Abstracting databases
• Google Scholar
Theses and Dissertations
▪ Dart Europe - http://www.dart-europe.eu/basic-search.php
Grey literature.
▪ This term includes reports, working papers, theses and
dissertations, newsletters, many official and governmental
publications, and conference papers.
Identifying relevant resources

14. Search strategy process
▪ Combine search terms with OR / AND / NOT (Boolean operators)
▪ Use symbols to retrieve word variations (the truncation symbol is
commonly an asterisk * and is added at the end of a word).
▪ Use quotes to keep word order when searching for phrases
▪ Identify appropriate Subject Headings (index terms)
▪ Identify useful limits
▪ It is useful to build a ‘sample set’ or ‘gold set’ of relevant references
before you develop your search strategy
▪ Nested format example:
("healthcare worker*" OR "health care worker*" OR "healthcare professional*"
OR "health professional*" OR "health personnel") AND (communicat* OR
"interpersonal communication" OR "communication skill*") AND ("hearing
disabilit*" OR "hearing impair*" OR deaf* OR "hard of hearing" OR "hearing
loss")
Developing a search strategy

15. Literature Review process
▪ Lawrence A. Machi and Brenda T. McEvoy, 2nd ed., The Literature
Review: Six Steps to Success (California: Corwin, 2012), 5.
Literature Review process

16. Literature Review process
▪ A systematic review goes further than a literature review in that it
aims to locate and evaluate all studies, published and unpublished,
relevant to a specific research question. Systematic reviews use
explicit, systematic methods to minimise bias and enable
verification and replication.
▪ Cochrane Library are often considered to be the 'gold standard'.
▪ A good starting point to conducting your own literature review is to read
some published literature reviews on related topics.
Systematic Review

17. PRISMA
Prisma model
▪ PRISMA model
Preferred Reporting Items for
Systematic Reviews and Meta-
Analyses
http://www.prisma-
statement.org/PRISMAStatement

18. IMRAD
IMRaD
model
thesis
dissertation
IMRAD model

19. Reference manager
▪ Zotero (https://www.zotero.org/)
▪ JabRef (https://www.jabref.org/)
▪ MENDELEY
You can easily organize and search your personal library, annotate documents and cite as you
write
Reference management software, also
known as citation management software,
allows you to:
• collect references
• store references in a web account or on
your desktop
• organise references
• add notes to your references
• link to full text, web pages and
documents
• cite your references and create
bibliographies
• Some also have additional features
such as:
• sharing your references and
collaboration tools
• PDF highlighting
• social networking

20. Databases
▪ List of all databases available at GUT (subscribed and open
access) - http://pg.edu.pl/biblioteka-pg/alfabetycznie
▪ Multisearch engine (available from main Library website)
▪ Polish Standards – available in e-format only at Standards
Reading Room in Main Library
▪ Subscribed
❑ National license
❑ Paid by GUT
• Open Access
• Big 5 of Academic Publishers
Types of databases

21. List of the Ministry’s scored journals
▪ In 2018 the new law on Higher Education and Science (called
Constitution for Science) was adopted in Poland. The
Constitution for Science emphasizes that scientists should
publish in scientific journals included in international databases
such as Web of Science and Scopus, which will help scientists
from around the world find this content. Such publications will be
scored higher.
▪ According to the law the new evaluation process of academic
institutions will start in 2021. In July 2019 Polish Ministry of
Science and Higher Education published the list of ranked
research journals which should be considered during choosing
the right journal for research publication.
The Ministry of Science and Higher Education
publish a list of scored journals.

22. List of the Ministry’s scored journals
▪ Range of points for scored journals (20 – 200 points)
▪ Other (peer – reviewed) – 5 points
▪ Conference materials – e.g. 70 points (Computer and information sciences)
▪ Monographs (80 – 200 points STM Science; 100 – 300 points SS +H)
▪ To check metrics, please go to the Bridge of Knowledge portal.
▪ https://konstytucjadlanauki.gov.pl/content/uploads/2020/06/act-of-20-july-2018-the-
law-on-higher-education-and-science.pdf
The Ministry of Science and Higher Education
publish a list of scored journals.

23. Web of Science
▪ Web of Science (WoS) is an online subscription-based scientific citation indexing service. The
Journal Citation Reports module within InCites allows the users to evaluate and compare
journals using citation data drawn from 12,000 scholarly and technical journals and conference
proceedings from 3,300 publishers in more than 80 countries. Journal Citation Reports data
are sourced from one of the WoS’s citation indexes called Web of Science Core Collection.
▪ Science, Social Science, Arts & Humanities Coverage
▪ Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED) --1900-present Social Sciences Citation
Index (SSCI); covers more than 8,500 notable journals encompassing 150 disciplines.
▪ Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI) --1900-present Arts & Humanities Citation Index
(A&HCI); covers more than 3,000 journals in social science disciplines.
▪ Arts & Humanities Citation Index (A&HCI) --1975-present Conference Proceedings Citation
Index- Science (CPCI-S); covers more than 1,700 arts and humanities journals; in addition,
250 major scientific and social sciences journals are also covered.
▪ Emerging Sources Citation Index (ESCI) -- 2015-present; a new database within Clarivate
Analytics’ Web of Science with around 3,000 journals sselected for coverage at launch,
spanning the full range of subject areas
▪ Conference Coverage
▪ Conference Proceedings Citation Index- Science (CPCI-S) --1990-present
▪ Conference Proceedings Citation Index- Social Science & Humanities (CPCI-SSH) --1990-
present
▪ Book Coverage
▪ Book Citation Index– Science (BKCI-S) --2005-present
▪ Book Citation Index– Social Sciences & Humanities (BKCI-SSH) --2005-present
Core Collection

24. Metrics
WoS/JCR

25. Scopus
▪ Scopus is the largest abstract and citation database of peer-reviewed
literature – scientific journals, books and conference proceedings.
Delivering a comprehensive overview of the world’s research output in
the fields of science, technology, medicine social sciences and arts
and humanities, Scopus features smart tools to track, analyze and
visualize research. From researchers pursuing scientific breakthroughs
to academic institutions and government agencies evaluating
research, Scopus is the abstract and indexing database of choice.
Worldwide, Scopus is used by more than 3,000 academic, government
and corporate institutions and is the main data source that supports
the Research Intelligence portfolio.
Scopus/Elsevier

26. Metrics
Scopus

27. H-index
▪ In 2005, physicist Jorge E. Hirsch developed the h-index as a process
forquantifying the output of an individual researcher.
▪ Hirsch argues: “I propose the index h, defined as the number of
papers with citation number ≤ h, as a useful index to calculate the
scientific output of a researcher” (2005).
Example: An h-index of 6 means that this author has
published at least 6 papers that have each recieved at
least 6 citations.
▪ Note that the h-index is one of many available bibliometric measures.
▪ Reference: Hirsch, J. E. (2005). An index to quantify an individual's
scientific research output. Proceedings of the National Academy of
Sciences of the United States of America, 102(46), 16569-16572.
doi:10.1073/pnas.0507655102
▪ You can check h-index in: WoS, Scopus or Google Scholar, Publish or
Perish - http://www.harzing.com/pop.htm
H-index

28. What is Open Science?
FOSTER defines Open Science (OS) as the practice of science in
such a way that others can collaborate and contribute, where
research data, lab notes and other research processes are freely
available, under terms that enable reuse, redistribution and
reproduction of the research and its underlying data and methods.
Opening the research process supports validation, reproducibility
and reduces cases of academic misconduct. It helps to maximise the
impact of your research and provides the foundations for others to
build upon. In short, applying open science in your daily workflows
is just part of good research practice!
VIDEO - https://youtu.be/7Kric3x7zr0
Open Science

29. Open Science
Source:https://ec.europa.eu/research/ope
nscience/index.cfm?pg=home&section=m
onitor
Open Science

31. Open Access
"By 'open access’ to [research] literature we mean its free
availability on the public internet, permitting any users to read,
download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of
articles, crawl them for indexing, pass them as data to software, or
use them for any other lawful purpose, without financial, legal, or
technical barriers other than those inseparable from gaining access
to the internet itself.” [Budapest Open Access Initiative]
OA improves the speed, efficiency and efficacy of research,
reproducibility and collaborations. OA also increases the visibility,
usage and impact of research and allows the professional,
practitioner and business communities, and the interested public, to
benefit from research.
Open Access models

33. Open Access
Gold model

34. Open Access
Green model

35. Academic Social Networks
Are social networking site like ResearchGate
or Academia.edu repositories?

36. Licensing
▪ There are a number of resources and tools to help you find the
right license for your research/data. Before considering the
licensing options that are available for your works, you should
first check whether you are obliged or strongly encouraged to
use a certain licence as a condition of funding or deposit, or as a
matter of local policy.
▪ Creative Commons is a non-profit organisation. It offers a number
of different licenses that are freely usable. See below for more
information on each of the six Creative Commons Licenses.
Finding the right license for your research

37. Creative Commons Licenses
Creative Commons Licenses
You can make use of the Creative Commons license choosing tool to help you
decide which is best for your research.

38. Open Research Data
▪ The term Research Data means all data gathered, observed or created when
the research process in progress, with the aim of receiving original scientific
findings. Depending on how they were created or what they were created for,
research data can be distinguished as observational, experimental, simulation
or referential data.
▪ Each science discipline creates its own, specific research data, for example,
there can be documentary films about animals` behaviour in biology,
geographical and spacious data in civil engineering and environment
protection, whereas in history – archival documents. All descriptions of
procedures, laboratory field notes or information about experiments can be
included in research data.
▪ To define research data as 'open' data, data should be made accessible to
everybody and be freely used, modified and disseminated.
▪ Open Research Data (ORD) are a part of a wider idea, which is an Open
Science, with the Open Access (OA) and Open Scholarly Communication
(OSC).
WHAT DOES THE TERM 'RESEARCH DATA'
MEAN?

39. Data Management Plan
The Data Management Plan (DMP) is a document that outlines activities done at every
stage of work with research data. DMP should be created at the early stage of scientific
research. Institutions and agencies granting financial funds for scientific research
(National Science Centre (NCN), European Commission, Economic and Social
Research Council, Natural Environmental Research Council) require DMP increasingly.
What should the Data Management Plan
contain?
• The evaluation of accessible data, the description of
drawbacks and needs;
• The description of the way of gathering data (i.e. via
using a survey, a research tool) and their type (i.e.
experimental or observational data);
• Documents and standards of data description
(metadata);
• Information about who is supposed to have
copyrights and intellectual property rights, and also
about the responsibility for managing them;
• Requirements and procedures connected with
ethical aspects of gathered data;
• The description of procedures ensuring the quality
data control (the description should include the
division of duties and activities related to supervising
and controlling the completeness of data);
• A plan concerning the access to data and sharing
them (defining the license to make data accessible);
• A short- and long-term strategy of storing and
protecting data;
• Defining what kind of issues will be needed to
conduct DMP.