LibGuides: Civil, Architectural, and Environmental Engineering: Research Papers, News Updates, and Journals

Find Articles & Journals

Here is a list of recommended databases for research papers in civil, architectural, and environmental engineering:

Coverage varies by product but most help you find research papers --- including journal articles and conference papers --- on topics of interest. See more products at the big list of Databases, where you may search by subject, type, and provider.

Which to select?

Compendex is the top choice to cover the journal and conference literature of engineering.
TRID looks specifically at the transportation literature.
GeoRef is the specialty index for the literature of geology. Compendex and GeoRef may be searched together in one search.
Avery is the special index for the literature of architecture and can be the best place to find information about design.
Academic Search Complete indexes engineering journals but not conference papers. The interdisciplinary coverage and friendly interface are good for engineering and related topics.
It depends. You may be designing for a medical facility or be interested in a user interface. There are special indexing products for the medical and psychological literatures.

Compendex This link opens in a new window
Index to the research literature of engineering. May also search with Inspec and GeoRef.
Updated weekly. Ei Compendex indexes the research literature of the field of engineering. The product contains more than 17 million total records. Over a million new records, with abstracts, are added per year. More than 3,600 journals and 4,100 conference publications and trade magazines are currently indexed. Customizable e-mail or RSS alerts are available.
TRID: The TRIS and ITRD Database This link opens in a new window
Indexes the research literature of transportation.
TRID is an integrated database that combines the records from the TRB’s Transportation Research Information Services (TRIS) Database and the OECD’s Joint Transport Research Centre’s International Transport Research Documentation (ITRD) Database. TRID provides access to more than one million records of transportation research worldwide.
GeoRef This link opens in a new window
Indexes the research literature of Geology and is the premier tool for this purpose. May also be searched with Compendex and Inspec.
Updated bi-monthly. Covers the geology of North America from 1785 to the present, and the geology of the rest of the world from 1933 to the present. Contains references to geoscience journal articles, books, maps, conference papers, reports and theses. Includes references to all publications of the U.S. Geological Survey. Masters' theses and doctoral dissertations from U.S. and Canadian universities are also covered.
Avery Index to Architectural Periodicals This link opens in a new window
Indexes the literature of architecture, design, and planning.
Updated weekly. Indexes more than 2,000 periodicals published worldwide on architecture and design, archaeology, city planning, interior design, and historic preservation. Avery indexes not only the international scholarly and popular periodical literature, but also the publications of professional associations, U.S. state and regional periodicals, and the major serial publications on architecture and design of Europe, Asia, Latin America, and Australia. Includes obituary citations.
Academic Search Complete This link opens in a new window
Interdisciplinary, with good coverage of engineering journals.
Updated daily. A comprehensive scholarly, multi-disciplinary full text database, with more than 5,300 full text periodicals, including 4,400 peer-reviewed journals. Offers indexing and abstracts for more than 9,300 journals and a total of 10,900 publications including monographs, reports, conference proceedings, etc.
Features PDF content going back as far as 1865, with the majority of full text titles in native (searchable) PDF format. Searchable cited references are provided for 1,000 journals.
Business Source Complete This link opens in a new window
Indexes business news and the research literature of business. Much full text.
Updated monthly. A scholarly business database providing a collection of bibliographic and full text content in all disciplines of business, including marketing, management, MIS, POM, accounting, finance and economics. Indexing and abstracts for scholarly business journals back to 1886 are included.
Searchable cited references provided for more than 1,200 journals. Contains detailed author profiles for the 20,000 most-cited authors in the database.
Additional full text, non-journal content includes financial data, books, monographs, major reference works, book digests, conference proceedings, case studies, investment research reports, industry reports, market research reports, country reports, company profiles, and SWOT analyses.
ABI/INFORM Global This link opens in a new window
Indexes the literature of business and management. With the ProQuest interface.
Updated daily. In-depth coverage of business issues, management techniques, competitive information, and a variety of other topics.
Building Green This link opens in a new window
Includes information on a wide range of topics related to sustainable building, including energy efficiency, recycled-content materials, land-use planning and indoor air quality. Integrates online versions of GreenSpec, Environmental Building News (EBN), and a database of more than 100 high-performance building case studies.
Updated monthly. Includes information on a wide range of topics related to sustainable building, including energy efficiency, recycled-content materials, land-use planning and indoor air quality. Integrates online versions of GreenSpec, Environmental Building News (EBN), and a database of more than 100 high-performance building case studies. Provides a searchable and cross-referenced format.
Registering for a personal profile helps you stay informed about new content added to the BuildingGreen website. Each month there is a new feature-length article on a design-related topic as well as reviews of building materials and case studies of high performance buildings. By signing up for a personal profile you will receive the monthly issue notice.
Use this link and access code to create a personal account:
http://www2.buildinggreen.com/cw-account
University of Texas at Austin Access code: 16H7KOA9
GreenFILE This link opens in a new window
Offers well-researched information covering all aspects of human impact to the environment. Its collection of scholarly, government and general-interest titles includes content on global warming, green building, pollution, sustainable agriculture, renewable energy, recycling, and more.
Offers well-researched information covering all aspects of human impact to the environment. Its collection of scholarly, government and general-interest titles includes content on global warming, green building, pollution, sustainable agriculture, renewable energy, recycling, and more. The database provides indexing and abstracts for more than 538,000 records, as well as Open Access full text for more than 5,800 records.
Web of Science This link opens in a new window
Best known for its "cited reference search." Also a broad-based index to the research literature of science and technology.
Updated weekly. The Web of Science Core Collection is a group of databases (Science Citation Index Expanded, 1900-present; Social Sciences Citation Index, 1900-present; Arts & Humanities Citation Index, 1975-present) that together cover more than 21,000 journals across all disciplines. The Emerging Sources Citation Index (2005-present) tracks thousands of additional journals that are being considered for inclusion in the main citation indexes. Other files track references from conference proceedings (1990-present) and citations to books (2005-present).
The Web of Science platform currently also provides temporary access to several databases that are not part of the Core Collection, including Biosis Citation Index, Data Citation Index, and Zoological Record.

For News Coverage

Factiva This link opens in a new window
A full-text news database. Offering access to the text of newspaper articles, business updates, market research, and international publications.
Updated daily. A global information resource, providing full-text access to top national and international newspapers (including full text of the Wall Street Journal), newswires, business journals, market research reports, analysts reports and web sites. Contains over 8000 publications with content from 118 countries in 22 languages.
This database was formerly called Dow Jones Interactive.
We have a limited number of users for this database. Please select the logout option before you leave your session. When the limit is reached, a username and password prompt will probably be displayed. If this happens, simply wait 15 minutes and then try the link again.
Nexis Uni This link opens in a new window
Formerly LexisNexis. A full-text database providing access to newspaper articles and other news sources. Also, separately, provides access to legal information.
Updated continually. Nexis Uni™ features more than 15,000 news, business and legal sources from LexisNexis®—including U.S. Supreme Court decisions dating back to 1790—with an interface that offers discovery across all content types, personalization features such as Alerts and saved searches and a collaborative workspace with shared folders and annotated documents.
Effective January 1, 2018, Nexis Uni™ replaces LexisNexis Academic.

Collections of Papers from Societies

These databases are valuable sources and are satisfying for their full-text content but be aware that each indexes publications from one society. You will also want to search using an indexing tool with more comprehensive coverage:

ASCE (American Society of Civil Engineers) Research Library This link opens in a new window
Indexes and links to full text for ASCE publications from 1872 to date.
Updated weekly. Provide full text access to all publications of the ASCE (American Society of Civil Engineers), including all the journals, conference proceedings, books, standards, manuals, magazines, and newsletters.
Provides full text access to all 30 journals published by the ASCE. Represents a premier source of technical information for the civil engineering profession and form the core collection in the field.
SAE Mobilus This link opens in a new window
Includes the full text of the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) technical papers. Cites mobility information used in designing, building, maintaining, and operating self-propelled vehicles for use on land or sea, in air or space; also includes accident reconstruction and occupant protection and safety.
Updated regularly. Providing resources on technologies related to the automotive, aerospace, and commercial vehicle industries. Including:
- SAE Technical papers, 1906+
- SAE Journals, 2008+
- SAE Magazines, 2023+
- SAE E-Books, 1990+
- SAE Standards, current version
- Ground vehicle
- Aerospace
- Aerospace Material Specifications

If you don't see a PDF or HTML link, connecting you to the full article, click the "Find it at UT" button to see if the article is available in another database or in print in one of the UT Libraries.

If it's only available in print or you can't see how to otherwise obtain a copy, go to "Get a Scan" and complete a request form.

Find Journals

To see if we have a particular journal (i.e. Nature, ENR), either in print or electronic format, use the J ounal link.

Journal Collections

Engineering Societies: see the print and full text holding for more than a dozen key engineering societies such as AIAA, ASCE, ASME, IEEE, SAE, SPE, SPIE and more.
Journal Collections by publisher, including engineering societies.