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Chemistry: Open Access Resources

This guide will point you towards the key resources for your subject. Use the tabs at this guide to find books, ebooks, articles journal and other subject resources, as well as help in accessing current information and research. Please get in touch if you

What is Open Access?

What are Open Access Resources?

  • Open Access refers to resources that are freely available for viewing and/or use. Open Access is not the same as Public Domain, and most Open Access creators do retain their copyrights.
  • Open Access is part of a continuum ranging from completely closed, subscription/purchase only access to completely open, no barrier publishing. Open Access is not related to the quality of materials or the peer-review/non-peer-review status of the publications.
  • Open Access differs from Open Source or Open Licensed in that the primary use of Open Access materials will be viewing or reading, while Open Source materials are available for modification of the underlying software or text. For instance, Linux is an open source operating system, while the The Turkish Online Journal of Distance Education is an open access journal. An increasing number of Educational Resources are being published with Open Licenses, allowing for modification, re-editing, and other customization.

List of Open Access Resources in Chemistry

 

Open Access materials can be excellent resources to supplement online library materials. Many scholarly and peer-review journals have opened their back issues as open access, and others have converted partially or totally to open access for all issues. List of open access resources in Chemistry are as follows :

  • eMolecules "discovers sources of chemical data by searching the Internet, and receives submissions from data providers such as chemical suppliers and academic research institutions." 
  • ChEBI "Chemical Entities of Biological Interest (ChEBI) is a freely available dictionary of molecular entities focused on ‘small’ chemical compounds." 
  • NIST Chemistry WebBook "...provides thermochemical, thermophysical, and ion energetics data compiled by NIST under the Standard Reference Data Program."
  • ChemExper "This database contains chemicals with their physical characteristics. Everybody can submit chemical information and retrieve information with a Web browser."
  • Compendium of Common Pesticide Names "This Compendium is believed to be the only place where all of the ISO-approved standard names of chemical pesticides are listed. It also includes more than 300 approved names from national and international bodies for pesticides that do not have ISO names."
  • NMRShiftDB "... a NMR database (web database) for organic structures and their nuclear magnetic resonance (nmr) spectra. It allows for spectrum prediction (13C, 1H and other nuclei) as well as for searching spectra, structures and other properties. Last not least, it features peer-reviewed submission of datasets by its users."
  • DrugBank "... a unique bioinformatics and cheminformatics resource that combines detailed drug (i.e. chemical, pharmacological and pharmaceutical) data with comprehensive drug target (i.e. sequence, structure, and pathway) information. The database contains 6707 drug entries including 1436 FDA-approved small molecule drugs, 134 FDA-approved biotech (protein/peptide) drugs, 83 nutraceuticals and 5086 experimental drugs."
  • ChemBank "... includes freely available data derived from small molecules and small-molecule screens, and resources for studying the data so that biological and medical insights can be gained. ChemBank is intended to guide chemists synthesizing novel compounds or libraries, to assist biologists searching for small molecules that perturb specific biological pathways, and to catalyze the process by which drug hunters discover new and effective medicines."
  • NIST Chemical Kinetics Database "A compilation of kinetics data on gas-phase reactions"
  • Computational Chemistry Comparison and Benchmark DataBase "Experimental and computational thermochemical data for a selected set of 1420 gas-phase atoms and molecules. Tools for comparing experimental and computational ideal-gas thermochemical properties."
  • IUPAC-NIST Solubility Database "Data compiled and evaluated by IUPAC (International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry)"
  • BRENDA "BRENDA is the main collection of enzyme functional data available to the scientific community. ... The data collection is being developed into a metabolic network information system with links to Enzyme expression and regulation information."
  • ChemMine "ChemMine is a compound mining database that facilitates drug and agrochemical discovery and chemical genomics screens."
  • Organic Syntheses "... Each procedure is written in considerably more detail as compared to typical experimental procedures in other journals, and each reaction and all characterization data has been carefully "checked" for reproducibility in the laboratory of a member of the Board of Editors."
  • PDBBind "The PDBbind database is designed to provide a collection of experimentally measured binding affinity data (Kd, Ki, and IC50) exclusively for the protein-ligand complexes available in the Protein Data Bank (PDB). All of the binding affinity data compiled in this database are cited from original references."
  •  PubChem "... organized as three linked databases ... PubChem Substance, PubChem Compound, and PubChem BioAssay." 

 

Institutional Repositories @ UMLIB

 

The library has developed a list of Institutional Repositories that allow the management and dissemination of digital materials created by the University and its community members. These are:

  1. University of Malaya Research Repository is an Open Access digital archive containing the details of published and upublished research work produced by the UM researchers. It has been established to provide a deposit service for the academic staff and researchers.
  2. Students Repository is an online archive for the written work of University of Malaya students such as academic exercises, dissertations and these
  3. Common Repository is an initiative by the library to preserve printed items digitally to increase accessibility, visibility as well as conserve old copies of items such as gazzettes, magazines, journals and books.

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