We are often asked about good sources for proceedings and conference papers, and we’re happy to report that there are several great resources available through the library.

ProceedingsFirst

This database covers every published congress, symposium, conference, exposition, workshop and meeting received by The British Library Document Supply Centre since 1993. Each record contains a list of the papers presented at each conference. The record will not include the actual abstracts, but will point to where the abstracts can be found: an issue of a society’s journal, perhaps, or a special proceedings publication issued for that particular conference.

Access it by searching for “proceedingsfirst” (all one word) on our website.

PapersFirst

Instead of looking for the proceedings, you can search out the papers. Like ProceedingsFirst, the paper abstracts are not included but the record points to the abstract’s source. The database contains over 6.5 million records.

Access it by searching for “papersfirst” (all one word) on our website.

Web of Science

Web of Science, the multidisciplinary database that’s commonly used to find out who’s citing whom, also covers conference proceedings. A standard Web of Science search will retrieve results from the Conference Proceedings Citation Index, which contains published literature from the most significant conferences, symposia, seminars, colloquia, workshops, and conventions worldwide. Conference Proceedings Citation Index extracts 30% of its data from journals and 70% from books. The content is international, not limited to papers published in English, and includes data from books, journals, reports, series, and preprints. Conference Proceedings Citation Index is available in two editions: Sciences & Technology and Social Science (NU only subscribes to the Sciences & Technology edition), and provides enhanced coverage of books and meeting abstracts, especially in key areas such as engineering, chemistry, physics, and biology. Coverage goes back to 1990.

Access it by clicking Web of Science in Popular Links on the Galter Library website.

Selected proceedings may be listed, indexed, or available in full-text in various specialty databases, such as PubMed, INSPEC, CINAHL, PsycEXTRA, and online catalogs, such as NUCat. Another option is to do a web search by conference name or publication. Many proceedings and conferences provide access to their content on the sponsoring society websites. If you need help finding a conference paper, contact a Galter librarian.

Do you have any suggestions for finding conference abstracts or proceedings? Let us know by adding a comment.