Some may call what I’m about to show you magic, while others might offer a rational explanation for how it works. I’ll let you draw your own conclusions. Before reading this post any further, follow these instructions if you are interested in chemistry journal titles:

1. Go to Chemistry Reference Resolver
2. Paste the following into the text box: Biochemistry. 2013;52(22):3841-51
3. Click on Resolve

Viola! You should be brought to the following webpage containing the reference and full text (if available):

Continue reading →

We all have our own unique way of conducting research and finding good evidence across databases, and the same is true of actually retrieving articles to read and review. Some take the approach of aggregating all references in a simple list of URLs, or with a bibliographic management tool: Mendeley, EndNote, RefWorks, etc. Some download or print each ‘good’ article as they encounter it. However you slice it, there is always a need to properly cite the articles you’re looking at. Google Chrome offers a browser extension to do just that by displaying formatted citation for the article at a given URL (or list of URLs). Below are the instructions for adding the extension to Chrome:

1. Download the zip file and extract it (file can be found here, see step one of the project)
   
2. Go to Chrome –> Tools –> Extensions –> check “Developer mode” –> click “Load unpacked extension…” –> choose the “extension” directory in the extracted project
3. Click the new button in Chrome’s toolbar (icon looks like a quill) –> enter a list of URLs –> click the Cite button

Here is the final result…

Feel free to ask us if you have any questions on setting up the extension in Google Chrome.

Carrot² is a modern search engine that uses semantic and natural processing language to cluster your search results into intuitive concepts, it also provides visual representations of results for easier browsing. Currently, the database searches within the following datasets:

• Web (via eTools.ch – a meta search engine based in Switzerland, which includes Google results)
• Bing
• Bing News
• Bing Images
• Wikipedia
• Indeed.com
• PubMed
• Poznan University of Technology site (the developing institution of Carrot²)

After choosing a database and running a search, users have three options to choose from: Folders, Circles, FoamTree. Folders is the default view and displays the results into topic clusters, making it easy to view references on a more targeted level as opposed to the entire list of results. Circles displays concept clusters visually in a circular format while FoamTree shows the clusters visually in a bubble format. Try running a search using the PubMed tab and toggle between the three tabs in the upper left to see the difference in displays.

Carrot² is an open source resource that’s searchable via the Web or can be downloaded to your workstation by visiting the downloads page and choosing the appropriate operating system (OS) option.