Search for peer-reviewed engineering literature

What is peer reviewed?

"Peer reviewed" is a term given to academic literature that has been evaluated by experts working in the same field. Scholarly journals use peer review as a quality-control mechanism. Sources that have been peer reviewed are more authoritative than articles that haven't.

You can find peer reviewed articles through QUT Library's Library Search or databases. Database are collections of journals, conference papers and other academic resources on specific subject areas. Not all the journals you find in Library Search and databases are peer reviewed. If you are not sure if a journal is peer reviewed, look at the about section of the journal's web page. Alternatively, check the "Peer reviewed" box included on the search pages of Library Search and many databases.

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Engineering Village Quick Reference Guide
Provides on overview of the most frequently used Engineering Village search options, to help you improve efficiency, productivity and facilitate important discoveries more easily.

Inspec User Guide
Inspec is the world’s leading English-language information service providing access to the world’s scientific and technical papers in physics, electrical engineering, electronics, communications, control
engineering, computing, information technology, and manufacturing and production engineering.
In addition to providing a comprehensive index to the literature from these disciplines, Inspec
also has significant coverage in interdisciplinary areas such as materials science, oceanography,
nuclear engineering, geophysics, biomedical engineering and biophysics.
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Each record in the Inspec database contains an English-language title and descriptive abstract,
together with full bibliographic details which include the journal or other publication title, the author’s name and affiliation and the language of the original document. All of these may be searched, as well as Inspec’s extensive range of subject classification and indexing systems, which are recognised as the standard of excellence in search aids throughout the industry. These include controlled index
terms from the Inspec Thesaurus.

Inspec, Scope & Focus
Inspec focuses on four main subject areas:
1. Physics;
2. Electrical Engineering and Electronics;
3. Computers and Control;
4. Mechanical and Production Engineering.
Each of these subjects contains numerous sub-sections within the same genre.
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Inspec (produced by The IET) is one of the most definitive databases for subject-specific and interdisciplinary research in the fields of engineering, physics and computer science. It contains over 20 million records of research literature, and for 50 years it’s been an essential discovery tool to numerous prestigious institutions around the world.

Databases

Searching databases is a quick and easy way to improve the quality of your research. The information contained in databases is selected or reviewed by subject matter experts according to set criteria. Some key databases recommended for research in engineering are listed below.

Compendex (via Engineering Village) Key index of international scientific and technical engineering research.tag-eng-PM
Inspec (via Engineering Village) Index of scientific literature in physics, engineering, computer science and information technology. Archive includes content from 1898 onwards. Produced by the Institute of Engineering and Technology (IET).
IEEE Xplore digital library Scientific and technical content published by the IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) including journals, conference proceedings, technical standards, and eBooks. Includes access to selected IEEE online educational courses and tutorials (to 31 October 2014 only). tag-community access
Scopus An index of peer-reviewed literature including journals, books and conference papers covering a wide range of subject areas. It is primarily aimed at researchers and provides a number of tools to track, analyse and visualise research.tag-eng-pmhealth-ql
Web of Science (via Clarivate) A collection of citation and index databases that provide citation count information for articles, books and conferences. tag-eng-pmhealth-ql
Web of Science also includes a range of specialised research-oriented indexes such as:
- Grants Index
- Preprint Citation Index
- ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Citation Index
- Web of Science Core Collection, incorporating: Science Citation Index; Social Sciences Citation Index; Arts & Humanities Citation Index; Conference Proceedings Citation Index; Emerging Sources Citation Index (ESCI); Current Chemical Reactions and Index Chemicus.

International and European Standards from British Standards Online (BSOL)

Australian Standards (via Techstreet Enterprise) Complete collection of current Australian standards plus recent draft standards.tag-eng-pm
To open and print downloaded PDFs from Techstreet:
1. Install the FileOpen plugin.
2. Open the PDF in Adobe Acrobat/Reader (Techstreet PDFs will not open in a browser).
If you are still experiencing trouble opening Techstreet PDFs contact Techstreet support (02) 9161 7799 or enterprise@techstreet.com

Follow the link to QUT's library web site to find a complete list of other databases of relevance to engineering researchers.

Why should I search databases?

Watch IEEE Xplore's short video blow for more information on how using databases can improve the quality of your research.

Searching databases

Search databases by keyword or subject searching.

Subject searching

Databases group resources on the same subject using a controlled subject vocabulary. As the terminology is standardised, subject searching enhances the relevance of your results.

The videos below provide guidance on searching specific science and engineering databases.