What are Engineering Village's Content Sources?
Last updated on March 12, 2026
Engineering Village hosts several databases. The following list provides more information about the databases and resources available on Engineering Village.
Click each database name below for further information about each content source. Additionally, you may review the ‘Databases on Engineering Village’ page on the Elsevier website.
Chemical Business NewsBase (CBNB) contains research and development news, in-depth commentary, and insightful analysis regarding the chemical and chemical engineering industry. The leading provider of worldwide chemical business news and information, CBNB includes records from the following sources:
- books
- company newsletters
- journals
- newspapers
- press releases
CBNB allows you to search for facts, figures, views, and comments on the chemical industry worldwide, from 1985 to the present. This database gives you access to business and financial information from the most influential chemical companies, the most recent research and development news, information on current and upcoming changes to government legislation, and analysis of economic trends that affect the chemical industry.
CBNB covers content from over 150 publishers and 160 countries/regions. This database, which is updated weekly, adds approximately 45,000 records annually and currently includes over 2 million records.
For more detailed information about this database, refer to the Chemical Business Newsbase (CBNB) description on the ‘Databases on Engineering Village’ page.
Chimica provides access to international journals related to chemistry and chemical engineering. Chimica provides exceptional focus on applied and analytical chemistry, and extends to cover general chemistry, chemical engineering, as well as organic and inorganic chemistry.
Each title is carefully selected to enhance your research process and bring you quality results. Coverage in Chimica starts in 1970. Chimica is updated weekly.
For more detailed information about this database, refer to the Chimica description on the ‘Databases on Engineering Village’ page.
Compendex (derived from ‘COMPuterized ENgineering InDEX’) is Elsevier's premier engineering-focused database. It provides a global view of peer-reviewed and indexed publications with over 37 million records from 89 countries/regions across 190 engineering subject areas. Every record is carefully selected and indexed using the Engineering Index (Ei) Thesaurus to ensure discovery and retrieval of engineering-specific literature upon which engineering students and professionals can rely. By using Compendex, engineers can be confident the information is relevant, complete, accurate, and of high quality.
Compendex contains journals, trade magazines, conference proceedings, dissertations, standards, books, book chapters, book series, and preprints.
For information about the subject concepts in Compendex, refer to the Compendex New Subject Concepts page.
For more detailed information and statistics about the content included in this database, refer to the Compendex on Engineering Village page and the Compendex fact sheet.
Founded in 1884, Engineering index (Ei) has recorded virtually every major engineering innovation from around the world. The Ei Backfile provides a comprehensive, historical view of engineering innovations from 1884-1969 with over 1.7 million records digitized from the original print indexes. Information is fully searchable with access to original records chronicling virtually every major engineering breakthrough from the late 19th through 20th centuries.
The Ei Backfile covers the disciplines of Civil and Mechanical engineering, Electrical engineering, and Mining engineering. Combined with Compendex, it provides the most comprehensive overview of the last almost 140 years of engineering literature, and it is available only in Engineering Village.
For more detailed information and statistics about the content included in this database, refer to the Ei Backfile description on the ‘Databases on Engineering Village’ page.
The GEOBASE database contains geoscience literature: Earth sciences, ecology, geology, human and physical geography, oceanography, geomechanics, international development studies/impacts. The content crosses subject, language, and cultural boundaries, providing a unique research tool to users.
GEOBASE contains over 5 million abstract records of multidisciplinary content, enabling comprehensive geological evaluation of any desirable region. This includes geological structure and a relation to natural resources, and linking resource management, transport, and regional and urban planning.
From 1973 to the present:
- journal articles
- conference articles
- books and book chapters
- data papers
For more detailed information about the content included in this database, refer to the GEOBASE description on the ‘Databases on Engineering Village’ page.
The GeoRef Abstracting and Indexing Service is produced by the American Geosciences Institute (AGI) with a focus on comprehensive coverage of the global geological sciences. GeoRef is produced by geoscientists applying current geologic terminology and geolocation data. The content is indexed with geoscience terms from the GeoRef Thesaurus.
GeoRef is the most in-depth bibliographic database available for geoscience literature and research.
GeoRef In Process
GeoRef In Process contains unedited records that are still in the process of being indexed. Some of the records originate from older, non-English language literature, while other more current records are not yet complete. Once the editing and indexing of the records is complete, the reference will be moved into the main GeoRef database. GeoRef In Process is intended as a supplement to the main GeoRef database.
Content coverage
- Over 4 million records
- Coverage for North America dates from 1666 to the present
- Coverage for the rest of the world dates from 1933 to the present
Content sources
Journals, books, maps, conferences, reports, and dissertations
U.S. Geological Survey publications
Refer to Searching Subject Categories, the GeoRef Serials List, and the GeoRef what does it cover list as well as the GeoRef description on the ‘Databases on Engineering Village’ page for further information about this database.
Inspec was created by the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) and is a leading bibliographic scientific engineering research database providing access to the world's scientific literature in the following areas:
- electrical engineering
- electronics
- physics
- computers and control
- information technology
- mechanical
- production engineering
The Inspec database contains over 28 million bibliographic records from scientific and technical journals, dissertations, preprints, books, book chapters, standards, conference articles, and conference proceedings. Over 800,000 new records are added to the database annually. Refer to the Inspec fact sheet as well as the Inspec description on the ‘Inspec on Engineering Village’ page for more detailed information about this database.
Online coverage is from 1969 to the present, and records are updated weekly.
For further information regarding Inspec, refer to the ‘Guides and Support’ as well as to the ‘Inspec content and coverage’ pages of the IET website.
Due to the digitizing of the entire collection of Science Abstracts Journals, which were the precursors to the Inspec database, librarians, academics, and students are provided access to over 870,000 abstract records spanning the years 1898 through 1968. Documents in the Inspec Archive are often much longer than current documents and frequently contain diagrams and mathematical proofs. These records have been enhanced with present day Inspec Thesaurus terms and Classification codes.
The Inspec Archive provides access to the following types of historical scientific records:
- Journal articles
- Conferences
- Books
- Reports
- Dissertations
- Patents
Knovel is an engineering decision-support solution delivering best practice insights, material and substance properties data, and validated equations through powerful search and interactive analytical tools. Engineers can confidently find answers to technical questions from more than 170 publishers, societies, and professional associations. Knovel has helped thousands of engineers and researchers from leading academic institutions and companies around the world enhance research and productivity, achieve operational excellence, reduce costs, and build expertise.
The Knovel database offers comprehensive coverage of engineering topics drawn from sources across disciplines and industries, with more than 40 subject categories, over 54 million data points, and more than 250 universities and research institutions worldwide. Refer to the Knovel Engineering information page for further detailed information about this database.
The National Technical Information Service (NTIS) database is the United States Federal Government's clearing house for scientific, technical information (STEI) produced by or for federal agencies. The NTIS database is the the premier source for accessing unclassified reports from U.S. and international government agencies. More information is available from the NTIS website.
The NTIS database is updated weekly, and it includes over 2.6 million abstract records that date back to 1899. This database contains coverage of 39 different topics and information from 160 U.S. and international government agencies. For more detailed information and statistics about the content included in this database, refer to the NTIS description on the ‘Databases on Engineering Village’ page.
PaperChem is a comprehensive bibliographic database covering international literature related to pulp and paper technology. It is indexed with the Thesaurus of Pulp and Paper. It includes abstracts of journal articles, conference articles, dissertations, book chapters, and patents.
The Paperchem database contains over 890,000 records from 1967 to the present. Weekly updates ensure that users are kept current of new developments. For more detailed information and statistics about the content included in this database, refer to the PaperChem description on the ‘Databases on Engineering Village’ page.
Patents Plus in Engineering Village is an integrated database that currently features patent offices including China (CN), Europe (EP), Germany (DE), Japan (JP), the United Kingdom (GB), the United States (US), and the World Intellectual Property Organization - WIPO (WO). Patents Plus is enhanced with Compendex subject indexing.
Patents Plus is updated weekly and includes both patent applications as well as granted patents.
Overview of content/data available in all patent offices:
- patent abstracts
- patent and non-patent references
- inventors and assignees
- links to sources that cite patents
- links to full-text PDF patent documents (freely downloadable)
- Cooperative Patent Classification (CPC) codes
- International Patent Classification (IPC) codes
For more detailed information and statistics about the content included in this database, refer to the Patents Plus description on the ‘Databases on Engineering Village’ page.
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