CHEM 400

Chemical Literature
A short course in the chemical
literature, ethics and chemical
careers.

Dr. Michael W. Justik

Penn State Erie, The Behrend College
Fall 2016
 Chemical Literature
Why a course in chemical literature?
Huge:

Chemical Abstracts: Indexes 9,000 journals currently

40,000 journals since 1907
22,993,118 abstracts (865,066 last year)
26,623,929 substances 84.5% English

Beilstein: 9,271,617 organic compounds

9,726,867 reactions

Gmelin: 2,219,064 inorganic and organometallic

1,718,428 million reactions
 Chemical Abstracts Since 1907
25

20
Abstracts (millions)

15

10

0
1905 1925 1945 1965 1985 2005
Year
 Chemical Literature
Why a course in chemical literature?
Complex:
Overlaps with physics, biology, medicine, pharmaceuticals,
geology, materials, forensics…

Not just keyword searches. numerical data

chemical formula
structural features
Chemical nomenclature
 Chemical Literature
Why a course in chemical literature?
Search Tools Evolving Rapidly:
Web: Google
Science Citation Online: Web of Science
Chemical Abstracts Online STN
SciFinder Scholar
Beilstein and Gmelin Online: MDL CrossFire Commander
 Types of Scientific Literature
Primary
Journals
Peer reviewed
Not magazines
Conference Proceedings
Lectures presented at conferences in book form
Usually reviewed by a single editor
Dissertations (Ph D), Theses (Masters), Grant Reports
Not as easy to find
 Types of Scientific Literature
Secondary
Treatises
Muli-volume on a single subject. Comprehensive
Detailed bibliography over a long period
Multigraphs and Monographs
Multiple or single authored book on one topic
Usually smaller then a Treatise
Encyclopedias and Dictionaries
Broad and not detailed
 Types of Scientific Literature
Secondary
Reviews
Review articles, narrowly defined
Extensive bibliography
Indexing and Abstract Journals
Chemical Abstracts, Science Citation, Beilstein
Up-to-date, published frequently
 Types of Scientific Literature
Tertiary
Guides to Literature
References to references

Computerized Search Engines

Electronic Chemical Abstracts, Science Citation,
Beilstein
 Primary Literature
Publication: the making public of information, by whatever
means - oral, printed or electronic.

Publication has become a means not only for disseminating

information, but also a tool for evaluating a scholar's
performance: "Publish or perish."
 Scientific Journals
Journals vary widely in specialization:

Very broad, covering all of science (more or less...).

Nature
Science
 Scientific Journals
Journals vary widely in specialization:
Covering all of a major section of science, such as
chemistry, biology or geology.

Journal of the American Chemical Society

Physical Review Letters
Angewandte Chemie
 Scientific Journals
Journals vary widely in specialization:

Covering a major subsection of science, such as organic

chemistry or solid state physics.

Journal of Organic Chemistry

Inorganic Chemistry
Dalton Transactions
 Scientific Journals
Journals vary widely in specialization:

Covering a highly specialized area of research.

Biogeochemistry
Nano Letters
Crystal Growth and Design
 Scientific Journals
Journals vary widely in types of articles:

Major reviews: Longer articles summarizing research in a

particular field, usually over a specified chronological range.
Generally written by scientists who are expert in the field.

Accounts of Chemical Research

Chemical Society Reviews
Chemical Reviews
 Scientific Journals
Journals vary widely in types of articles:

Major original papers: The majority of scholarly journals carry

full-length articles on original research.

Perkin Transactions
Tetrahedron
 Scientific Journals

Journals vary widely in types of articles:

Brief communications: Some journals specialize in rapid
publication of short announcements of research results.

Organic Letters
Chemical Communications
 Structure of a Journal Article
Main purpose of a scientific paper: report new results, and to
relate these results to previous knowledge in the field.

Most scientific papers follow a standard format. They are

divided into several sections with each section serving a specific
purpose.

The exact format may vary slightly. Only full articles contain all
these sections.

Letters and communications are shorter, containing a brief

introduction, combined results/discussion and no experimental.
 Structure of a Journal Article
Bibliographic information

Article title, authors, author addresses and e-mail:

 Structure of a Journal Article
Abstract or Summary
Usually at the beginning, although may not be given this title.
This short section serves as a summary of the paper.
Generally, it gives a brief background to the topic; describes
concisely the major findings of the paper; and relates these to
other work.
This logical order is also that of the paper as a whole.
 Structure of a Journal Article
Introduction
Not always with that title. Gives background knowledge
needed for reader to understand why the findings of the
paper are important. Typically describe the state of
knowledge in the area; then focuses on the particular aspect
that led directly to the work described. In many papers,
major conclusions of the paper are presented at the end of
this section, so that the reader knows the major answers to
the questions just posed.
 Structure of a Journal Article
Experimental
Sometimes called Materials and Methods.
In some journals this section is the last one and in others it
comes after the Introduction.
Describes the materials used in the experiments, and the
methods by which the experiments were carried out.
In principle, this description should be detailed enough to
allow other researchers to replicate the work. In practice,
these descriptions are often highly compressed and they
often refer back to previous papers by the authors.
 Structure of a Journal Article
Results
Describes the experiments and the reasons they were done.
Generally, the logic of the Results section follows directly
from that of the Introduction. The Introduction poses the
questions addressed in the early part of Results. Beyond this
point, the organization of Results differs from one paper to
another. In some papers, the results are presented without
extensive discussion, which is reserved for the following
section.
 Structure of a Journal Article
Discussion
Several purposes. First, the data are interpreted or analyzed
to show what the authors believe the data show. Any
limitations to the interpretations should be acknowledged,
and fact should clearly be separated from speculation.
Second, the findings of the paper are related to other
findings in the field. This serves to show how the findings
contribute to knowledge, or correct the errors of previous
work. Often combined with Results.
 Structure of a Journal Article
Conclusion
Sometime (but not always) an article may contain a
Conclusion paragraph summarizing and reiterating the main
points from the Results and Discussion. Sometime a
conclusion paragraph may appear at the end of the
Discussion.
 Structure of a Journal Article
Acknowledgements
The section in which various contributions of other workers
(not listed as authors) are recognized and any funding
sources.
 Structure of a Journal Article
References
A list giving references to papers and other works cited in the
text. May come at the bottom of each column (as footnotes)
or a separate section at the end. Typically, the citation is given
as a superscript.
 Structure of a Reference
Last name, initials separation
Veliz, E. A.; Easterwood, L. M.; Beal, P. A.
J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2003, 125, 10867-10876.
journal abbrev. year volume page numbers (inclusive)

ACS Style Guide Page 215

Abbreviations of 1000+ most cited journals.
 Structure of a Journal Article
Figures, Tables and Schemes
Papers usually contain Figures, Tables and Schemes. These
contain data described in the paper. The figures and tables
also have legends, whose purpose is to give details of the
particular experiment or experiments shown there. Look for
numbering schemes throughout the text, particularly in
synthesis articles.
 Structure of a Journal Article
The article may have supplementary or supporting
information. For print journals, this usually comes on
microfiche; electronic journals may have links to the material
online.
The precise structure required will vary somewhat from
journal to journal; nearly all have an "Instructions to Authors"
section.
 Peer Review
The majority of scientific journals publish peer-reviewed
articles, also called refereed articles. In these journals, the
editor sends submitted articles out to persons expert in the
field of the article. The referee comments on the article and
the research it presents. The editor then decides whether to
accept the article as is, send it back to the author for revision,
or reject it outright. Reviewing helps uphold scientific
standards, but it adds to the delay between research and
publication - often a year between submission and
publication.
 Reading a Scientific Paper
Although it is tempting to read the paper straight through as
one would most text, it is more efficient to organize the way
one reads. Generally, one first reads the Abstract in order to
understand the major points of the work.
 Reading a Scientific Paper
One extremely useful habit in reading a paper is to read the
Title, Abstract and Introduction and before going on, review
in one's mind what one knows about the topics and concepts
discussed.

If there are things you are unfamiliar with you may need to do
some background reading. Often the Introduction will
contain many references, some of which may help, but you
may find yourself in need of more general information. For
more general background go to the secondary source of
literature we have discussed in class (books, encyclopedias
etc.).
 Reading a Scientific Paper
Check the Conclusion briefly to see where it is going.

Once you have gained any background you may need, it is time
to tackle the Results and Discussion.

As you are reading, ask yourself the following questions:

 Reading a Scientific Paper
1. What is the main point of the paper? What scientific issue
is the author addressing? What questions are the author
asking?
What is the purpose of this research?
 Reading a Scientific Paper
2. What work has been done previously on this topic? How
does the author’s questions/purpose fit into this context?
How does it fit into the “big picture”?
 Reading a Scientific Paper
3. How does the author propose to answer these questions?
What techniques or methods does the author use to
address these questions? How will these techniques or
methods lead to the answer?
 Reading a Scientific Paper
4. What were the results for the experiments? What did the
author observe when the experiments were run?
 Reading a Scientific Paper
5. What did the author conclude from these results? Were
the results justified? Did they give the results the author
was seeking or expected? Did they answer his question?
 Reading a Scientific Paper
6. Did the results lead the author to suggest further or
different experiments to be done?
 A Final Thought
You are not obliged to accept the paper as fact.

However, rejecting it requires sufficient background and

fundamental knowledge of the subject that is acquired by
reading the literature and/or contributing to it.