Physics & Astronomy: Home
JF Allen Library
The JF Allen Library is the University's main science library. Most textbooks for the sciences are held here although for research in some subjects or to consult older works you may have to use the Main Library.
It is located on the top floor of the Physics building on North Haugh. During the day it is open to all students.
For more information please see the JF Allen page on the Library website.
New!
Browse your favourite journals on your Tablet or iOS device. Easy to use, no sign in required after initial set up.
"I think it's brilliant! ... It's easy to use and everything is neatly in one place. A definite thumbs up from me!" Senior researcher in the School of Medicine.
Search the Library
E-journals
Use this box to find out if the Library subscribes to a particular journal title.
Reading Lists
Access your reading lists and get a direct link to the catalogue or electronic resource through our reading list service. Also accessible through Moodle, MMS and iSaint.
Key Databases for Physics & Astronomy
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Library searcha single access point to many of the Library's e-resources - databases, e-journals, e-books and print books.
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Scopusa large multidisciplinary abstracting and citation database of peer-reviewed research literature. Covers over 19,000 journal titles.
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Web of ScienceA multidisciplinary citation database with coverage of over 10,000 high-impact journals in the sciences, social sciences, and arts and humanities, as well as international proceedings coverage for over 120,000 conferences. For off campus access sign in using your Athens username and password
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arXiv.orgOpen access to over 600,000 e-prints in Physics, Mathematics, Computer Science, Quantitative Biology, Quantitative Finance and Statistics
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Google ScholarEasy to search but can produce an overwhelming number of results and doesn't tell you whether we have access to the full text version.
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Science DirectAccess to the journals from the Publisher Elsevier. Note the Library has only subscribed to some of these journals so they won't always be available full text.
New books in the Library
Subject Guide
North Street
St Andrews
Fife
KY16 9TR
Useful Links
Useful Search & Reference Resources
Credo Reference is a collection of serveral hundred major reference books including dictionaries, encyclopaedias and thesauri. It has several Astronomy & Physics reference works such as Astronomy Encyclopedia, Dictionary of Astronomy, Encyclopedia of the Solar System, Guide to Stars and Planets, Illustrated Dictionary of Science, McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific and Technical Terms and The Penguin Dictionary of Physics
Wolfram Alpha is a science search engine that also lets you carry out calculations.