Biological Abstracts, produced by BIOSIS, is the most comprehensive bibliographic database for journal literature in the life sciences. It is an excellent first stop for any research in the life sciences and can be used in combination with Medline for biomedical and molecular biology topics and in combination with Agricola and CAB Abstracts for agriculture and veterinary medicine. Over 5000 journals are indexed (c.f. Medline's 4000), with coverage back to 1969. While Biological Abstracts is best known for its coverage of botany, ecology, zoology, phylogeny, evolution, and genetics, it is also an important complement to Medline for the biomedical sciences, including pharmacognosy, occupational health, veterinary medicine, and clinical immunology.

Biological Abstracts allows users to search using a number of specialized index fields including Organisms (taxa below the family level), Super Taxa (taxa at the level of family or above), Parts, Structures, and Systems (e.g. "digestive system"), Diseases, (using MeSH terms) and CAS Registry Number. This specialized indexing allows exceptional specificity and flexibility of searching.

If you would like additional information about Biological Abstracts or any of the Libraries' other databases, please direct your questions to   .

Ron Gilmour, Coordinator of Science and Technology,
9 November 2003

To read about previously featured databases, please refer to the Featured Databases Archive.