a research engine

28 Best Academic Search Engines That make your research easier

If you’re a researcher or scholar, you know that conducting effective online research is a critical part of your job. And if you’re like most people, you’re always on the lookout for new and better ways to do it. 

This article aims to give you an edge over researchers that rely mainly on Google for their entire research process.

Table of Contents

#1. Google Scholar

Google Scholar is an academic search engine that indexes the full text or metadata of scholarly literature across an array of publishing formats and disciplines.

#2. ERIC (Education Resources Information Center) 

ERIC (short for educational resources information center) is a great academic search engine that focuses on education-related literature. It is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education and produced by the Institute of Education Sciences. 

ERIC indexes over a million articles, reports, conference papers, and other resources on all aspects of education from early childhood to higher education. So, search results are more relevant to Education on ERIC. 

ERIC is a free online database of education-related literature. 

#3. Wolfram Alpha

Wolfram Alpha is a “computational knowledge engine” that can answer factual questions posed in natural language. It can be a useful search tool. 

Wolfram Alpha can also be used to find academic articles. Just type in your keywords and Wolfram Alpha will generate a list of academic articles that match your query.

#4. iSEEK Education 

iSEEK is a search engine targeting students, teachers, administrators, and caregiver. It’s designed to be safe with editor-reviewed content.

iSEEK Education is free to use.

#5. BASE (Bielefeld Academic Search Engine)

CORE is an academic search engine that focuses on open access research papers. A link to the full text PDF or complete text web page is supplied for each search result. It’s academic search engine dedicated to open access research papers.

You might also like:

#7. Science.gov

#8. semantic scholar, #9. refseek.

This is one of the free search engines that feels like Yahoo with a massive directory. It could be good when you are just looking for research ideas from unexpected angles. It could lead you to some other database that you might not know such as the CIA The World Factbook, which is a great reference tool.

#10. ResearchGate 

A mixture of social networking site + forum + content databases where researchers can build their profile, share research papers, and interact with one another.

#11. DataONE Search (formerly CiteULike) 

#12. dataelixir , #13. lazyscholar – browser extension, #14. citeseerx – digital library from penstate, #15. the lens – patents search , #16. fatcat – wiki for bibliographic catalog , #17. lexis web – legal database, #18. infotopia – part of the vlrc family, #19. virtual learning resources center, #21. worldwidescience.

Over 70 countries’ databases are used on the website. When a user enters a query, it contacts databases from all across the world and shows results in both English and translated journals and academic resources.

#22. Google Books

A user can browse thousands of books on Google Books, from popular titles to old titles, to find pages that include their search terms. You can look through pages, read online reviews, and find out where to buy a hard copy once you find the book you are interested in.

#23. DOAJ (Directory of Open Access Journals)

#24. baidu scholar, #25. pubmed central, #26. medline®.

MEDLINE® is a paid subscription database for life sciences and biomedicine that includes more than 28 million citations to journal articles. For finding reliable, carefully chosen health information, Medline Plus provides a powerful search tool and even a dictionary.

Defunct Academic Search Engines 

#27. microsoft academic  .

Microsoft Academic

#28. Scizzle

Final thoughts.

There are many academic search engines that can help researchers and scholars find the information they need. This list provides a variety of options, starting with more familiar engines and moving on to less well-known ones. 

10 thoughts on “28 Best Academic Search Engines That make your research easier”

Thank you so much Joannah..I have found this information useful to me as librarian in an academic library

You are welcome! We are happy to hear that!

Thank You Team, for providing a comprehensive list of academic search engines that can help make research easier for students and scholars. The variety of search engines included offers a range of options for finding scholarly articles, journals, and other academic resources. The article also provides a brief summary of each search engine’s features, which helps in determining which one is the best fit for a specific research topic. Overall, this article is a valuable resource for anyone looking for a quick and easy way to access a wealth of academic information.

We appreciate your support and thank you for your kind words. We will continue to provide valuable resources for students and researchers in the future. Please let us know if you have any further questions or suggestions.

No more questions Thank You

I cannot thank you enough!!! thanks alot 🙂

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Expontum – Helps researchers quickly find knowledge gaps and identify what research projects have been completed before. Expontum is free, open access, and available to all globally with no paid versions of the site. Automated processes scan research article information 24/7 so this website is constantly updating. By looking at over 35 million research publications (240 million by the end of 2023), the site has 146 million tagged research subjects and 122 million tagged research attributes. Learn more about methodology and sources on the Expontum About Page ( https://www.expontum.com/about.php )

Hey Ryan, I clicked and checked your site and thought it was very relevant to our reader. Thank you for sharing. And, we will be reviewing your site soon.

Sounds good! Thanks, Joannah!

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Best Academic Search Engines [2024]

Table of Contents

Gone are the days when researchers used to spend hours in the library skimming through endless reference books and resources. Now, thanks to academic search engines — with just a few clicks, researchers can access an extensive amount of information at their fingertips.

However, not all search engines are designed to make the research discovery process easier. It varies from one search engine to another, few might not have updated their database to the latest articles, while others might still provide older articles as a result of your search keyword or topic, and so on. This way, half of the researcher’s time is consumed shortlisting the best academic search engines.

Therefore, to help you choose the best search engine for academic research, we’ve crafted this blog. In this article, we will explore the best academic search engines available and why they are essential for scholars, researchers, and students alike.

Introduction to Academic Search Engines

Academic search engines are online repositories or databases that host millions of research articles and allow users to find relevant scholarly articles, research publications, conference proceedings, and other academic resources. Unlike web search engines like Google or Bing, these platforms are specifically designed to provide accurate, reliable, and relevant academic content.

These search engines often have advanced features that help users filter their search results based on specific criteria. For example, SciSpace helps you filter the results based on author, publication date, PDF, open-access, and more. In addition, it also provides citation information, abstracts, and full-text access to research papers and other scholarly literature, making them invaluable tools for scholars and researchers.

Academic search engines play a crucial role in the research process by providing scholars with easy access to relevant and reliable information. They save researchers valuable time by eliminating the need to sift through irrelevant search results and provide them with free access to a focused pool of academic resources.

With their advanced features and comprehensive coverage, these academic databases empower researchers to stay at the forefront of their fields and contribute to the advancement of knowledge.

Benefits of using reliable academic search engines for research

When it comes to academic research, using reliable search engines is of utmost importance. The credibility and quality of the sources you rely on can significantly impact the results of your research findings and conclusions.

Here are the potential advantages of using a popular search engine!

1. Reliable scholarly source: By using an academic search engine, researchers can ensure that the information they find is from reputable sources. These academic databases typically index content from scholarly journals, universities, research institutions, and other reliable and cited sources. As a result, the risk of using incorrect or biased information, which is prevalent on the open web, is significantly reduced.

2. Increased exposure to enormous articles: With a reliable academic search engine, you can access a vast array of scholarly articles and research publications. These search engines have extensive academic databases that include articles from various disciplines, including science and social sciences, allowing researchers to explore a wide range of topics and find relevant studies to support their research.

3. Advanced search filters: Reliable academic search engines often provide advanced search features that enable researchers to refine their search queries and narrow down the results to find the most relevant and latest information. These features may include filters for publication date, author, journal, and citation count, among others. By utilizing these advanced search terms and options, researchers can save time and effort by quickly finding the most pertinent resources.

4. Access full-text journal articles: Another advantage of using search engine for academic research is the ability to access full-text scientific articles. Many academic search engines provide direct links to the full text of articles, either freely available or through institutional subscriptions. This ensures that researchers can read and analyze the complete article, rather than relying on abstracts or TL;DR summaries.

5. Additional tools support: The most reliable search engines for research like SciSpace offer additional tools and features to enhance the research workflow. These may include citation generators, reference management systems, and options to save and organize search results. These tools can greatly facilitate the organization and the citation analysis of sources, making the research process more efficient and systematic.

Best search engines for research

Now that we’ve understood the importance of using reliable search engines for academic research, let's explore some of the best academic literature search engines available:

1. SciSpace

SciSpace is considered the best academic search engine that hosts and provides free access to a comprehensive index of 300 million+ scholarly articles from various fields. It utilizes advanced algorithms to provide users with highly relevant search results. Its intuitive and user-friendly interface makes it ideal for both novice and experienced researchers to navigate millions of research papers with no mess around.

One of the standout features of SciSpace is its “ Trace feature ” which allows users to find relevant research papers based on the preferred criteria including citation counts, related publications, references, authors, and more. It helps you land on the right research paper based on your preferences or research needs.

SciSpace is the only search engine that not only helps you discover relevant scholarly scientific literature but also allows you to read a research paper using its AI research assistant, conduct a literature review, and generate accurate citations for your research publications. It is an all-in-one platform that accelerates your research workflow with its AI-powered tools. You can explore all of them here

2. Google Scholar

Google Scholar is undoubtedly one of the popular search engines. With its vast database of scholarly literature, Google Scholar allows users to search for articles, theses, books, and conference papers across multiple academic disciplines. Google Scholar helps users save their search queries and set up email alerts for new publications in their field of interest. This ensures that researchers stay up-to-date with the latest developments in their respective fields.

PubMed is a go-to academic search engine for those in the field of medicine and life sciences. Developed by the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI), PubMed provides access to a vast collection of medicine, biomedical, health sciences, or literature, including journals, clinical trials, and scientific articles. Its meticulously curated articles makes it a trusted resource for medical professionals, scientists, researchers, and students alike.

Scopus is a comprehensive database of science that covers a wide range of scholarly literature across multiple disciplines. It offers a vast collection of peer reviewed articles, including publications, conference papers, and patents. With its extensive coverage and powerful search capabilities, Scopus is a valuable tool for researchers looking to explore the latest developments in their respective fields.

JSTOR is a repository that provides access to a vast collection of academic journals, books, and primary sources. Its interdisciplinary approach makes it a valuable resource for researchers across various fields of study.

6. IEEE Xplore

IEEE Xplore is a premier academic search engine for those in the fields of engineering, computer science, and technology. It provides access to a vast collection of technical articles, conference papers, and standards published by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE).

IEEE Xplore is a treasure trove of knowledge for researchers and engineers looking to stay at the forefront of technological advancements.

Criteria for choosing the best academic search engine

With so many free academic search engines to choose from, it can be challenging to determine which one is the best fit for your research needs. Here are some criteria to consider when selecting an academic search engine:

• Relevance: The search engine should provide highly relevant search results that are specific to your area of study.
• Database size: A larger database gives you access to a broader range of scientific literature.
• Advanced search capabilities: Look for search engines that offer advanced search filters, allowing you to refine your search based on specific criteria.
• User-friendly interface: A user-friendly interface makes it easier for researchers to navigate and retrieve the information they need efficiently.
• Accessibility: Consider the availability of full-text or PDF access to articles and the ease of obtaining the necessary permissions to cite or use the content.

In conclusion, academic search engines play a vital role in scholarly communication, facilitating efficient and reliable academic research. They provide scholars, researchers, and students with access to a vast array of scholarly articles, research papers, and other academic resources. By using the best academic search engines, researchers can ensure that their research is backed by evidence (accurate and trustworthy information).

While each search engine has its own unique features and strengths, the key is to choose the one that best aligns with your research needs and preferences. Remember to utilize advanced search filters, explore related articles and citations, and keep your research well-organized for maximum efficiency. As technology continues to advance, we can expect academic search engines to evolve and provide even more innovative solutions to the challenges faced in academic research.

So, embrace these powerful tools, explore the above-featured academic search engines, and let us know which tool you are clinging to!

Frequently Asked Questions

Google Scholar, SciSpace, PubMed, and JSTOR are widely used tools for academic research.

Academic search engineinvolves an in-depth examination of scholarly sources with a rigorous approach, while a Google search engine explores a wider range of web content, including non-academic sources, with varying levels of reliability.

They provide a comprehensive overview of existing research on diverse topics aiding researchers in conducting an efficient literature review without investing more time.

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Academic Databases

ERIC research database: complete tutorial

The ERIC database is the premier education literature database for scholarly research. This guide covers search types and strategies, filters, and full text options.

How to efficiently search online databases for academic research

Academic research isn't difficult if you know where and how to search for scholarly articles and research papers. Here's how to do it.

How to use Google Scholar: the ultimate guide

Google Scholar is the number one academic search engine. Our detailed guide covers best practices for basic and advanced search strategies in Google Scholar.

How to use PubMed: the ultimate guide

PubMed is the most popular search engine for biomedical sciences. Learn how to use PubMed, basic and advanced search strategies, and about its limitations and alternatives in this ultimate guide.

Is Google Scholar a database or search engine? [Update 2024]

Google Scholar is the number one free resource to discover scientific literature, but is it an academic database or a search engine?

The best academic research databases [Update 2024]

Your research is stuck and you need to find new sources? Take a look at our compilation of academic research databases: Scopus, Web of Science, PubMed, ERIC, JSTOR, DOAJ, Science Direct, and IEEE Xplore.

The best academic search engines [Update 2024]

Your research is stuck, and you need to find new sources. Take a look at our compilation of free academic search engines: ✓ Google Scholar ✓ BASE ✓ CORE ✓ Science.gov

The best research databases for computer science [Update 2024]

The top 4 research databases specifically dedicated to computer science: ✓ ACM Digital Library ✓ IEEE Xplore ✓ dbpl ✓ Springer LNCS

The best research databases for healthcare and medicine [Update 2024]

We have compiled the top list of research databases for healthcare, medicine, and biomedical research: PubMed, EMBASE, PMC, and Cochrane Library.

Bibliometrics

Learn how to calculate your h-index on Google Scholar

Learn how to calculate your h-index using Google Scholar online for free, and which tools to use for a detailed analysis.

Learn how to calculate your h-index using Scopus [3 steps]

Learn how to assess your h-index on Scopus in 3 easy steps.

Learn how to calculate your h-index using Web of Science

Learn how to calculate your h-index using Web of Science in 3 easy steps.

The ultimate how-to-guide on the h-index

Learn what an h-index is, how to calculate it, and why it is important to know about it for your career as a scientist.

What is a good h-index? [with examples]

Curious to know what a good h-index is? Read this guide to learn when an h-index is considered good.

What is a good impact factor?

Do you want to find out what a good impact factor is? Read this guide to learn what an impact factor is, how it is calculated, and what impact factor is considered good.

Credible Sources

Can a blog be a credible source? [Update 2024]

You want to add a blog post to your research paper? In general, blogs are not considered to be credible sources: ➜ check out these reasons to learn more about it.

How can I find credible sources? [7 tips]

Sometimes it is hard to determine whether a source is credible or not. Read our guide to help you find credible sources.

Is Wikipedia a credible source?

We all ❤ Wikipedia, but can you cite it in your research paper? No. Wikipedia is not a credible source, and here is why you should only use it for preliminary research.

What are credible sources?

Credible sources are sources that are trustworthy and can be used as references in your academic papers. This guide will help you identify and evaluate sources for their credibility.

What are predatory journals?

This day and age, you have to be careful where you submit your work for publication. This article helps you spot a predatory journal and has tips and tricks on what to do if you accidentally submitted to one.

Primary and Secondary Sources

Interviews: are they a primary source?

Interviews can add tremendously to your research project. Read on to quickly learn when an interview is considered a primary source.

Is a documentary a secondary source? [with examples]

You are not sure if a documentary is a secondary source? We show you when and why is a documentary either a secondary or a tertiary source.

Is a letter a primary source?

Letters are frequently used in historical research. Read on to see when a letter qualifies as a primary source.

Is a map a primary source? [with examples]

Are you not sure if a map is a primary source? This guide will show you when and why a map is a primary or a secondary source.

Is a painting a primary source? [with examples]

Are you unsure if a painting is a primary source? This guide will show you when and why a painting is either a primary or a secondary source.

Is a textbook a secondary source?

Are you unsure if a textbook is a secondary source? Learn in this guide when and why a textbook is either a primary, secondary, or tertiary source.

Is an autobiography a primary source?

Are you not sure if an autobiography is a primary source? We show you when and why an autobiography is either a primary or secondary source.

Is an encyclopedia a primary source?

Are you unsure if an encyclopedia is a primary source? Find your answer and learn the right way to reference an encyclopedia in this guide.

Is census data a primary source?

You are not sure if census data is a primary source? We will show you when and why census data is a primary source and where to get it.

Is the US Constitution a primary source?

Are you wondering if the US Constitution is a primary source? Find the answer to your question in this guide.

Newspaper articles: primary or secondary sources?

Learn what questions to ask to see if a newspaper article really qualifies as a primary source.

Primary vs. secondary sources: how to distinguish them

Primary and secondary sources are the foundations of every research project. Learn about their differences and when to use them.

What is a primary source?

Primary sources are the most important sources when undertaking a research project. We answer the 5 most asked questions about primary sources.

What is a secondary source?

Secondary sources are your starting point when undertaking a research project. We answer the 5 most asked questions about secondary sources.

Research Methodology

How to do a content analysis [7 steps]

Content analysis is a research method you might come across when analyzing data. Learn what a content analysis is and how to do one in this step-by-step guide.

How to do a thematic analysis [6 steps]

A thematic analysis is a research method you might come across when analyzing qualitative data. Learn what a thematic analysis is and how to write one in this step-by-step guide.

How to write a rhetorical analysis [4 steps]

A rhetorical analysis explores the goals and motivations of an author, the techniques they’ve used to reach their audience, and how successful these techniques were. Learn how to write an excellent rhetorical analysis in this guide.

Qualitative vs. quantitative research - what’s the difference?

Qualitative and quantitative research are effective but very different approaches to study a subject. Learn the difference between them, what they are used for, and how to analyze qualitative and quantitative research in this guide.

What is research methodology? [Update 2024]

Having the right research methodology can be a make-or-break factor for your academic work. What is research methodology, and how can you get ahead?

Scholarly Sources

How to find a DOI [Update 2024]

Are you not sure where to find a DOI? Read this guide to learn exactly where to spot DOIs, and how to include them in your citations!

How to identify if a source is scholarly

Not sure if it is a scholarly source? Looking at these 6 identifiers can help differentiate scholarly from non-scholarly articles.

How to know if an article is peer reviewed [6 key features]

You don't know exactly what 'peer reviewed' articles are? Read this guide to learn all about peer reviewed articles, their features, and how to find them!

Is a book a scholarly source? [with checklist]

Sometimes it can be difficult to distinguish scholarly from non-scholarly books. This guide will help you with that. Learn how to identify scholarly books by following our simple guidelines.

What are peer reviewed journals? [Update 2024]

You don't know exactly what 'peer review' means? Read this guide to clear your doubts, and learn more about peer reviewed articles, its process and types!

What is a DOI [with examples]

What is a DOI? Learn what a digital object identifier is and how to include a DOI in APA and other styles.

What is a scholarly source?

Are you wondering what a scholarly source is and what makes it a scholarly source? Learn all about it in this guide, including what elements a scholarly source generally contains.

What is grey literature? [with examples]

Wondering what is grey literature and how to find it? Find all things grey literature in this quick and easy guide filled with sources for grey literature.

A free, AI-powered research tool for scientific literature

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New & Improved API for Developers

Introducing semantic reader in beta.

Stay Connected With Semantic Scholar Sign Up What Is Semantic Scholar? Semantic Scholar is a free, AI-powered research tool for scientific literature, based at Ai2.

The Top 100 Search Engines For Academic Research

From science databases to document collections and more, here are 100 of the best search engines for academic research.

What Are The Top 100 Search Engines For Academic Research?

by TeachThught Staff

Need to get started with a more broad search? These academic search engines are great resources.

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ResearchGate

Access over 135 million publication pages and stay up to date with what’s happening in most professional fields.

With more than 1 billion documents, web pages, books, journals, newspapers, and more, RefSeek offers authoritative resources in just about any subject, without all of the mess of sponsored links and commercial results.

Digital Library of the Commons Repository

Check out the DLC to find international literature including free and open access full-text articles, papers, and dissertations.

Microsoft Academic Search

Microsoft’s academic search engine offers access to more than 38 million different publications, with features including maps, graphing, trends, and paths that show how authors are connected.

Google Trends

Google’s super cool search tool will allow you to find searches that correlate with real-world data.

WolframAlpha

Using expert-level knowledge, this search engine doesn’t just find links; it answers questions, does analysis, and generates reports.

BASE is one of the world’s most voluminous search engines, especially for academic web resources. BASE provides more than 200 million documents from more than 8,000 content providers. You can access the full texts of about 60% of the indexed documents for free (Open Access). BASE is operated by Bielefeld University Library.

Databases and Archives

Resources like the Library of Congress have considerable archives and documents available, and many of them have taken their collections online. Use these search tools to get access to these incredible resources.

Library of Congress

In this incredible library, you’ll get access to searchable source documents, historical photos, and amazing digital collections.

Archives Hub

Find the best of what Britain has to offer in the Archives Hub. You’ll be able to search archives from almost 200 institutions from England, Scotland, and Wales.

National Archives

Check out this resource for access to the National Archives. Find online, public access to find historic documents, research, government information, and more in a single search.

arXiv ePrint Archive

Cornell University’s arXiv.org offers open access to a wealth of e-prints in math, science, and related subjects. Search this resource to find what you need among 1,772,647 documents and counting.

National Agricultural Library

A service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, you can find global information for agriculture in the National Agricultural Library.

Smithsonian Institution Research Information System

Get access to the considerable resources of the Smithsonian Institution through the Research Information System, a great way to search more than 7.4 million records from the Smithsonian’s museums, archives, and libraries.

The British Library Catalogues & Collection

Explore the British Library catalogs, printed materials, digital collections, and even collection blogs for a wealth of resources.

CIA World Factbook

As the center of intelligence, the CIA has certainly done its job with The World Factbook, offering information on major reference information around the world. History, people, government, economy, and more are all covered in this online publication.

State Legislative Websites Directory

Use this database to find information from the legislatures of all 50 U.S. states, DC, and the Territories. You can look up bills, statutes, legislators, and more with this excellent tool.

Catalog of U.S. Government Publications

Search through the Catalog of U.S. Government Publications to find descriptive records for historical and current publications, with direct links where available.

iSEEK Education

iSeek is an excellent targeted search engine, designed especially for students, teachers, administrators, and caregivers. Find authoritative, intelligent, and time-saving resources in a safe, editor-reviewed environment with iSEEK.

Books & Journals

Instead of heading to the library to bury your face in the stacks, use these search engines to find out which libraries have the books you need, and maybe even find them available online.

Google Scholar

Check out Google Scholar to find only scholarly resources on Google. The search specializes in articles, patents, and legal documents, and even has a resource for gathering your citations.

Microsoft Academic

Microsoft Academic is a semantic academic search engine powered by Microsoft Academic Graph (MAG) data and Microsoft Academic Knowledge Exploration Service (MAKES) hosted API’s.

Find items from 10,000 libraries worldwide, with books, DVDs, CDs, and articles up for grabs. You can even find your closest library with WorldCat’s tools.

Google Books

Supercharge your research by searching this index of the world’s books. You’ll find millions for free and others you can preview to find out if they’re what you’re looking for.

Science Direct

For scientific information only, Scirus is a comprehensive research tool with more than 460 million scientific items including journal content, courseware, patents, educational websites, and more.

Open Library

Find the world’s classic literature, open e-books, and other excellent open and free resources in the Open Library. You can even contribute to the library with information, corrections to the catalog, and curated lists.

Bioline International

Search Bioline International to get connected with a variety of scientific journals. The search is managed by scientists and librarians as a collaborative initiative between Bioline Toronto and the Reference Center on Environmental Information.

Directory of Open Access Journals

When you need top-quality journal writings for free, the Directory of Open Access Journals is a great place to check out. You’ll get access to a searchable journal of full-text quality controlled scientific and scholarly journals.

In this curated academic search engine, you’ll get results from over 4,000 free scholarly e-journals in the arts and humanities.

With a focus on science, these academic search engines return all-science, all the time.

Science.gov

In this government science portal, you can search more than 60 databases and 2,200 selected websites across more than 200 million pages and 12 federal agencies. This is an incredible resource for millions of pages of U.S. government science information.

CERN Document Server

This organization for nuclear research serves up a great search and directory for experiments, archives, articles, books, presentations, and so much more within their documents.

WorldWideScience

Use WorldWideScience.org as a global science gateway, offering excellent search results in the sciences, and even the option to select specific databases and find resources in your own language.

Math & Technology

Keep your results limited to only the best math and technology resources by using these search engines.

ZMATH Online Database

Zentralblatt MATH’s online database has millions of entries from thousands of serials and journals dating back as far as 1826. Nearly 35,000 items were added in 2012 alone.

This database was made for scientists and engineers by the Institution of Engineering and Technology. You’ll find nearly 13 million abstracts and research literature, primarily in the fields of physics and engineering.

The Collection of Computer Science Bibliographies

Find more than 3 million references to journal articles, conference papers, and technical reports in computer science with this bibliography collection.

Social Science

Researchers working in the fields of psychology, anthropology, and related subjects will find great results using these search engines.

Behavioral Brain Science Archive

Check out this searchable archive to find extensive psychology and brain science articles.

Social Science Research Network

In this research network, you can find a wide variety of social science research from a number of specialized networks including cognitive science, leadership, management, and social insurance.

Social Sciences Citation Index

The Thomson Reuters Social Sciences Citation Index is a paid tool, but well worth its cost for the wealth of relevant articles, search tools, and thorough resources available.

Search the languages of the world with Ethnologue, offering an encyclopedic reference of all the world’s known living languages. You’ll also be able to find more than 28,000 citations in the Ethnologue’s language research bibliography.

Find awesome resources for history through these search engines that index original documents, sources, and archives.

David Rumsey Historical Map Collection

Use the LUNA Browser to check out David Rumsey’s Map Collection with more than 30,000 images, searchable by keyword.

Find excellent sources for women’s history with the Genesis dataset and extensive list of web resources.

Get access to historical military records through Fold3, the web’s premier collection of original military records and memorials.

Internet Modern History Sourcebook

Use the Internet Modern History Sourcebook to find thousands of sources in modern history. Browse and search to find full texts, multimedia, and more.

Library of Anglo-American Culture and History

Use the history guide from the Library of Anglo-American Culture and History for a subject catalog of recommended websites for historians, with about 11,000 to choose from.

Internet Ancient History Sourcebook

The Internet Ancient History Sourcebook is a great place to study human origins, with full text and search on topics including Mesopotamia, Rome, the Hellenistic world, Late Antiquity, and Christian origins.

History Engine

In this tool for collaborative education and research, students can learn history by researching, writing, and publishing, creating a collection of historical articles in U.S. history that can be searched for here by scholars, teachers, and the general public.

Business and Economics

Using these search engines, you’ll get access to business publications, journal articles, and more.

Virtual Library Labour History

Maintained by the International Institute of Social History, Amsterdam, this library offers historians excellent content for learning about economics, business, and more.

Visit EconLit to access more than 120 years of economics literature from around the world in an easily searchable format. Find journal articles, books, book reviews, articles, working papers, and dissertations, as well as historic journal articles from 1886 to 1968.

National Bureau of Economic Research

On this site, you can learn about and find access to great resources in economic research.

Research Papers in Economics

Find research in economics and related sciences through the RePEc, a volunteer-maintained bibliographic database of working papers, articles, books, and even software components with more than 1.2 million research pieces.

Corporate Information

Perfect for researching companies, Corporate Information offers an easy way to find corporate financial records.

Economists will enjoy this excellent site for finding economics resources, including jobs, courses, and even conferences.

Google Finance

Easily look up stocks with this search engine to monitor the stock market and your portfolio.

EDGAR Search

The SEC requires certain disclosures that can be helpful to investors, and you can find them all here in this helpful, next-generation system for searching electronic investment documents.

Other Niches

Find even more specialized information in these niche search engines.

From the U.S. National Library of Medicine, PubMed is a great place to find full-text medical journal articles, with more than 19 million available.

Find reliable, authoritative information for legal search with the Lexis site.

Circumpolar Health Bibliographic Database

Visit this database to find more than 6,300 records relating to human health in the circumpolar region.

Education Resources Information Center

In the ERIC Collection, you’ll find bibliographic records of education literature, as well as a growing collection of full-text resources.

MedlinePlus

A service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine, Medline Plus offers a powerful search tool and even a dictionary for finding trusted, carefully chosen health information.

Semantic Scholar

A free, AI-powered research tool for scientific literature.

Artcyclopedia

Search Artcyclopedia to find everything there is to know about fine art, with 160,000 links, 9,000 artists listed, and 2,900 art sites indexed.

Get connected with great reference material through these search tools.

Merriam-Webster Dictionary and Thesaurus

Use this online dictionary and thesaurus to quickly find definitions and synonyms.

References.net

Through References.net, you can get connected with just about every reference tool available, from patents to almanacs.

Need the right thing to say? Check out Quotes.net to reference famous words from famous people.

The Literary Encyclopedia

A library and search database for literature and literary books and documents.

CORE’s mission is to aggregate all open access research outputs from repositories and journals worldwide and make them available to the public. In this way, CORE facilitates free unrestricted access to research for all.

More Academic Search Engines

Africa Journals Online

United States Department of Agriculture: National Agricultural Library

Anthropological Index Online

Analytical Sciences Digital Library

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100 Search Engines For Academic Research

Do you want to start with a broader search? These best academic search engines are excellent information sources and can be a valuable resource whether you're doing academic or scientific research.

Some academic search engines provide the most reliable resources, covering many subjects. They provide information on various topics and a one-stop-shop for all research-related requirements.

Furthermore, they provide a personalized and tailored search method for study materials.

List of Academic Research Search Engines

General search engines .

Do you want to begin with a more general search? These general academic search engines are unique.

RefSeek - Academic Search Engine : RefSeek is a free online search engine for students and scholars to find academic information. It scans over 5 billion documents per year, including IP backlinks in directories, PDF files, and presentations.

Virtual Learning Resources Center : The Virtual LRC indexes thousands of top academic information websites selected by instructors and library specialists worldwide to provide students and teachers with current, correct content for school and university educational projects! It offers information and links to websites about art, social sciences, social concerns, social problems, history, and other topics.

Digital Library of the Commons Repository : This is a portal to the international commons literature. This website contains a Working Paper Archive of author-submitted articles, a full-text Digital Library, and links to relevant reference sources on commons research.

The OAIster Database - Catalog of open access resources : OAIster is a catalog that contains millions of records representing open access educational resources. The Open Archives Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting collected data from open access collections worldwide to construct this catalog (OAI-PMH). OAIster now has over 50 million entries from over 2,000 authors representing digital resources.

Internet Public Library : The majority of people who work on the Internet Public Library are students. It is a non-profit website managed primarily by students. Visitors may request assistance, which will be provided by volunteer librarians and graduate students in library and information science. Writing essays, research papers, and term papers is, without a doubt, an essential aspect of academic work.

ResearchGate : It is a commercial social networking site in Europe where academics and researchers may share articles, ask and answer questions, and find peers. This is the best resource for researchers, with 135+ million publication pages, 20+ million researchers, and 1+ million inquiries.

Google Trends : Google Trends is a Google website that evaluates the popularity of top search queries in Google Search across multiple countries and languages. The website employs graphs to compare the search volume of various keywords over time.

BASE : BASE is one of the most comprehensive search engines globally, especially for academic websites. Over 240 million papers from over 8,000 content providers are stored in the BASE, with full texts available (Open Access). BASE is managed by the Bielefeld University Library.

Microsoft Academic : Microsoft Academic is the most effective search engine for academic research that geared researchers towards academics. They provide an alternative approach for constructing summary pages for each indexed document, allowing users to browse fast. It has about 47 million papers distributed by more than 20 million writers. Many publications and research papers are stored in the search engine, ranging from software engineering and design to sociology and science.

Meta Search Engines

Do you want the best of everything? Use these metasearch engines to get results from numerous sites at once.

Dogpile : Dogpile is a Popular metasearch engine that retrieves results from Google, Yahoo!, Yandex, Bing, and other famous search engines, including audio and video content providers like Yahoo!

Gigablast - An Alternative Web Search Engine : Gigablast is a free and open-source metasearch engine that is free and open source. Gigablast claimed to have ordered over 12 billion pages each month and got billions of queries. Other firms such as Ixquick, Clusty, Zuula, Snap, Blingo, and Internet Archive have used Gigablast to organize search results.

My Excite : Excite (also spelled energize) is a web-based interface that offers a variety of content, including news and weather, electronic email, texting, stock quotes, and an adjustable client landing page. IAC Applications (previously Mindspark) and Excite Networks are currently being worked on. For a long time in the United States, the primary Excite site was a single starting page called My Excite.

Sputtr - Many Search Options, One Place : Sputtr is the most well-known meta-search engine that includes an element that allows us to design our search page landing page. This meta-search engine will enable us to search faster. This returns excellent results from various search engines and websites, including Google Image Search, Google Web Search, YouTube, Dailymotion, Google News, Facebook, Twitter, IMDb, Slashdot, About.com, and the New York Times, among others.

WebCrawler Search : WebCrawler, a metasearch engine, is the most well-known and long-lasting web search tool on the market today. WebCrawler is the leading search engine that lets people search for full-text information. By applying a hunt calculation to data gathered by web crawlers, web search tools can give essential connections to people who search for things like this. This creates a set of website pages that appear when a user searches on Google or Bing, for example (or another internet searcher).

FuzzFind Web Trends : FuzzFind is a web-based metasearch engine mashup that combines user-friendly search engine results (Google, Bing, and Yahoo!) with social bookmarking sites (del.icio.us) and real-time online trends from Twitter, Google News, and Digg.

SurfWax - Practical Tools for Harnessing Today's Information : The meta-search engine provides site snaps,' which are real-time page summaries. Those who sign up for a free account can choose from a list of hundreds of search sources.

Whonu - Order delicious food from approved people nearby : Whonu is a flash-based internet search/discovery application that harnesses the power of many search engines. It creates a new marketplace where anyone can prepare healthy, delicious, environmentally friendly meals and easily find nearby customers.

MetaCrawler : It is a free search engine for finding information on the internet. This web educational resource is for Meta index searches through Google, Yahoo!, Bing, Ask, MIVA, etc. This engine can help you find data, photos, recordings, news, yellow pages listings, and white pages listings.

Databases and Archives Resources

Use these search tools to access the database and best archives resources.

Archives Hub : Search through archive collections held in the United Kingdom. These one-of-a-kind primary sources help us comprehend and interpret our history, culture, and identity.

National Archives : The National Archives houses historical U.S. government documents (federal, congressional, and presidential records) created or received by the President and his staff, Congress, employees of Federal government agencies, and the Federal courts in the course of their official duties. 

arXiv e-Print Archive : ArXiv is a public server repository that hosts electronic e-prints from physics, mathematics, computer science, quantitative biology, quantitative finance, statistics, electrical engineering, systems science, and economics research.

National Agricultural Library : The National Agricultural Library contains one of the most comprehensive agricultural and related sciences collections globally. The NAL Digital Collections offers powerful search, browsing, and retrieval options for digital documents and collections, as well as reliable, long-term online access to selected publications.

Smithsonian Institution Research Information System : The Smithsonian Institution is the largest museum and research complex. While the Smithsonian's museums are prominent and well-known, its many study centers devoted to art, astronomy, endangered species, environmental sciences, history, marine biology, item conservation, and tropical biology are less well-known.

The British Library Catalogues & Collections : The British Library's collection includes books, journals, manuscripts, maps, stamps, music, patents, photographs, newspapers, and sound. Many of the digital collections provide material for free online.

CIA World Factbook : The Central Intelligence Agency of the United States publishes the World Factbook once a year (CIA). Profiles can be accessed by country and contain information on the history, people, government, economy, geography, communications, transportation, military, and transnational issues for 267 global entities.

State Legislative Websites Directory : This database contains information from the home pages and websites of the 50 state legislatures, the District of Columbia, and the territories. You can choose to examine specific website content resources (such as bills, press rooms, and statutes) from one state at a time. 

Books & Journals Search Engines

Instead of going to the library and burying your face in the stacks, use these search engines to find out which libraries have the books you need and perhaps even discover them available online.

WorldCat.org - The World's Largest Library Catalog : WorldCat is a union catalog that archives the collections of 15,637 libraries in 107 countries members of the OCLC global cooperative. Subscribing members of libraries collectively maintain WorldCat's database, the world's largest bibliographic database.

Google Books : Google Books is a Google service that searches the full text of books and magazines that Google has scanned, converted to text using optical character recognition, and stored in its digital database.

Elsevier : It is a global information analytics organization that works with institutions and people to promote science, advance healthcare, and improve performance.

VADLO : It is a search engine for laboratory methods, techniques, protocols, molecular databases and bioinformatic tools, commercial products, kits, and powerpoints.

Open Library : Open Library is an online project intended to create "one web page for every book ever published." Open Library is a project of the Internet Archive, a nonprofit organization.

Google Scholar : Google Scholar can be described among the best-ever specialized research search engines designed for scholarly works and academic resources. It is not just a way to access free research papers covering all subjects of academic study and disciplines but also provides full-text PDF files. Google Scholar provides an easy method to find academic archives extensively. Many teachings and other materials such as proposals, articles, books, sentiments, and other materials from the courts, professional social orders, online retailers, universities, and many other institutions you can find all in one location.

Bioline International : Bioline is one of the most trusted and authentic search engines, with peer-reviewed academic journals on public health, food and nutritional security, food and medicine, and biodiversity. It offers free access to peer-reviewed journals from third-world countries.

Directory of Open Access Journals : DOAJ is a community-curated online directory that indexes and provides access to high-quality, open access, peer-reviewed scholarly journals.

Jurn : Jurn is a free online research search engine that allows you to find and download free full-text scholarly articles. Millions of free academic articles, chapters, and theses on Arts, Humanities, Business, Law, Nature, Science, Medicine, and other areas are available.

Infotopia : Infotopia is a search engine for students, teachers, and homeschoolers who want to find information about the school. It was created by librarians and used a Google custom search to find websites that have already been checked out by librarians, teachers, and other educational professionals. 

LexisNexis : LexisNexis is a company that sells data mining platforms through web portals, computer-assisted legal research, and information about many people worldwide who buy things. LexisNexis started making legal and journalistic materials more available online so more people could read them. 

Science & Scholar Search Engines

SciSeek : SciSeek is the Internet's first and most comprehensive science search engine. SciSeek examines millions of science-related Web pages and offers only the most relevant results.

SciCentral : SciCentral editors have been aggregating breaking research news from the most reputable and reliable sources. Over 700 other websites refer to SciCentral as a reliable source of information.

Strategian : The goal of Strategian.com and the Science Primary Literature database is to assist you in becoming aware of, obtaining, and critically assessing the information that helps you understand science (the world’s physical, technological, and psychological forces) and how it impacts your life.

Science.gov : Science.gov serves as a gateway to the United States government's scientific and technical information and research using federated search technology.

CERN Document Server : CERN Document Server is a repository for CERN's scientific output (articles, preprints, reports, CERN Annual reports, Yellow Reports, CERN Bulletin, etc.). The CERN Library Catalogue contains books, proceedings, standards, and periodicals. Preprints, articles, books, journals, photographs, and much more are all included.

Analytical Sciences Digital Library : The Analytical Sciences Digital Library (ASDL) is a collection of electronic resources for teachers, students, and practitioners interested in chemical measurements and instrumentation. The NSDL is an online library for education and research in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.

Baidu Scholar : Baidu Research is the institution's research division of Baidu. Baidu Research has offices in both Silicon Valley and Beijing, focusing on fundamental research in artificial intelligence.

Semantic Scholar : Its goal is to provide more relevant and impactful search results by utilizing AI-powered algorithms that discover hidden connections and links between research topics. Semantic scholar building for scholars to keep you up to date with scientific literature is an increasingly pressing challenge for scholars.

CORE : The CORE is an academic search engine that focuses on open access research articles. A link to the full-text PDF or full-text web page is supplied for each search result.

GetCITED : GetCITED is a website database that lists publication and citation information on academic articles that members enter. It aims to include not only journal articles but also book chapters and other peer-reviewed and non-peer-reviewed publications.

PLOS ONE : PLOS ONE is one of the best educational search engines for students, offering a free platform for scientific information. All publications published on PLOS ONE have gone through a strict peer-review process. This academic database has a meticulous procedure for publishing a journal. You can find plenty of articles and scholarly publications using this platform.

BioOne : BioOne is a nonprofit publisher that aims to make scientific research more accessible through a growing portfolio of products such as its full-text aggregation, BioOne Complete, and open-access journal, Elementa: Science of the Anthropocene.

Science and Technology of Advanced Materials : Science and Technology of Advanced Materials is the leading open access, an international journal covering a broad spectrum of materials science research, including functional materials, synthesis, processing, theoretical analyses, characterization, and properties of materials.

New Journal of Physics : The New Journal of Physics is an online-only, open-access, peer-reviewed scientific journal that covers research in all areas of physics and interdisciplinary topics with physics as a central theme.

Math & Technology Search Engines

MathGuide : MathGuide is an Internet-based subject gateway to scholarly relevant mathematics information located at the Lower Saxony State- and University Library in Göttingen (Germany). A set of Dublin Core metadata is used to describe and assess resources.

ZMATH Online Database : zbMATH Open (formerly known as Zentralblatt MATH) is the world's most comprehensive and longest-running abstracting and reviewing service in pure and applied mathematics. zbMATH Open provides easy access to bibliographic data, reviews, and abstracts from all areas of pure mathematics and applications, particularly natural sciences, computer science, economics, and engineering.

Inspec : Inspec is a significant indexing database of scientific and technical literature published by the Institution of Engineering and Technology, formerly by the Institution of Electrical Engineers, one of the IET's forerunners. Inspec has extensive coverage in physics, computing, control, and engineering.

The Collection of Computer Science Bibliographies : This is a collection of bibliographies of scientific literature in computer science from various sources, covering most aspects of computer science. The bibliographies are updated weekly.

Symbolab : Symbolab is an advanced math education tool. It enables users to learn, practice, and explore math topics by utilizing mathematical symbols, scientific notations, and text. Symbolab gives automatic step-by-step solutions to algebraic, trigonometric, and calculus courses ranging from middle school to college.

Top Marks : Topmarks saves teachers and parents time searching for the best inspirational and educational web resources. They only feature the best educational websites, saving you time searching the web and giving you and your students secure access to high-quality, free teaching and learning resources.

Safe Search Engines For Kids

Here are the most refined safe search engines for kids to use when conducting their searches.

Kidtopia : Kidtopia is a Google bespoke student-safe search engine for preschool and elementary pupils that indexes only educator-approved websites.

Famhoo : Famhoo works with families, schools, businesses, churches, cities, and other groups to make the internet a better place. If you'd like to learn more about how Famhoo can help you or your business make the site safer. 

DOGOnews : DOGO News is a website that provides articles about current events. Each item comes with quizzes and questions assigned online or printed with the Pro subscription. These aid in evaluating reading comprehension, critical thinking, vocabulary and parts of speech, and general content.

DinoSearch : DinoSearch is recommended for children at school and at home since it uses SafeSearch and keyword filtering to block adult images, webpages, and videos.

Classhook : ClassHook is a collaborative area that curates two- to six-minute video excerpts from famous television shows and movies, as well as partially constructed mini-lessons to supplement education. Many videos are tagged by topic, and many cover many themes.

Lesson Planet : Lesson Planet provides teacher-reviewed resources for teachers and parents. Its products are intended to supplement traditional and non-traditional schooling from kindergarten to the 12th grade.

Social Science Search Engines

We've compiled a list of intriguing search engines perfect for people conducting social science research. These search engines will provide excellent results for researchers studying psychology, anthropology, and related topics.

Social Science Research Network : SSRN is devoted to the rapid worldwide dissemination of research and comprises several specialized research networks.

Behavioral Brain Science Archive : BBS is an internationally renowned journal with an innovative format known as Open Peer Commentary. Researchers in psychology, neuroscience, behavioral biology, or cognitive science is particularly significant and controversial work.

SocioSite : SocioSite is designed to access information and resources relevant to sociologists and other social scientists. It gives access to the worldwide scene of social sciences.

The SocioWeb : The SocioWeb is an independent guide to the sociological resources available on the Internet, and it can help unite the sociological community in powerful ways.

WikiArt : Wikiart.org is the best website for finding art online. You can find paintings and photos in a searchable image database that includes artist biographies and their work. Online, WikiArt is a visual art encyclopedia that anyone can change. 

Encyclopedia of Psychology : The Encyclopedia of Psychology will be the first place to go for authoritative information on every aspect of the field — as well as answers to thousands of questions about concepts, methods, theories, findings, significant figures, schools of thought, and emerging areas of interest.

Political Information : It is an indispensable resource for journalists, political professionals, students, and political junkies worldwide. The search engine contains an index of the contents of over 5000 websites chosen for the quality of their content. The most recent re-indexing run included over 278,000 separate web documents.

History Search Engines

This fantastic assortment of academic search engines has been created exclusively for history professors. Using these search engines, you will hunt for and find resources and things to use in your classroom with your students. These resources include genuine historical documents, maps, pictures, records, memorials, primary source materials, interactive timelines, and much more.

David Rumsey Historical Map Collection :  The LUNA Viewer is the primary tool for viewing the map collection. Users can browse the entire online collection of over 111,000 images or search by keyword.

Fold3 : Fold3 offers premier collections of original military records. These records contain the stories, photos, and personal documents of the men and women who served in the military. Many of the records come from the National Archives of the United States, the National Archives of the United Kingdom, and other international archives.

Internet Modern History Sourcebook : The Internet Modern History Sourcebook is one of a series of history primary source books. To present a diversity of source material in modern European, American, and Latin American history, as well as a significant amount of material pertinent to world cultures and global studies.

Library of Anglo-American Culture and History : The Library of Anglo-American Culture & History (Library AAC) not only provides literature, information, and traditional scholarly resources to scholars, but it also provides publication and self-archiving services through its repository.

Digital History : The use of digital media to further historical analysis, presentation, and research is referred to as digital history. It is a subfield of the digital humanities and an extension of quantitative history, cliometrics, and computing.

Related Engine : The History Engine is a collection of thousands of historical "episodes" that paint a broad portrait of the past and are freely available to scholars, teachers, and the general public. These episodes are written by students from a variety of colleges and universities.

NoodleTools : NoodleTools is an online research management software that encourages critical thinking and real research. Stay organized while analyzing information, creating appropriate citations, archive source material, take notes, outline ideas, and prepare to write.

Discovering American Women’s History Online : This database gives access to digitized collections of original documents (pictures, letters, diaries, artifacts, and so on) that trace the history of women in the United States. The database includes the following features: Detailed descriptions and connections to over 700 digital collections.

The Smithsonian Folklife and Oral History Interviewing Guide : This booklet provides suggestions for gathering folklore and oral history from family and community members.

Fact Monster : Fact Monster is a free reference service for kids, teachers, and parents. Get homework help and facts on thousands of topics, including sports, entertainment, geography, history, biography, education, and health.

The Research Guide : The Research Guide provides dozens of how-to and citation guidelines, thousands of sample essays, and other resources for producing a paper.

Art History Resources on the Web : AHTR is home to a constantly evolving and jointly published online archive of art history teaching content, including but not limited to lesson plans, video introductions to museums, book reviews, picture clusters, and classroom and museum activities.

Voice of the Shuttle : The Voice of the Shuttle (VoS) is an Internet subject gateway for humanities and historical and socio sites to help you become an internet researcher . The website's media studies page includes sections on media theory and history, journalism, TV, cinema and video, CD-ROMs, popular music, radio, comics, Internet broadcast media, and telecom issues. You have the option of submitting a resource.

Business and Economics Search Engines

Using these search engines, you may find business publications, journal articles, and other information.

EconLit : EconLit is an academic literature abstracting database service provided by the American Economic Association. It includes papers and other materials dating back to 1969. It uses JEL classification codes to categorize documents by subject.

Corporate Information : Corporate Information is perfect for researching companies; corporate Information offers an easy way to find corporate financial records.

Web of Science : The Web of Science provides a standard search language, navigation environment, and data structure that enables researchers to search broadly across heterogeneous resources and leverage the citation links inherent in the index to navigate to relevant research findings and quantify the effect.

EconBiz : EconBiz provides orientation and assistance in searching articles for students, researchers, and educators, working papers, e-books, and other resources. Lists of results can be sorted by relevance or date.

JournalTOCs : JournalTOCs is the largest free collection of scientific journal Tables of Contents (TOCs): 33,235 journals from 3530 publishers, including 16,547 chosen Open Access journals and 11,914 Hybrid journals. JournalTOCs is a resource for researchers, students, librarians, and anybody looking for the most recent scientific articles.

Virtual Library Labour History : The International Institute of Social History maintains the WWW Virtual Library's Labour History department, part of the WWW VL History Network. They aim to help labor historians in a broad sense. They bring together archives, libraries, document centers, museums, and research institutions specializing in heritage, history, and labor theory.

National Bureau of Economic Research : The National Bureau of Economic Research is a private, nonprofit research organization based in the United States "dedicated to conducting and disseminating unbiased economic research among public policymakers, business professionals, and academics.

Research Papers in Economics : RePEc (Research Papers in Economics) is a collaborative effort of hundreds of volunteers in 102 countries to disseminate research in Economics and related sciences. The heart of the project is a decentralized bibliographic database of working papers, journal articles, books, book chapters, and software components, all maintained by volunteers.

Inomics : Inomics assists students and researchers in Economics, Business, and Social Sciences in locating the best Academic and Research Jobs, Scholarships, Careers, and Study Guidance to help students reach their academic and professional researcher goals.

DailyStocks : It is a website that searches the stock market. Separately, Daily Stocks Pro is a sophisticated stock analysis application that filters the whole stock market to assist consumers in capturing key market moves.

EDGAR Search : EDGAR (Electronic Data Gathering, Analysis, and Retrieval) is the Securities and Exchange Commission's online public database (SEC). EDGAR automates the collecting, validation, indexing, acceptance, and sending submissions by firms and individuals obliged by law to file forms with the SEC.

Science Direct : A full-text scientific database part of the science verse. This search engine is one of the best bibliographic and full-text electronic collections of science, technology, and medicine.

Other Niches Search Engines

These niche search engines might help you find even more technical information.

PubMed : PubMed is a digital archive that contains open access full-text scientific publications from biomedical and life sciences journals. It is a key research database at the National Center for Biotechnology Information.

Lexis : Lexis Web, which populates this search engine with approved legal sites, is essential for law students and research projects that require legal citations. You can quickly narrow your search results by site type (blog, news, commercial, or government), jurisdiction, practice area, source, and file format.

Education Resources Information Center : ERIC is an online library of education research and information sponsored by the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) of the United States Department of Education.

MedlinePlus : MedlinePlus is an online health information resource for patients, families, and friends. It is a service of the National Library of Medicine (NLM), a division of the National Institutes of Health, and it houses the world's most extensive medical library (NIH).

Artcyclopedia : Artcyclopedia is a well-developed art search engine. Provides a directory of Internet art resources, links to art museums, and a list of the month's top 30 sites are available. Every month, a new print and book are featured.

By using these search tools, you can connect with excellent reference information.

Merriam-Webster Dictionary and Thesaurus : They have over 275,000 synonyms, antonyms, related words, and idiomatic phrases. A thesaurus is more than just a list of synonyms; it is your road map to more accurate and effective language use.

References.net : References.net is a multidisciplinary web directory of the most relevant reference-related resources that the editors have hand-picked. Browse the references collection by alphabetical order, category, or keyword.

Quotes.net : Quotes.net provides a massive library of literary quotations and movie quotes for an infinite number of famous authors and featured films, created collaboratively by contributing editors.

Literary Encyclopedia : The Literary Encyclopedia published biographies of major and minor writers, and also scholarly descriptions of all interesting texts written by these authors, including those that are often overlooked, and a variety of descriptive and critical essays on literary, cultural, and historical topics, which provide a better understanding of the social contexts in which this writing was produced.

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Best search engines for researchers

If you’re researching for your current paper, the first thing that comes to mind is to check Google for the latest advancement in a related field. While Google may be quite handy for listing relevant theories and examples of successful practice, it is not so much scientist-friendly as it is layperson-friendly. There are many other options and available search engines for researchers. As an experienced scholar, you are probably aware that science is fast progressing activity, and that hundreds and even thousands of articles are published daily, especially when your topic concerns a hot issue. When a subject is generating multiple responses from across the disciplines, you must consider all relevant research search engines and make sure to include in your reference list the latest advances.

Also check out our guide on Research Tools for Primary and Secondary Research

Therefore, you want to use your time sparingly and to be able to filter through by year of publishing or find arguments of top-notch academics by name. When collecting data online, use the best research engines that will help you assemble relevant information. Here are some suggestions on best scholar engines that will help you collect key data without having to dig up through a mass of irrelevant, unindexed and low-quality sites.

Here you can find a list of the best academic search engines to help you get your research started .

Google Scholar

As indicated by the name, Google Scholar is one of the best search engines for researchers provided by Google. It is much like your regular search engine, but it lists relevant scholarly articles and helps to acquire support for your research. Google Scholar indexes papers from a variety of sources, such as academic publishers, professional societies, online repositories, universities, and scientific platforms and social sites. You can simply type keywords related to your topic, filter by year of publication or by author, and it will come up with many sources for books, e-books, papers, articles, case studies, working papers, dissertations, etc.

Academic Info

On the top of our list of research search engines, Academic info is an in-depth directory containing useful links and resources from a specified field.  It was developed as an alternative to Google in 1998, posing as a source of authoritative educational content. The website provides an extensive list of influential research sites. The website also offers aspiring students who want to enhance professional credentials and eager-to-improve scientists with a myriad of degrees, online courses and remote learning programs from accredited higher education facilities.

iSeek Education

iSeek is a note-worthy and one of prominent search engines for researchers available online. It was tailored explicitly for students, teachers, scientists, academics, analysts and experts. Using iSeek instead of your regular Google unrelated search allows you to invest time in writing instead of spending hours scrolling to irrelevant resources.

WorldCat is the world’s largest network of library content and services. You can search for popular books, music, audiobooks and videos – all of the physical items you’re used to getting from the library. Moreover, you can access digital content downloadable as audiobooks, article citations with links to their full text, esteemed research materials, documents and photos of local and historic significance and digital versions of rare items that aren’t available to the public.

You can also read our tips for getting published in a research journal                                                                                                                    

If you’re targeting high-quality journals for publication, then the resources you use most definitely must be from high-profile and influential sources. This list of search engines for researchers should help to get you started and save time you can rather invest in perfecting your submission.

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AI Search Engine for Research

Find & understand the best science, faster.

Try an example search

See how it works

Used by researchers at the world’s top institutes

Why Consensus?

Consensus responsibly uses AI to help you conduct research faster.

Extensive research coverage

Search through over 200M research papers in every domain of science & academia.

Time-saving AI insights

Gain insight faster with our Copilot and Consensus Meter. We leverage both OpenAI & custom LLMs.

Find the most relevant papers

Our proprietary academic search tools & filters mean you’ll find the very best science for your query.

Results connected to science

We cite every source. You're always only a click away from the underlying research paper.

Who Consensus helps most...

Anyone with curiosity. Whether you’re conducting research or just fact-checking a friend, if you need answers from the literature, Consensus is for you.

Students & researchers

Streamline your literature review process. Quickly see the direction of current findings, and surface the best papers.

Science organizations

Quickly check ingredients, chemicals, or molecules. Understand mechanisms of action, and stay up to date with new research.

Clinicians & doctors

Get answers to patients’ questions that you can trust, share information they can digest, and easily cite your references.

Universities & schools

Students & researchers at over 5,000 universities worldwide search with Consensus. We partner with libraries, higher learning institutes, and universities.

Writers & journalists

Source evidence-based insights on your topic, understand connected fields, and see related suggested searches.

Health & fitness experts

Easily check out the science regarding supplement safety, diet types, and exercise science outcomes.

1,000,000 +

Researchers, students, doctors, professionals, and evidence-based humans choose Consensus.

"I can make sense of what’s out there a lot faster with Consensus. I jump into different topics with the summary & Copilot before diving deeper. The interface makes it so easy to review individual papers and see what they’re about."

"It's not every day I find a tool that truly helps with my work. Consensus blew me away when I started using it, I was learning things I had never encountered before. This is an AI product that isn't hype."

"You no longer need to read countless papers to find the answer you need. Simply ask a question and Consensus gives you AI-powered summaries of the top 5-10 articles"

Consensus has been featured in

Consensus vs ChatGPT

ChatGPT predicts the most likely language that should follow. Consensus helps you find & understand the best science, faster.

Results directly connected to scientific papers

Fully machine-generated, prone to hallucinations

Consensus academic features

Consensus Meter

Quickly see the scientific consensus & gain topic context and direction. See exactly which papers were included.

Simply include in your search - ask Copilot to adopt a style, draft content, format, create lists, and more. Read a referenced topic synthesis.

Paper-level Insights

We extract key insights and answers. Locate the most helpful papers and digest their insights faster.

Search Filters

Filter by sample size, study design, methodology, if the paper is open access, a human or animal study (and many more filters).

Quality Indicators

Focus on the best papers - intuitive labels for citations, journal quality, and study type.

Study Snapshot

Our Study Snapshot quickly shows key information like Population, Sample size, Methods, etc. - all within the results page.

How we created the ultimate search engine for science

Search: Find the best papers

Purpose-built academic & vector search functionality. Consensus utilizes important factors like study design, sample size, population details, and more to rank the best research higher.

Dedicated research LLMs

Our proprietary LLMs read research like an expert - we also leverage the best-in-class models from OpenAI. Consensus generates AI insights at both the search and paper level.

What’s new at Consensus

Introducing the Consensus API - Embed Evidence-Based Results

Offer instant access to the most relevant academic papers. Seamlessly integrate peer-reviewed citations into your projects.

Our Co-founder & CPO Christian Salem chats with Cerebral Valley

Consensus is an assembly line with over 25 different LLMs doing various parts of the process. 

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The 8 Best Search Engines of 2024

While you could use Google to find other search engines, here are the ones we think are arguably better

Most people prefer to rely on just one or two search engines that deliver three key features:

• Relevant results (results you are interested in)
• Uncluttered, easy-to-read interface
• Helpful options to broaden or tighten a search

This article's options should help you find the best search engine for your needs.

These are mainly web page search engines, but others exist for specific searches. Other search engines exist just for people, images, and, of course, jobs.

Duck Duck Go Search

Does not track or store user information.

Fast searches.

Optional one-month search window.

Search results are not dated.

Limited image search results.

No personalized results.

At first, DuckDuckGo looks like Google. However, many subtleties make this search engine different.

DuckDuckGo offers some slick features, like zero-click information, wherein all your answers appear on the first results page. DuckDuckgo offers disambiguation prompts that help to clarify what question you are asking. Most significantly, DuckDuckGo does not track information about you or share your search habits with others.

Give DuckDuckGo.com a try. You might like this clean and simple search engine.

Google Search

Favors fresh content.

Ranks blogs and services.

Accessible on any device.

Collects information on users.

Hidden content might damage ranking.

Search delivers too many results.

Google is the reigning leader of spartan searching and is the most used search engine in the world. Google is fast, relevant, and has the most extensive single catalog of web pages available.

Try Google images, maps, and news features; they are outstanding services for locating photos, geographic directions, and headlines.

Yippy Search

Blocks undesirable websites.

Search result previews.

Cloud of related topics in results.

Cannot turn off the filtering process.

Ad-supported.

No intuitive search.

Yippy is a Deep Web engine that searches other search engines for you. Unlike the regular internet, which uses robot spider programs for indexing, Deep Web pages are usually harder to locate by conventional search.

That's where Yippy becomes very useful. If you are searching for obscure hobby interest blogs, hard-to-locate government information, offbeat news, academic research, and similar content, then Yippy is your tool. 

Dogpile Search

Links to "favorite fetches" on whimsical home screen.

Pulls from multiple databases for broad results.

Fast search results.

Result screen entries aren't dated.

No home screen personalization.

Lots of sponsored results.

Years ago, Dogpile preceded Google as a fast and efficient choice for web searching. Things changed in the late 1990s, Dogpile faded into obscurity, and Google became the leading platform.

Today, however, Dogpile is back with a growing index and a clean and quick presentation that is a testimony to its halcyon days. If you want to try a search tool with an engaging appearance and desirable crosslink results, definitely try Dogpile.

Bing Search

Favors older, established web pages.

Ranks home pages, not blogs.

Crawls hidden and non-hidden content equally.

Ranks forums low in search results.

Instant search is slower than Google.

Some ad-heavy search result screens.

Bing  is Microsoft's attempt at unseating Google, arguably the second-most-popular search engine today.

In the leftmost column, Bing tries to support your research by offering suggestions; it also provides search options across the top of the screen. Things like wiki suggestions, visual search, and related searches might benefit you. Bing is not dethroning Google soon, but it is worth trying. 

Google Scholar Search

Save articles to read later.

Citations in several styles.

Results include how many times an article has been cited and by whom.

Wide-ranging but not comprehensive.

No criteria for what makes a result "scholarly."

No way to limit results by discipline.

Google Scholar is a particular version of its platform. This search engine will help you win debates.

Google Scholar focuses on scientific and hard-research academic material that scientists and scholars have scrutinized. Example content includes graduate theses, legal and court opinions, scholarly publications, medical research reports, physics research papers, and explanations of economics and world politics.

If you're looking for critical information that can stand up in a heated debate with educated people, then Google Scholar is where you want to go to arm yourself with high-powered sources.

Webopedia Search

Focuses on technical terms and applications.

Friendly to non-tech users.

A different Term of the Day every day.

Searches only Webopedia's 10,000+ word and phrase database.

You have to open the article to find out more.

Webopedia is one of the most useful websites on the web. Webopedia is an encyclopedic resource dedicated to searching technology terminology and computer definitions, the domain name system , or what DDRAM means on your computer. Webopedia is a perfect resource for non-technical people to make more sense of the computers around them. 

Yahoo Search

Home screen includes news and trending topics.

One-stop shop for search, email, horoscope, and weather.

Options to search verticals rather than the web.

Ads aren't clearly labeled as ads.

Search results aren't dated.

Large ads on the home screen.

Yahoo has several things: a search engine, a news aggregator, a shopping center, an email service, a travel directory, a horoscope and games center, and more.

This web-portal breadth of choice makes this a beneficial site for internet beginners. Searching the web should also be about discovery and exploration, and Yahoo delivers.

The Internet Archive Search

Search text, news, archived websites, and much more.

Advanced search also available.

"Wayback Machine" lets you search old websites.

Vast amount of archived content can be overwhelming.

Advanced search requires a learning curve.

Not practical for daily use.

The Internet Archive is a favorite destination for longtime Web lovers. The Archive has been taking snapshots of the entire World Wide Web for years, helping users virtually travel back in time to see what a web page looked like in 1999 or what the news was like around Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

It's essential to think of the Internet Archive as much more than a web page archiver; it's a versatile search engine that also finds movies and other videos, music, and documents.

You won't visit the Archive daily like Google, Yahoo, or Bing, but when you need historical context, use this search site.

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‘full steam ahead’: yale research as engine of innovation.

Michael C. Crair, Yale’s vice provost for research (Photo by Allie Barton)

Research at Yale doesn’t take the summer off to hike in the Alps or sit by the pool reading a good book.

Rather, it is a perpetual engine of innovation and discovery. Yale chemists, engineers, biologists, physicists, physicians, anthropologists, psychologists, computer scientists, and a host of other researchers on campus continue their exploration of new knowledge. There are experiments to tend, databases to sift, and discoveries to unfold.

Perhaps no one at Yale has a better view of this overall enterprise than Michael C. Crair, the university’s vice provost for research.

Crair, an international leader in systems neuroscience, with training in both physics and neuroscience, joined the Yale faculty in 2007. He is the William Ziegler III Professor of Neuroscience and professor of ophthalmology and visual science. In 2020, he was named vice provost for research and helped the university safely and effectively continue its research programs during the COVID-19 crisis.

Yale News recently caught up with Crair to talk about Yale’s ongoing research enterprise, its approach to nurturing nascent technologies and fields of study, and the role of federal funding for basic research. The interview has been edited and condensed.

Scholarly and scientific research is a year-round activity at Yale, even when classes aren’t in session. What has summer looked like for Yale’s research community?

Michael C. Crair: It’s been full steam ahead. In fact, many researchers double down on their work over the summer. The cyclic Yale calendar and the academic year does impact faculty and students who are engaged in teaching, coursework, and research. However, summer is often when they can dedicate their minds completely to their research, whether they are in the lab or out doing field work.

Like many senior Yale leaders, you’re also a professor, and you maintain an active research lab. How does your experience as a working scientist inform your university-wide role as vice provost for research?

Crair: Having a lab, being a faculty member, and understanding the pinch points — the trials and struggles that student and faculty researchers face, including uncertain federal funding challenges — helps me a great deal as an academic administrator to ensure that we provide the structural and administrative support so that our faculty can do their best research. Somebody who has never been in the lab or run an academic research program might have a harder time gaining this perspective.

I’m in the lab today, as a matter of fact. We’re submitting a grant shortly to the National Institutes of Health [NIH]. I still have students, postdocs, still publish papers — one was just accepted two weeks ago. So, I have some street credibility, I hope.

The number of pressing and interesting questions worthy of scholarly attention is boundless. What are some of the key factors and principles, in addition to individual scholars’ expertise and interests, that drive research at Yale?

Crair: The science priorities that the University Science Strategy Committee identified in 2018 are where I continue to focus my efforts. Leveraging Yale’s compact footprint for team science and interdisciplinary research is also very important. For instance, Yale School of Medicine is physically close to Yale College, with new buildings like 100 College and 101 College knitting the university even closer together, which makes it easier to pursue collaborative research and offers a way we can differentiate ourselves and be more productive as a research institution.

Data science is another example area where we can make use of our collaborative culture and compact footprint. Data science and approaches common in AI are generally disciplinarily agnostic, with applications in many different academic domains, which can be refocused even semester by semester or year by year. Assisting data scientists to apply new methods and new approaches to a variety of disciplines in collaboration with domain experts across our research community can elevate research and scholarship in all academic areas.

Are there other emerging research areas on campus that have your attention these days?

Crair: We’re making huge investments into our infrastructure for quantum research, primarily with the new Physical Sciences and Engineering Building that will continue to transform Science Hill. We are also making significant investments for new and renovated buildings on lower Hillhouse Avenue for Yale Engineering [Yale School of Engineering & Applied Science], in the medical school, and other areas of campus.

It is important to note that Yale’s investments in these research buildings and core facilities are funded directly by philanthropy, both new gifts and past gifts from our endowment. The federal government and the state do not pay for construction of them, but they are essential for recruiting the brightest minds to Yale. Without modern physical infrastructure, cutting edge experimentation is impossible, and we can’t recruit the best students and faculty to Yale, and they are the keys to discovery and innovation.

In a sense, in quantum science and engineering, we’re trying to catch lightning in a bottle a second time, as we did in biotech, which is having a great positive impact on society. In biotech, we’ve translated brilliant discoveries by Yale faculty into a number of very successful startup companies , like Arvinas and Biohaven. New Haven now has a thriving, growing biotech ecosystem, which is attractive to both students and faculty. We want to do the same thing with quantum technologies. In quantum, we have some of the best faculty, like physicists Rob Schoelkopf and Steve Girvin, who want to be able to translate their new discoveries and train the next generation of students to enable the development of useful new technologies for society, such as quantum computers . We’re trying to help by building a quantum technology ecosystem in Connecticut.

A lot of exciting advances in knowledge happen through collaboration among scholars working in different fields — sometimes very different fields. Is there a recent or ongoing Yale project that exemplifies the power and potential of this kind of teamwork?

Crair: A wonderful example of this was highlighted recently in the report from the Yale Task Force on Artificial Intelligence. Scott Shapiro, the Charles F. Southmayd Professor of Law, and Ruzica Piskac, a professor of computer science, have gotten together to develop an AI-based utility for providing legal advice.

The idea is that people with limited financial resources would be able to avail themselves of useful, timely legal information through a purpose-built generative AI tool that could provide expert legal guidance that might otherwise be unavailable to them. It’s spectacular. Just a classic Yale collaboration.

Some fields are more dependent on equipment and facilities than others. What is Yale’s approach to making the latest technology available to researchers, especially amid rapid technological advancement?

Crair: We try to identify emerging/novel technologies and instrumentation that are not widely available that allow faculty to do experiments on topics or in ways that are otherwise impossible. Sophisticated, aberration-corrected electron microscopes for materials scientists, for example, and cryo-electron microscopes for structural biologists, instruments that are much too expensive for any given faculty member to have in their individual lab, so we facilitate their use by buying the technology, which allows many people at Yale to access it and share it. But the core equipment is expensive. The aberration-corrected microscope we just purchased, for example, is about $8 million. And in addition, you need highly skilled and trained staff scientists who can run the equipment and provide advice on experimental protocols so that students and faculty can take full advantage of the resource. That’s expensive, but it’s essential.

Our provost, Scott Strobel certainly understands this deeply, and has indicated that the university will commit additional resources to structural support for the use of AI in research, such as graphics processing units [GPUs] that are essential to modern applications of machine learning — Yale has only a modest number of them currently, but we’ll be dramatically increasing our on-campus GPU infrastructure given the high faculty and student demand, in addition to the systems and software support needed to run the equipment and train people how to use it productively.

Even for universities like Yale that directly and heavily invest their own resources in research, the federal government remains a key partner in the advancement of knowledge. What’s the outlook for federal support for academic research?

Crair: No question, it’s a long-standing, productive, and vital partnership that offers important benefits for individuals and society. Yale spends more than $1.2 billion a year from external sources, mostly federal grants, on research. Most of that funding supports staff, students, faculty, and supplies that we need to do our day-to-day research; a small share funds utilities, research libraries, and the extensive regulatory compliance program mandated by the government. And although we do get some foundation and industry support, funding from the federal government provides the lion’s share of external funding for all research at Yale — about 80%.

And right now, federal government appropriations for the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation [NSF], Yale’s two largest sources of federal funding for research, are flat or even decreasing — it’s a huge problem.

Some areas are more acutely impacted than others, such as medical research. Neuroscience, for example, which had been strongly funded by a program called The Brain Initiative, took a massive hit in appropriations this year at the NIH. Another example is a new NSF program called the TIP [Technology, Innovation and Partnerships] Directorate, started two years ago. It is a significant program, about 10% of the NSF budget. It was an attempt to take fundamental research discoveries by physicists and engineers and help translate them into technologies that can launch new industries and stimulate the nation’s economy. It was supposed to get a couple of billion dollars a year, on top of existing NSF funding, but its programs have barely started because Congress has failed to fully fund it — in fact, Congress reduced total funding for NSF by 5% this year.

In your view, what does society lose when research funding is cut?

Crair: We are built upon an economy that fundamentally leverages the intellectual capacity and ingenuity of our citizens, and society as a whole benefits from this ingenuity. The importance of fundamental and applied research to the health of our country is immense. So many technologies we have come to rely upon, from computers to the diagnosis and treatment of diseases, began as university research discoveries. In many cases, important discoveries require decades of dedicated, persistent fundamental research to come to fruition. It’s only after this research groundwork is laid, often over decades, that new technologies, treatments, and applications crop up.

As a nation, we need to keep the long view, sustain our fundamental research funding, and look for additional ways to increase the pace and frequency of translating those discoveries into new products and services that benefit society.

Let’s end this where we started — in the lab. What advice do you typically give the newest members of your own lab?

Crair: The same thing I tell my kids, who are college students — follow your curiosity and passion. I’m blessed to have spent more than 30 years doing science and research because I love the discovery. It’s extremely motivating and satisfying. Take the time to ask yourself, “What am I interested in the most?” “What do I want to do with my precious time?” The answers will lead to good things, both in terms of what you accomplish and the satisfaction you gain personally and professionally from the effort.

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Consensus raises $11.5M for AI research engine for scientific papers

  Photo: sanjeri/Getty Images

Consensus, an AI-enabled academic search engine for scientific research, raised $11.5 million in a Series A funding round led by Union Square Ventures.

Perplexity lead investors Daniel Gross and Nat Friedman participated in the round alongside former Seed investors Kevin Carter, Draper Associates, Alumni Ventures and Path Ventures.

WHAT IT DOES

The company is building an AI-powered search engine to make scientific research papers discoverable, consumable and accessible. 

The user provides a prompt with a question to the AI and then receives literature with answers pertaining to the inquiry. It also synthesizes insights across literature and extracts information related to the specific research found, such as sample size and population.

Boston-based Consensus will use the funds to expand its workforce, invest in growth experiments and speed up product development. 

"We deeply value research and evidence, but we've never had the skills nor attention span to comb through the research ourselves. We wanted to apply our backgrounds in consumer tech to scientific research, and try to make this amazing content more accessible and consumable, no matter your background," Consensus CEO Eric Olson said in a statement.

MARKET SNAPSHOT

Other companies using AI to sift through scientific research include Dimensions, which offers linked research data and AI applications intended to accelerate research discovery. 

Semantic Scholar offers a free AI-enabled research tool for scientific literature aimed at helping researchers extract meaning and identify connections between papers. 

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Kelvin Smith Library

Artificial Intelligence

• What is Artificial Intelligence (AI)?
• Ethical Considerations
• AI for Students
• AI for Faculty and Staff
• AI Citation and Academic Integrity
• AI and Copyright

Effectively Using Chat Bots

The library has curated resources for students on effectively using and evaluating artificial intelligence (AI) in research projects (visit the AI Literacy pages for more resources). These resources aim to serve as an introduction to GenAI tools, honing prompting skills, and understanding how to evaluating AI outputs. 

KSL librarians are available to consult with you on your research projects or provide further information. Visit our Ask KSL page for ways to get help from the Library.

Chatbots vs Search Engines

Brown University's AI guide provides an overview of the differences between chatbots (ChatGPT, for example) and search engines (Google, Bing, etc.) as well as tips for:

• Brainstorming research topics
• Brainstorming keywords to deliver an effective search
• Fact-checking the output from an LLM tool 

Microsoft Copilot @CWRU

CWRU offers secure access to Microsoft Co0ilot for students, faculty, and staff. 

Copilot can help you with tasks such as answering natural language questions, generating bullet points, outlines, and summaries, analyzing data, summarizing documents, creating graphical artworks based on your prompts, and much more. It uses generative AI capabilities to provide better answers, greater efficiency, and new ways to be creative.

• UTECH Copilot Information
• Login to Copilot Use your CWRU single sign-on user name and password to access your secure Copilot account.

AI-Enhanced Library Resources

Research databases and other subscription-based and library-licensed tools are increasingly adding AI components and features to their platforms. We'll compile new developments that may aid in your research as they become available. If you are interested in an AI-enhanced tool the library does not have, please contact us to let us know!

• Dimensions Research GPT This scholar GPT brings Dimensions’ scientific evidence and ChatGPT's powerful generative AI capabilities together - get summaries, insights and citations for research topics evidenced in academic papers in seconds.
• Generative AI on JSTOR (Beta) JSTOR, a nonprofit service from ITHAKA, invites you to explore the beta release of a generative AI-powered research tool. Developed in collaboration with our community, this interactive tool leverages innovative technology and JSTOR’s trusted corpus to empower people to deepen and expand their research.

Uses Beyond Text

• AI platforms scrape the internet for artworks and images to create its outputs, sometimes without explicit creator permission depending on the platform.
• It is important to consider the ethics of using AI-generated images, art, and video. They can easily and inadvertently lead to misinformation if used incorrectly.
• The legal status of such works is still in negotiation from a copyright standpoint.
• << Previous: Ethical Considerations
• Next: AI for Faculty and Staff >>
• Last Updated: Aug 18, 2024 11:38 AM
• URL: https://researchguides.case.edu/artificalintelligence

Don't want to Google it? These alternative search engines are worth exploring.

Google isn’t playing nice in the sandbox. Or maybe it's just getting too big for its britches. Those are the messages coming from the U.S. Department of Justice, where a federal judge recently ruled that the company illegally monopolized the online search and advertising industries through its long-standing partnerships with tech giants like Samsung and Apple.  

Google's leaders, of course, aren’t pleased with the decision. Its president of global affairs says the company will appeal. Still, now is as good a time as any for us to take stock of our Google dependence and consider the alternatives. After all, we don’t have to “google” anything, and there’s a whole other world of search engines out there where we can Bing , Ask and DuckDuck to our heart’s content.  

Why not Google?   

Google is the premiere search engine because it’s fast, easy to use and integrates with a bunch of other apps and tools that you probably already use, like YouTube , Gmail and Google Docs . It’s also popular because it’s the default search engine on most mobile devices, including Apple’s Safari , and that’s where the Justice Department’s argument comes in. Google’s parent company, Alphabet Inc., paid Apple $20 billion in 2022 to be the default search engine for Safari on iPhone, iPad and Mac. 

But breaking free from the crowd isn’t the only reason to consider taking your search traffic elsewhere. That colorful, familiar Google logo hides decades of privacy concerns, personal data mining and search results that aren’t always what you’re looking for. Aside from social media platforms where we willingly upload everything about our lives, Google probably knows more about you than any other company, and it uses that knowledge to serve you ads it thinks you’ll click on.  

With your personal data as the center of its business model, Google wields incredible power, and it’s on the receiving end of lawsuits in the U.S. and abroad for that very reason. Somewhat ironically, that has led Google’s own search trend to show enormous spikes recently in questions like “What’s the best alternative to Google,” and “What is the most honest search engine?”  

Is there a more private search engine than Google?   

If privacy is your priority, DuckDuckGo offers an alternative that may fit the bill. Founded on the premise that relevant search results don’t have to come with an exchange of personal data, DuckDuckGo doesn’t track searches or store your data to build a portfolio on you. The DuckDuckGo interface is clean and straightforward, and it presents results in a very Google-like way, with filters for region, date and other criteria.  

DuckDuckGo also offers searches for news, images, video and other types of results, just like Google, but it’s the privacy features that the company hangs its hat on. You can even upgrade to Privacy Pro (for $9.99 a month) to gain access to a built-in VPN, remove personal information from data brokers who sell your info and identify theft restoration, should you need it.  

The downsides here are minimal but worth considering: Without any personalized tracking, the search engine’s results may be slightly less relevant to you specifically. This isn’t much of an issue for most searches, but Google has the upper hand regarding personalized results. Additionally, DuckDuckGo may have fewer results for ultra-niche topics − particular interest in spinning dog hair into yarn or ball-jointed doll collecting , anyone? The company pulls from hundreds of sources, including Bing and Yahoo!, in addition to its own web crawler, so you’ll rarely find the results lacking. 

What’s the best search engine for visual results?

If you want eye-catching results, Bing is the place to be. Microsoft’s search engine competitor prioritizes high-quality imagery and videos and loves adding little pop-up tools and bells and whistles wherever possible.  

The actual layout of the results page is very Google-esque, but it has a more Instagram or Pinterest feel compared with Google's more austere look and feel. Bing also promotes search suggestions and offers larger previews of news stories, Wikipedia entries, and other results front and center.   

Bing was also one of the first search engines to embrace AI and gives you full access to Microsoft’s Copilot AI to answer questions and pull data from the web, providing summaries of topics front and center. Bing also has a rewards program in which you can earn points to redeem for real-life goodies, which is a decent incentive.  

Search results suffer a bit from the “It’s just not Google” bug, and ad placement can sometimes throw off the otherwise super-chill aesthetic and vibe. The worst is when the site listings are ads, but Bing makes them blend in with your authentic search results in a sneaky way. I don’t like that. Bing also doesn’t promise the same privacy protections as DuckDuckGo, and it’s linked to your Microsoft account (assuming you have one).  

Looking for local streaming options? Check out USA TODAY Home Internet for reliable plans in your area.

Whatever happened to Yahoo!?  

The heated search engine war between Google and Yahoo! may be long gone, but Yahoo! ’s still one of the most-visited sites on the internet, and its search is no slouch. Powered primarily by Bing, the results are similar to what you’ll see on Microsoft’s search site, which means they’re pretty good.  

You might wonder why you’d use Yahoo! at all if it leverages Bing, and that’s a great question. Yahoo! isn’t just a search engine, of course; all of the added features and tools are the real draw here.  

Yahoo! Finance remains one of the best places to check for business news and stock information. Its news and sports coverage is robust, and I still use Yahoo! Mail . Yes, that officially makes me old, but I’m in good company alongside more than 220 million people.  

Having a powerful search feature means Yahoo! is still a one-stop shop for many internet users who aren’t keen on the Google ecosystem.  

One significant criticism of Yahoo! Search is just … what happened? It’s not the premiere product of Marissa Mayers ’ golden years (she was the CEO from 2012 to 2017), and I miss those days. Now, Yahoo! is kind of like Facebook versus Instagram, and just doesn’t carry the hip-club vibe where everyone wants to hang out anymore. Also, Yahoo! Search gets a few updates and changes, and it shows.  

Still, it makes a strong case if you like the idea of a search engine alongside a modern email client, news aggregation and real-time stock info.  

What about AOL search? Or Ask?   

AOL as a web search engine is still alive and kicking, though under the same company as Yahoo!, and nowhere near its old glory days either. Its interface is slick and clean, like Yahoo!’s, with an option to filter potentially offensive results. The image search filters are top-notch but not as good as Google’s. Privacy is not its strong suit, though; location and activity tracking are turned on by default, so be sure to toggle those off if you want to fly under the radar.  

Old internet heads will likely remember the days when Ask Jeeves was the most fantastic website around. Today, Ask.com is what remains, and while it’s not nearly as revolutionary as it was two decades ago, it’s still worth considering as a stand-in for Google. The site works best when you ask a question but produces results like other search engines in an instantly familiar list format.  

The biggest downside of using Ask.com is the occasional random search result. For example, searching for “Travis Kelce” returns results for a bunch of other Travises − singer Randy Travis, former Uber CEO Travis Kalanick and even construction firm Travis Perkins − higher than anything about the NFL player. This may be because Ask farms out its search duties to other companies and heavily seeds the search results with paid placements.  

What are some other alternatives to Google Search?  

There are dozens more niche sites where you can also begin your web search online.  

• Search site Ecosia plants trees in environmentally sensitive areas when you use it, and it promises to protect your privacy.  
• Gibiru is another alternative that prioritizes privacy. According to Gibiru, there is no activity tracking, ads or agenda to follow you around the internet.  
• If a more emotional connection is what you’re after, take a look at the UK-based site Mojeek . It also says it doesn’t track you or sell your data, but the really interesting part is that it lets you search based on an emotion. Type in your query and click on an emoji-like icon such as a heart for “love,” a laughing face for “haha,” and a surprised face for “wow,” among others. When I searched for “Olympic breakdancer Raygun,” the site offered up some unique and different results when I clocked the “love” icon versus the “sad” icon. It’s interesting but still super-niche, and it looks like an early iteration of an idea versus something worth switching to right now.  

There are many more out there, so if you’ve found a Google alternative you cannot stop talking with your friends about, let me know!  

Jennifer Jolly is an Emmy Award-winning consumer tech columnist and on-air correspondent. The views and opinions expressed in this column are the author's and do not necessarily reflect those of USA TODAY. Contact her at [email protected] .  

Science & Quantitative Reasoning Education

Yale undergraduate research, ‘full steam ahead’: yale research as engine of innovation.

In a Q&A, Michael C. Crair, Yale’s vice provost for research, discusses Yale’s ongoing research enterprise and the role of federal funding for basic research.

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Google’s John Mueller On Removing Unwanted Content From Search

Google's John Mueller offers advice on removing unwanted content from search results, such as online articles about past incidents.

• Removing unwanted content from search results can be challenging.
• Deindexing can take up to six months to reflect in search results.
• Google offers removal tools for both website owners and individuals.

Google’s John Mueller explained on Reddit how to remove unwanted content from search results.

This came up when someone asked about getting rid of an old article about their arrest that kept showing up in Google searches.

The person was arrested for a minor offense in 2018, but a news article appears in Google searches years later.

Even though the case was settled, the article is still on the first page of results, and the person wants it removed.

What can they do? Here’s what Mueller advised.

Mueller’s Guidance On Getting Content Removed

Mueller explained that even though the news outlet said they “de-indexed” the article, this process isn’t always quick or simple.

He suggested a few ways to tackle the issue:

• Complete Takedown : The news outlet said no to removing the article, but this is the most effective way, showing the page as a 404 error.
• Noindex Tag : This is probably what the news outlet did. It keeps the article on its site but tells search engines to ignore it. Mueller advised checking the page’s code for this tag.
• Name Swap : Mueller suggested asking the news outlet to replace the person’s name with something generic like “John Doe” as a workaround. This could make the article harder to find in name searches.
• Right to be Forgotten : For folks in some areas, especially Europe, this legal option might help.

About the article still showing up in searches, Mueller said that even after de-indexing, it can take up to six months for a page to disappear from results:

“Regarding how long it takes to “see” a noindex, there’s no specific time, but it’s usually less than a few months. I think I’ve seen it take up to 6 months. They’re not kept in the index forever without being refreshed. If you use the public removal tool (for non-site-owners), Google will check the page fairly quickly (within a few days) and use that to confirm that the page has a noindex.”

He assured that pages don’t stay indexed forever without being rechecked.

Mueller mentioned that while some “hidden” de-indexing methods exist, they’re not common.

He recommended using Google’s public removal tool, which allows Google to recheck the page within days. This might speed things up if the news outlet has properly de-indexed the article.

Mueller stated:

“It’s really rare (I can’t think of any case in the last year or so) that someone would use a kind of “hidden” noindex; it’s complicated to set up & maintain. Most sites just use the visible robots meta tag for switching things to noindex, which you would be able to see yourself fairly quickly. If you use the removal tool, Google will also see any “more hidden” noindex settings.”

This advice gave the person a better grasp of their situation and possible next moves to deal with their lingering online content problem.

Tools for Content Removal

Mueller listed two main ways to get rid of content from search results:

• For website owners: The Removals and SafeSearch reports tool
• For everyone else: The Refresh Outdated Content tool

If you own the site, Google removes the content on request.

For non-owners, Google does a few checks before taking anything down.

Mueller said using these tools won’t accidentally make your page show up more in searches.

“The removal tool for site-owners has a help page titled “Removals and SafeSearch reports Tool”, subtitle “Temporarily block search results from your site, or manage SafeSearch filtering”. (Site-owner = the person running the website, in their Search Console account) The public removal tool for non-site-owners is titled “Refresh Outdated Content tool” / subtitle: “Request an update to outdated content in Google Search results” (non-site-owner would be someone who doesn’t work on the website themselves, like you). The site-owner tool will process a removal very quickly, without checking if the page is actually noindex or not. The assumption is that as the site-owner, you can block whatever you want. If they’re willing to do this for you, that’s the fastest way. For non-site-owners, the tool will check multiple times to confirm that the page is removed, noindex, or appropriately changed. It won’t do anything until it has confirmed that, so there’s no harm in trying it. Neither of these tools will make a page more visible (SEOs would love that). The tools are also labeled as “temporary” removals – because if the page becomes indexable again, it can show up again in search.”

Why This Matters

This shows how difficult it can be to manage what people see about you online.

While Google offers ways to remove old or unwanted articles, it can take a while, and sometimes, the publisher must cooperate.

Featured Image: tomeqs /Shutterstock

Matt G. Southern, Senior News Writer, has been with Search Engine Journal since 2013. With a bachelor’s degree in communications, ...