As a benefit to members, the History of Science Society provides free access to the History of Science, Technology and Medicine Database, administered by the Research Libraries Group. History of Science, Technology, and Medicine is the definitive international bibliography on the development and influence of science, from prehistory to the present.   It integrates four premier tools for historians: Isis Current Bibliography of the History of Science , Current Bibliography in the History of Technology , Bibliografia Italiana di Storia della Scienza , and citations from the Wellcome Library for the History and Understanding of Medicine (incorporating the former Wellcome Bibliography for the History of Medicine). It is created under the auspices of the International Union of the History and Philosophy of Science, and distributed by RLG, a not-for-profit organization of libraries, archives, and museums.

Connect to the Database Over the Web

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Please note that this service is reserved for individual members of the Society.
Join the Society and gain access to this powerful multidisciplinary research tool.

Access to the database requires a username and password. These are available to individual members from the HSS Executive Office or published in the latest HSS Newsletter.

Free access is not available to Institutional subscribers to Isis. Institutions that are interested in obtaining access to the database should contact the Research Libraries Group directly.

For more information on the History of Science and Technology Database, click here. You can also access the list of journal titles indexed in HST by clicking here.

You may also wish to visit the Research Libraries Group's corporate website or RLG's CitaDel (citation access and document delivery) service.

Some hints when searching the Online Database:

Sample Searches Walk-through

Question: How do I find information about the Manhattan Project?

Type manhattan project in the Eureka® search box and click the Search button.

Since the Keyword index provides the broadest form of subject search, it is always used unless you click one of the other choices:

Results of up to 250 records are sorted by year (most recent first) and by author and title within a year. To re-sort the initial results display, click the Author, Title, or Year button at the top of the list.

Click the Check all link above the individual citation check boxes. This automatically gives you all the citations in the next display you request. If you prefer, you may selectively check particular citations.

Click the Full display button. This will provide the most complete bibliographic display of the citations you have checked.

Scroll through the Full records display showing an array of citations pertaining to the Manhattan Project:

Question: What do you have relating to the mystical aspects of alchemy?

Type alchem? mystic? in the search box and click the Search button.

In Eureka the truncation symbol is a question mark: ? Use this if you are not sure of the spelling of a word or want to pick up variants. Here, it will retrieve any citations with the words "alchemy," "alchemist," or "alchemists," and "mystic," "mystics," "mystical," or "mysticism."

Click the Check all link on the resulting screen or selectively click the citations that appear to best match your topic; then click the Full display button.

Scroll through the resulting Full records display showing an array of citations on alchemy and mysticism.

Question: What about information on the Industrial Revolution?

Type industrial revolution in the search box and click the Search button.

Click the Check all link on the resulting screen or selectively click the citations that appear to best match your topic; then click the Full display button.

Scroll through the resulting Full records display showing an array of citations on the Industrial Revolution.

Question: How can I refine my search for a more focused result?

To look just for information on the economic aspects of the Industrial Revolution, add another term to your last search by clicking the Refine link (above and left of the Check all link). On the Refine Search screen shown below, stay with the Keyword index selection. Type economic? in the search box and click the Search button below the index menus.

Look through the resulting display of citations on economics and the Industrial Revolution.

This page last modified: 1 October, 2004