LibGuides: Forensic Science and Crime &amp; Investigative Studies (CIS): Databases

Databases

Use databases to help you find literature for your assignments and research projects.

A database is a searchable collection of information sources and may contain a range of sources including books, journal articles, reports, newspaper articles, theses, trade publications, reviews and TV broadcasts

Some contain full-text, others contain abstracts and references. Some focus on one subject area, others are multidisciplinary.

Most have good search facilities to enable flexible, structured and focused searching. Results can be exported to RefWorks, Excel or other reference management software.

Find databases

Find using ARU database search - look for specific titles or browse by subject.

See links on this page for recommendations.

Find databases

Find using ARU database A-Z - look for specific databases or browse by subject.

See links on this page for subject specific recommendations.

Need help?

Contact the library with general questions. You'll be redirected quickly to the Subject Librarian team if you need help with finding information sources or referencing,

Need more in-depth help? Book an appointment with your Subject Librarian, Andrea Packwood.

Database links and information

This page contains links to databases useful for all aspects of investigative sciences. We pay for most databases so access is through Library login.

Getting into the databases:

Click on the name or database logo to see the Library Record for the database.
Click on the link under Find Online (usually the name of the database) to get into the database itself.

Pubmed and some other databases are publicly available so you can 'Google' them - you do not need to login.

Want to read an article in full? See tips in the Accessing full articles section on this guide.

Want to save your results? You can save outside the database or within it. You can export results from all our databases to RefWorks, ARU's subscribed reference management tool. You can also create a personal account in each database (after you have used Library Login) to save searches and create alerts.

Multidisciplinary

SCOPUS: World’s largest abstract and citation database of peer-reviewed literature.

Web of Science: Large abstract and citation database of peer-reviewed literature. Similar to SCOPUS.

Medical and technical

MEDLINE: Journal articles in all aspects of medicine, including forensic medicine and pathology. Material included is tagged with MeSH and quality checked.		PubMed: publicly available medical database. Contains all of Medline plus material from daily updates awaiting processing for inclusion in Medline.
Global Index Medicus: worldwide access to biomedical and public health literature produced by and within low-middle income countries. Material collated by WHO.		Embase: Well-respected biomedical and pharmacological database. Stronger in pharmacology than PubMed. Good for toxicology and drugs of abuse.
ProQuest SciTech Premium Collection: may be useful for international material and trade publications (professional magazines). Change search field from 'Anywhere' to 'Anywhere except full text' for more focused results.

Criminology and law

ProQuest Social Sciences Premium Collection: journal articles that may cover the social issues of interest to crime and investigation.

Westlaw UK: One of the main databases for UK cases, legislation, journals, current awareness and more.

+ Find full current legislation quickly from:

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/

Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection: Index covering large range of psychology topics including criminal behaviour.

Includes a lot of full-text.

PsycInfo: Very large index covering all aspects of psychology including including criminal behaviour. Produced by the American Psychological Association (APA).

Databases containing key journals

These titles will give you some useful results on a forensic related topic because they contain some key forensic titles. However, it is not advisable to use either of these as a database in a good quality systematic search because of their limited publisher-specific content and search facilities. Articles from these databases are indexed in databases such as SCOPUS as well as Library Search and Google Scholar - you will find them in your results and be able to link to the full articles.

ScienceDirect: Peer-reviewed journals and journal articles published by Elsevier. Contains several key journals.

Wiley Online Library: Peer-reviewed journals and journal articles published by Wiley. Contains several key journals.

Standards of practice

British Standards Online:

Full collection of UK standards from the British Standards Institution, including those for analytical and professional practices. Also contains references to other international standards.

Use Quick View to read standards. You will need to install FileOpen on your PC to download PDFs.

also includes access to

ASTM E1618 - 19 Standard Test Method for Ignitable Liquid Residues in Extracts from Fire Debris Samples by Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry

and

ASTM E1412 - 19 Standard Practice for Separation of Ignitable Liquid Residues from Fire Debris Samples by Passive Headspace Concentration with Activated Charcoal

ASTM Standards:

ACCESS TO THIS RESOURCE CEASED 31 SEPT 2024. PLEASE DO NOT RETAIN ANY PREVIOUSLY DOWNLOADED STANDARDS.

ASTM E1618 - 19 and ASTM E1412 - 19 are available from the left-hand menu within British Standards Online.

ASTM initials forming globe followed by word COMPASS

Anatomy

A cland's Video Atlas of Human Anatomy: Animated videos of human anatomy. Includes alternative text transcripts

V isible Body:3D online, visual introduction to human anatomy.

Note the access instructions.

The Websites and other resources : page on our Anatomy guide contains other resources you might find useful.