Physics & Astronomy

• Selected resources on Physics & Astronomy

Finding Science Information

To get started finding information in the sciences, it's useful to know a little about the Science Information Life Cycle. The life cycle of information is different whether you're in the Sciences, Social Sciences, or Humanities. This tutorial from the UC Irvine Libraries is designed to help you understand the unique characteristics of information production in the Sciences so that you can use library resources effectively and efficiently:

Science Information Life Cycle

Physics & Astronomy Databases

Databases are the best way to find scholarly, peer-reviewed journal articles and e-prints. Several key databases are listed below, but if you're having trouble finding something, try one of the many databases listed on our Physics & Astronomy Databases page.

American Institute of Physics (AIP) Journals This link opens in a new window
Provides full-text articles from scholarly journals and conference proceedings published by the American Institute of Physics (AIP).
arXiv.org This link opens in a new window
arXiv is a highly-automated electronic archive and distribution server for research articles. Fields covered by arXiv include physics, mathematics, computer science, nonlinear sciences, quantitative biology, quantitative finance, statistics, electrical engineering and systems science, and economics. arXiv is maintained and operated by Cornell University Library.
Engineering Village 2 This link opens in a new window
Designed for engineers across many fields and sub-fields, this database allows the user to independently or simultaneously search the Compendex and Inspec databases. Provides access to the international engineering literature including thousands of journals, conference proceedings, dissertations, books, reports, and technical standards.
IEEE Xplore/IET Electronic Library Online (IEL) This link opens in a new window
Provides full-text journal articles, conference papers, and technical standards published by IEEE and the IEE. Emphasis is on electrical engineering, computer science, and information systems.
Institute of Physics (IOP) Journals This link opens in a new window
Provides access to the full text of scholarly journals published by the Institute of Physics (IOP).
SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS) This link opens in a new window
NASA/ADS – the SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS) is hosted by Harvard University and consists of three databases covering publications in Astronomy & Astrophysics, Physics, and arXiv e-prints. Most major astronomy and physics publications are indexed and searchable through the ADS portal. ADS entries can be linked to UTSA Libraries subscription resources for users who create a free personal ADS account.
SCOAP3 Repository This link opens in a new window
A major open access initiative, the repository contains thousands of openly accessible articles from research journals in high-energy physics from publishers such as Elsevier, Springer, and Institute of Physics.
SPIE Digital Library This link opens in a new window
Provides full-text access to more than 230,000 technical papers on optics, photonics, and imaging published in SPIE's journals and conference proceedings.
Springer Nature Link This link opens in a new window
Provides electronic access to the full-text of thousands of journals and e-books published by Springer Nature in chemical sciences, economics, environmental sciences, life sciences, law, medicine, computer science, engineering, geosciences, mathematics, statistics, and physics.
Web of Science This link opens in a new window
Indexes and abstracts articles in more than 8,400 journals in the arts, humanities, sciences, and social sciences. Also includes conference proceedings citations (1990 to the present).

Mathematical Physics Preprint Archive (mp_arc)
mp_arc is an electronic archive for research papers in Mathematical Physics and related areas. (covers 1991 - present)

What are preprints?

In academic publishing, a preprint is a draft of a scientific paper that has not yet been published in a peer-reviewed scientific journal OR it could refer to an article that has been accepted for publication but has not yet been published in its final, peer-reviewed form. They are also referred to as "e-prints," or you might see the phrase "as soon as published."