Search and find

Here you may find all research tools listed by media type that are available from the library.

If you are outside of the campus network, you will need the OpenVPN to access e-books and the database contents. Some providers also offer access via Shibboleth (SSO). Please, observe the legal notes on licensed databases.


  • Online-Catalogue - Local supply with interlibrary loaning option all over Germany
  • BOSS - Local stock (print and digital) and SWB interlibrary loaning (mainly libraries from Baden-Württemberg)
  • KVK - Stock of libraries in Germany & abroad

  • Online-Catalogue -local stock (print & online) and link to the journals database (ZDB) about ‘InterlibraryLoanArticles’ with order option for individual articles by interlibrary loaning.
  • Electronic Journals Library (EZB) -online journals stock all over Germany. A colour indicator system tells you whether and which volumes are released for the Aalen University. Links to the full texts are available.
  • Journals database (ZDB) - Print & online journals stock of Germany and Austria, without ordering option. No evidence of individual articles.
  • SpringerLink - The archive contains the full texts of more than 1,050 journals of the Springer publishing company (including Kluwer), as a rule, from volumes 1 up to 2002.




  • BOSS - by inquiry, not only the local stock is browsed but also the contents of most databases licensed by the Aalen University.
  • Database information system (DBIS) - a selection of databases on different subjects.


Statistics are written compilations of the results of large-scale research, usually output in lists or charts (see Merriam-Webster, last checked on 2022-12-16) Statistics can be found here:


Database Information System (DBIS) - Collection: Statistics

Educational and training videos in various languages are available on the LinkedIn Learning video streaming portal. Please note that an account must be created.

In the library you may read the following daily or weekly newspapsers:

Regional newspapers:

  • Schwäbische Post
  • Wirtschaft regional

National newspapers:

  • Süddeutsche Zeitung
  • Stuttgarter Zeitung
  • Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
  • Die Zeit
  • Das Parlament

Specialist newspapers:

  • Handelsblatt

Foreign newspapers:

  • Financial Times


We keep older editions for about 2 weeks. Please, ask for them at the counter.


You may find other national and international daily or weekly newspapers in the WISO database under the item ‘Press’.

AI tools for scientific literature research can be divided into two categories:

Finders

  • Search with phrases or complete questions
  • Mainly finds journal articles in English that have a DOI and have been published in open access
  • Finds few books
  • Good for natural sciences and medical subjects
  • Not very suitable for social sciences and humanities
  • Examples: Consensus; Elicit; ORKGAsk (data protection compliant)
  • Further information on finders can be found here.

Connectors

  • The starting point for the search is a paper that has already been found (seed paper) and its DOI
  • Based on citations and thematic relationships, visual interactive maps of publication networks are created
  • Very quick introduction to a topic – particularly suitable as a starting point for research
  • Examples: Open Knowledge Maps, Research Rabbit, Local Citation Network (focus on data protection)
  • Further information on finders can be found here.


Important information on use

Recommendation

AI tools are a valuable addition, but not a substitute for traditional research methods. Use them as intelligent support, not as your sole source of information. They are particularly helpful as a starting point for research. The library's research tools can be found at DBIS.

The interdisciplinary database Scopus AI is particularly recommended here. As with the Finders, you can enter your research question here, so there is no need for search terms such as keywords. The hits here come from the database index and are therefore of high scientific quality.


Assessment of the use of chatbots for scientific literature research

Since early 2025, chatbots such as ChatGPT, Gemini, Microsoft Copilot, and Claude have improved significantly thanks to live access to the web and features such as “deep research.” Nevertheless, problems with hallucinated or incorrect references continue to occur. In addition, the generated responses often list only a limited number of relevant publications. Currently, “general-purpose AI chatbots” therefore do not yet offer any significant added value or noticeable time savings in scientific research.

Web-Catalogue