Finding conference proceedings

Locating conference proceedings on the Internet

Conference papers and proceedings are covered by many of the databases listed on NUsearch [UK, China, Malaysia].

Some examples include:

• Google Scholar: is particularly useful for finding conference papers and proceedings,
• IEEE/IET Electronic Library: for conferences published by the IEEE and IET
• Scopus: covers mostly the science, technical and medical subject areas
• Web of Science: includes a conference proceedings citation index for science and social science & humanities from 1990 to the present to the present.
• Zetoc: indexes over 16,000 conference proceedings in a variety of subject area

If the conference is organized by an institution or society you could search on their website for more information.

Searching for conference papers

• Conferences may also be called meetings, symposia, seminars, colloquia, congresses, workshops, or conventions.
• You can search with the conference title, the sponsor’s name, the location and/or date of the conference.
• If you are looking for a particular paper you could try the author’s name and the title of the paper
• Conferences may be published
  • in journals, sometimes in a supplement
  • as a book
  • on the Internet

Locating conference proceedings in the library

NUsearch [UK; China; Malaysia] provides details of conference proceedings available in the library.

Search by subject area or use keywords from the conference name to find out if a conference proceeding is held.

For example:

You have found a reference to a conference:-

Institute of Ergonomics & Human Factors (Great Britain). Conference (2011 : Stoke Rochford Hall, Lincolnshire, UK)  Contemporary ergonomics and human factors 2011 / editor, Martin Anderson.  Boca Raton, Fla. ; London : CRC Press ; Loughborough : Institute of Ergonomics & Human Factors, 2011.

To find the conference proceedings on NUsearch type the keywords “contemporary ergonomics and human factors” into the search box, select ‘Conference proceedings' from the ‘All items’ dropdown, and click search

Obtaining conference proceedings not held by the library

If the library does not hold the conference proceeding, you can request a copy through Interlibrary loans.

Some conference proceedings may only include abstracts and not the full papers.  Authors often write a full account for publication in a journal later, so you could try searching for a journal article by the same people or contact the author directly.