Forensic chemistry journals

From WolfWikis

(Back to CH441 page.) While there are many good books dealing with forensic chemistry, what you really need to bolster your research papers are journal articles. Articles represent the most current research results available. Understanding how journal literature works will make this searching much easier.

One way to find research articles is to browse the most relevant publications. Browse these journals to see the kinds of articles published in an average issue (not all will be precisely on forensic chemistry). Some good journals to start with:

• Forensic Science International
• Journal of chromatography. B, Analytical technologies in the biomedical and life science (2002-present)
• Journal of chromatography. B (several earlier titles) (1977-2002)
• Journal of Clinical Forensic Medicine
• Journal of Forensic Sciences (2006-present) (NCSU subscription coverage)

Note that if you're searching more than a few publications, or if you have a specific topic in mind, browsing becomes ineffecient. You can use research databases to search for specific topics across publications.

Choosing a Database

You need to search chemistry databases to find journal citations. Databases index articles in numerous publications, allowing you to search for information on a topic through many journals at once. (More on databases (LOBO).) The databases that you want to use for this class are:

1) Web of Science
Chemistry + other sciences. Allows article and author searches to see who else has cited that article or author. Not as in-depth as SciFinder but easier to access and use.
Access

2) PubMed
Very robust medical database where applications of chemistry to forensics might be found.
Access to PubMed

3) SciFinder Scholar
The pre-eminent chemistry database, but a challenge to learn. Newly available as a web version, requires registration.
Link to registration and access.

4) Toxicology Abstracts or TOXLINE
Databases on the effects of toxic substances.
Access to Toxicology Abstracts
Access to TOXLINE

These databases, plus more, are all found within the library's databases, or organized by subjects. In particular, check the chemistry portion of the wiki and the medicine subject pages.

Searching Databases

Databases are not search engines--they are much more powerful and subject-specific. They search a specific set of documents, such as movies, flight times, or literature in a certain academic field. Databases also permit users to create accurate and meaningful sets of results. For example, by linking your main concepts with AND. Then, using limits, refine your search. I will show you more about this when I visit your class.

Example: In SciFinder Scholar I do a search on the terms: mass spectrometry and forensic. This brings back too many citations to look through. I then limit these to just review articles (summary articles for a field of research) which brings me down to about 60, which I can browse more easily. I can arrange these by publication date, refine by certain authors, etc.

More on Boolean searching (LOBO).

Understanding Citations

A citation gives you an abstract of the article, the author, the article title, and the year, volume, page, and name of the journal in which the article was published. It does NOT include full text. Databases are collections of citations, not articles. They often provide a link to full text, however. Example:

Ikegaya, H. et al. "Detection of the calcium antagonist nicardipine and its metabolites by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry". Forensic Science International. 130.1 (5 November 2002). pp. 25-28.

Here, 130 is the volume, 1 is the issue and the article is on pages 25-28. There are many different styles for writing citations, but in all of them, the volume number should appear after the title.

Sometimes the full text online version of the article is linked from the citation. This is great, you can go directly to the article to read, print, or save it. Use the Find Text Articles button if you see it. Click on this to see if there we subscribe to an online copy of the journal.

There will not always be an online version of the journal, but we may still have the journal. The next section explains how to get article once you have a citation.

Getting the Articles

Don't ignore articles that are not full text online in your database! Some may have electronic access through a different source and others can be found in print within the library. If you don't see a link to full text or the the Find Text linking button , go through the following steps.

Given a citation with no link to full text (this citation is from SciFinder Scholar):

Okeke, C. C.; Wynn, J. E.; Patrick, K. S. Simultaneous analysis of cocaine, benzoylecgonine, methylecgonine, and ecgonine in plasma using an exchange resin and gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy. Chromatographia (1994), 38(1-2), 52-6.

Take the journal title: Chromatographia

• Go to the NCSU Library catalog (link, wiki page). Paste the title into the Search begins with... search box. Make sure Journal Title is selected. From the title list that results, select the best match. Click on this record. Here's what you should see (screen shot):

1. A box near the bottom labelled Electronic Access. With the link provided, you can get to this journal for the years mentioned. In this case, there is electronic access for all years, starting with Volume 1 and continuing forward. This may not be the case for other journals--we may have only a few years or none at all electronically.
2. At the bottom is a call number: QD271 .C54. This number allows you to find all of the issues of the journal here in the library. Many science journals are online nowadays so you'll usually find electronic access, but not always. QD is the number for all chemistry journals and books and all QD materials are on the 6th floor. (Library map)

More information about locating print copies of journals (LOBO).

One final note: if you can't find a journal title in the catalog and it isn't available online, you can request a copy of the article you need through Tripsaver. Sometimes requests can be filled quickly since UNC and Duke will have a lot of material in the medical sciences readily available. Don't put off getting copies of articles! You don't want to be waiting on article requests when your paper is nearly due. Contact your librarian with questions about this process or to get help before abandoning your search!

Finding Articles flowchart

Citing Sources

You must cite your sources completely. Not doing so is plagiarism and is severely punished in academia.

Pick a citation style, or use a style requested by your instructor (there are many: APA, MLA, Chicago, etc.). Use the same style throughout a document.

We have a handy citation builder tool (or RefWorks) to help you with this process for common examples. Use the links on the citation builder page to find summaries of the styles guides if you need more help. Definitive style guides are available at the D.H. Hill reference desk.

More information on citing sources (LOBO).

A typical citation in your bibliography might look like this:

Ikegaya, H. et al. "Detection of the calcium antagonist nicardipine and its metabolites by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry". Forensic Science International. 130.1 (5 November 2002). pp. 25-28.

To manage research projects, citations, and bibliographies, I highly recommend adopting citation management software like RefWorks. Let me know if you want some help getting started.