Bibliographic Databases

Bibliographic databases are an excellent starting point for any research project. They contain title, author, source and often an abstract (summary) for all the key research published (including in books, journals, conference proceedings and other literature) in a certain area.

You can execute a search in a database, rather thsn using lots of different souces, and find out exactly what research has been carried out, where it can be found and who has written it. Powerful search technology allows scientists with little or no information training to find precise citations within moments.

Using a bibliographic database will deliver many benefits to the researcher including: 

  • A broad subject coverage of a specific topic.
  • Access to reliable information, selected by experts from a wide range of sources.
  • International coverage including some “hard to find” material
  • Informative abstracts giving a summary of the research - which might be all you need
  • Links to full text are available in many cases
  • Consistent, comprehensive and precise indexing

The creators of this site, The International Food Information Service (IFIS Publishing), produce their own bibliographic database:

This is often cited as the key database for finding references relevant to food science and technology.

Other food related bibliographic databases you might like to look at include:

In addition to individual databases, there are organisations that provide collections of databases. These so called vendors (also called aggregators, or host platforms) act like a retail outlet for the producers of individual databases. Some examples are:

Bibliographic databases are usually fee based, although some are free. Access can be provided on different models such as pay per view or time bound and so it is worth checking with the database provider.

Your library or company will probably subscribe to some or all of the key resources in your subject area. If you work in a corporate environment and have no such access, it is worth investigating whether your company would consider subscribing. These really are key sources of information.