Almost every area of scholarship -- arts, engineering, humanities, sciences, social sciences -- holds conferences where scholars get together to present and discuss their latest research. Conferences may be very broad in topic or very narrow. Some are held annually, some are one-shots. In any case, they are an important form of publication of scholarly research.
Some conference papers represent the earliest publication of a piece of research. Some never appear in print. Those that do appear in print may appear in a book, in a special issue of a journal, in a regular issue of a journal, or in a journal which specializes in conference papers. Some are easy to locate, and some can only be obtained by contacting their authors.
The best way to find conferences (as opposed to specific papers from a conference) on the UC Library Search is by abasic Keyword search. This search looks for the words you supply in the authors or title words or subject headings or tables of contents (where available) regardless of which field or what order they appear in. This can get around the problem of whether the sponsoring organization appears as the author or as part of the title. In this type of search, it's a good idea to leave out words like "proceedings" or "transactions" in your first try. These are so common that they don't improve the search and may slow it down drastically.
When you display the results of a UC Library Search, the books appear in "relevance" order -- most closely matching your search terms first. Refine the results by Resource Type to limit to conference proceedings. If you know the date of a conference, this can make locating it easy. Refine results by the publication date, allowing plus or minus one year.
Keyword searching for conferences is weakest when you only have relatively common words in the name of the conference. For example, electronics or computing by themselves make poor keyword search terms since there are so many books by IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) and ACM (Association for Computing Machinery). Where your keywords are common, add the term congresses, which is always part of the Library of Congress Subject Heading for a book of conference proceedings. The terms proceedings or transactions may also be useful as limiters. Alternatively, you can use the Advanced Search feature, and limit your search by Format to "Conference".
Full-text repository of papers from ACM journal and newsletter articles and conference proceedings published, co-published, or co-marketed by the Association for Computing Machinery and other publishers.
Contains peer-reviewed books developed from the American Chemical Society technical divisions' symposia. Series covers a broad range of topics including agricultural and food chemistry, cellulose and renewable materials, chemical education, organic chemistry, polymer chemistry, materials, and others.
Book series with invited lectures presented at the Spring Meetings of the “Arbeitskreis Festkörperphysik” of the “Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft”. Invited talks are intended to reflect the most recent achievements of researchers working in the field both in Germany and worldwide.
AIP Conference Proceedings presented at many of the most important scientific meetings around the world. Valuable as topical status reports providing quick access to information before it appears in the traditional journal literature.
Collection of publications from the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (ASABE). Includes full text of articles from their journals, ASABE standards, annual meeting papers, regional section meeting papers, conference proceedings and a variety of full-text textbooks, monographs, lectures and special publications. Topics include alternative fuels, animal waste management, soil erosion and watershed management among others of interest in agriculture and environmental science.
Covers all disciplines of business, including marketing, management, MIS, POM, accounting, finance and economics. Includes financial data, books, monographs, major reference works, book digests, conference proceedings, case studies, investment research reports, industry reports, market research reports, country reports, company profiles, SWOT analyses and more.
Contains full text documents from IEEE journals, transactions, magazines, letters, conference proceedings, standards, and IET (Institution of Engineering and Technology) publications.
Reports state-of-the-art results in areas related to business information systems and industrial application software development.
Reports new developments in computer science research and teaching. Some volumes are monographs, and some are multi-author works.
Reports new developments in the fields of control and information sciences.
Reports new developments in research and teaching in the entire field of earth sciences. Some volumes are monographs, and some are multi-author works. This series is continued by Lecture Notes in Earth System Sciences.
Reports on new developments in research and teaching in the entire field of earth system science: from the nano and micro-scales to the entire earth system including its early formation, evolution and future status. Thoroughly interdisciplinary presenting studies of the litho-, atmo-, hydro- and biospheres and humanities interactions with them. The series continues Lecture Notes in Earth Sciences.
Reports on new developments in all areas of mathematics and their applications.
Reports on new developments in physics research and teaching.
Reports on new developments in the field of statistics research and teaching.
Materials Science and Engineering Database is a combination of a group of engineering databases from ProQuest. Expand “Additional Info” for a list.
Contains peer-reviewed conference papers presented at Materials Research Society meetings. Topics include electronic materials, plastics and polymers, composite materials, ceramics and metals. For current MRS proceedings (2016-present) see the journal "MRS Advances".
Date Coverage: 1980-2015
Indexes papers on optics, photonics, optoelectronics, and imaging. Subject coverage is broad across optical technology, including astronomy, aerospace, remote sensing, biomedical optics, communications & fiber optics, electronic & medical imaging, lasers, microelectronics & micromachining, nanotechnology, optical physics, chemistry & biology, and signal & image processing.
Includes abstracts and citations from over 4,000 journals and other sources including conference proceedings, reports, monographs, books, and government publications.
Contains citations to scholarly work on classical antiquity published in any language globally. Subjects include Greek and Latin literature and linguistics, including early Christian texts and patristics, Greek and Roman history, philosophy, art, archaeology, religion, mythology, music, science and scholarly sub-specialties such as numismatics, papyrology and epigraphy.
Coverage begins in the second millennium B.C.E. with pre-classical archaeology, and ends with the period of transition from late antiquity to the middle ages (roughly 500-800 C.E.), extending from the physical centers of ancient Greece and Rome to Northern and Eastern Europe, Asia Minor, the Middle East, and North Africa.
Covers all aspects of aquatic science including aquaculture, biology, conservation, environmental quality, fisheries, freshwater environments, limnology, marine biotechnology, marine environments, meteorology, oceanography, policy and legislation, and wildlife management.
Comprehensive coverage of articles of across all disciplines of civil engineering. Subject areas include: Aerospace Engineering, Architectural Engineering, Bridges, Cold Regions, Computer Practices, Construction, Earthquake Engineering, Education, Engineering Mechanics, Environmental Engineering, Forensic Engineering, Geotechnical Engineering, Highways, Hydrology, Hydraulics, Irrigation and Drainage, Management, Materials Engineering, Structural Engineering, Transportation, Urban Planning, Water Resources, Waterway, Port, Coastal and Ocean Engineering.
Covers European and American art from late antiquity to the present. Includes and extends the coverage of its two predecessor art indexes: RAA (Repertoire d'Art et d'Archeologie) from 1973 to 1989 and RILA (International Repertory of the Literature of Art) from 1975 to 1989. For information more recent than 2009, use the International Bibliography of Art.
Provides comprehensive coverage of biological science fields including animal behavior, aquatic life and fisheries, chemoreception, biochemistry, ecology, plant science, toxicology, virology, microbiology, immunology genetics, health and safety science, oncogenes, entomology, and endocrinology neuroscience.
Contains citations to items in journals, books, conference proceedings, and technical reports, in all areas of the life sciences and biology. Many citations include abstracts.
Comprehensive bibliographic database of scientific and technical engineering research available, covering all engineering disciplines. Includes citations and abstracts from engineering journals and conference proceedings.
Indexes publications in statistics, probability, and related fields. Includes the complete contents from 160 core journals, selected articles with statistical content from 1,200 journals, and about 11,000 books.
Contains earthquake engineering and earthquake studies from journal articles, conference papers, technical reports, maps, videos, slides, and computer files. Topics include structural dynamics, seismology, geology, architecture, political science, economics, planning, public policy, and hazards mitigation.
Covers the international literature on economics. Provides bibliographic citations, with selected abstracts, of journal articles, books, dissertations and working papers.
Indexes publications from a wide range of social science disciplines including anthropology, sociology, psychology, demography, health sciences, education, economics, law, history, and social work. Includes related websites, internet documents, professional journals, conference papers, books, book chapters, selected popular literature, government reports, discussion and working papers, unpublished material such as poster sessions, statistical documents, theses and dissertations and other sources.
Provides citations from journals, serials, maps, theses and dissertations, government publications, books, and reports in the fields of geology and geophysics. Topics include energy sources, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, groundwater pollution, nuclear reactor sites, landslides, and erosion, as well as the history of the earth, the structure of the earth, the study of ore deposits, and geostatistics.
Browsable and searchable index to the Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Literature produced by ESRI, the developer of the ArcGIS suite of software products. This database is the most comprehensive index to the GIS literature available. Contains descriptions (and where available, links to full-text) for scholarly and technical journal articles, books, whitepapers, and conference presentations.
Describes journal articles, conference proceedings, books, book reviews, and dissertations in the history of science, technology, and medicine and allied historical fields. Integrates four bibliographies: the Isis Current Bibliography of the History of Science, the Current Bibliography in the History of Technology (Technology and Culture), the Bibliografia Italiana di Storia della Scienza and the Wellcome Library for the History and Understanding of Medicine.
Covers all aspects of the study of language including phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax and semantics. Includes coverage of various fields of linguistics including descriptive, historical, comparative, theoretical and geographical linguistics.
Indexes books and articles published on modern languages, literatures, folklore, and linguistics. Coverage includes journal articles, series, books, essay collections, working papers, proceedings, dissertations, and bibliographies.
Worldwide literature on the marine and brackish-water environment. Focuses on marine biology and physical oceanography, fisheries, aquaculture, non-living resources, meteorology and geology.
Portal to free, publicly-available DOE-sponsored R&D results including technical reports, bibliographic citations, journal articles, conference papers, books, multimedia and data information. OSTI.GOV was developed to increase access to science, technology, and engineering research information from DOE and its predecessor agencies.
Indexes research on population, family planning, reproductive health and related issues. Includes published and unpublished literature, including books and book chapters, journal articles, technical reports, conference papers, newspaper articles, theses and dissertations, and laws, bills and court decisions. Note: The full text ordering option is available only in developing countries.
Provides access to international literature in psychology, the behavioral sciences, and related disciplines from professional journals, book chapters, books, reports, and dissertations. Most citations include abstracts. In addition, there are millions of cited references in journal articles, books, and chapters.
Date Coverage: 1890 - present
Materials Indexed: Book Chapters; Book Reviews; Books; Journal Articles; Technical Reports; Theses & Dissertations
Citations and abstracts for millions of articles in medicine, life science, and health administration. Includes full contents of MEDLINE, plus "in process" citations for recent articles, and some additional references from life sciences journals.
Our listing provides users with additional functionality including “Get it at UC” links to full text of journals.
Users who do not have a UCSBnet ID and password can use the non-UC version of PubMed for searching.
Provides international coverage for all types of materials in the area of music. Covers historical musicology, ethnomusicology, instruments, voice, dance, music therapy, and other fields as they relate to music, including literature, dramatic arts, visual arts, anthropology, sociology, philosophy and physics.
New user? You must register for an account. Go to the SciFinder Registration Information page to begin. Commercial use of your University account is strictly prohibited. Searches Chemical Abstracts Service databases, including chemical substances, chemical reactions, chemical suppliers and references, with one of the largest collections in each area. Also provides unique full text access to a large collection of chemical patents via its PatentPak feature.
SciFindern allows searching by author, topic or chemical substance in the Chemical Abstracts Service databases:
SciFindern includes structure drawing tools for structure and substructure searching of chemicals and reactions, and similarity searching of organic compounds. It also provides a Retrosynthetic Plan tool to help you create synthetic paths to a desired substance.
A primary resource for accessing the latest research sponsored in sociology and related disciplines in the social and behavioral sciences. Draws information from an international selection of thousands of journals and other sources.
Covers thousands of research journals, and extensive collections of conference proceedings and books across hundreds of disciplines.
Web of Science consists of the following databases: