Research report databases
Research report databases are described below in three sections:
- technical reports
- dissertations and theses
- mixed types
Technical Reports
Reports of federally-funded research can be discovered by using databases such as those below.
- NASA Technical Report Server This link opens in a new windowSearch for and retrieve fulltext NASA technical reports.
- National Technical Information Service (NTIS) This link opens in a new windowUse the "Public Access NTRL" search box on the NTIS home page to search for government-funded scientific, technical, engineering, and business related information. You may need to create a free account to view results. NTIS charges for copies of the documents found. NTIS states: "Documents in the NTIS Technical Reports collection are the results of federally funded research. They are directly submitted to or collected by NTIS from Federal agencies for permanent accessibility to industry, academia and the public. Before purchasing from NTIS, you may want to check for free access from (1) the issuing organization's website; (2) the U.S. Government Publishing Office's Federal Digital System website http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys; (3) the federal government Internet portal USA.gov; or (4) a web search conducted using a commercial search engine such as http://www.google.com."
- National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) This link opens in a new windowNTIA provides reports on internet policy, broadband, statistics about internet and computer use (in "Digital Nation" reports), etc.
- Science.gov This link opens in a new windowScience.gov is a gateway to authoritative selected science information provided by U.S. Government agencies including research and development results. To search for technical reports, include the phrase "technical report" with other search terms that describe the topic.
Dissertations and theses
Research reports written to obtain advanced academic degrees -- a dissertation for a doctorate or a thesis for a master's degree -- may be found using dissertation databases.
- Proquest Dissertations and Theses Full Text (PQDT Full Text) This link opens in a new windowIncludes millions of searchable citations to dissertation and theses from around the world from 1861 to the present day together with over a million full text dissertations that are available for download in PDF format. The database offers full text for most of the dissertations added since 1997 and strong retrospective full text coverage for older graduate works. Simple bibliographic citations are available for dissertations dating from 1637.
Mixed types
Science agencies around the world produce scientific information in a variety of media and some databases provide access to all types.
- WorldWideScience.org This link opens in a new windowWorldWideScience.org is a global science gateway—accelerating scientific discovery and progress through a multilateral partnership to enable federated searching of national and international scientific databases and portals.