Aquatic Sciences and Fisheries Abstracts

Aquatic Sciences and Fisheries Abstracts
Title	Aquatic Sciences and Fisheries Abstracts
Discipline	Aquatic science; Fisheries science
Publisher	ProQuest
Country	United Kingdom; United States
History	1970–present
Frequency	Weekly; Monthly
ISSN	0000-0000

Aquatic Sciences and Fisheries Abstracts is a bibliographic database that indexes literature relevant to ichthyology, marine biology, oceanography, fisheries management, and related applied sciences. It serves researchers associated with institutions such as the Smithsonian Institution, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of Washington, and University of British Columbia. The resource aggregates records from journals, reports, conference proceedings, and theses produced by bodies including the Food and Agriculture Organization, United Nations Environment Programme, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, and the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea.

Overview

The database provides abstracts and indexing for literature produced by publishers like Elsevier, Springer Nature, Taylor & Francis, Wiley-Blackwell, and Cambridge University Press. Users from organizations such as the Natural History Museum, London, Australian Institute of Marine Science, Institut de recherche pour le développement, National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research, and Pew Charitable Trusts rely on it alongside platforms like Scopus, Web of Science, Google Scholar, PubMed, and AGRIS. Libraries at British Library, Library of Congress, National Diet Library (Japan), and university consortia link it with catalogues such as WorldCat and discovery services from Ex Libris and OCLC.

History and Development

Founded in the wake of growing interest in fisheries and aquatic research during the late 20th century, its development involved collaborations with institutions including FAO, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, and national agencies like NOAA and Environment and Climate Change Canada. Early editorial input came from staff with affiliations to University of Southampton, University of Tokyo, University of Bergen, and University of Cape Town. Over time, corporate transitions connected it to database aggregators such as ProQuest and Cambridge Scientific Abstracts while remaining relevant to curricula at University of Miami (Florida), James Cook University, and Hawaii Pacific University.

Content and Coverage

Coverage spans subject areas intersecting with journals like ICES Journal of Marine Science, Marine Ecology Progress Series, Fisheries Research, Journal of Fish Biology, and Aquaculture. Record types include peer-reviewed articles from publishers like Oxford University Press, technical reports from United States Geological Survey, conference proceedings from events such as the International Fisheries Symposium, theses from universities like University of Copenhagen, and gray literature produced by NGOs such as The Nature Conservancy and World Wildlife Fund. Geographic scope covers regions studied by researchers at Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, Alfred Wegener Institute, Lamont–Doherty Earth Observatory, Institute of Marine Research (Norway), and Cefas.

Indexing and Abstracting Process

Indexing relies on controlled vocabularies and thesauri developed in consultation with stakeholders including FAO, ICES, NOAA Fisheries, and academic partners at Cornell University, University of Cambridge, and McGill University. Metadata elements align with standards used by Dublin Core, MARC 21, and repository services at institutions like Harvard University Library and Yale University Library. Editorial workflows parallel those of indexing services such as Chemical Abstracts Service and ERIC, involving subject specialists from centers like Plymouth Marine Laboratory and CSIRO for quality assurance.

Access and Availability

Access is provided through subscription platforms maintained by ProQuest and licensed to academic libraries such as University of Oxford, University of Toronto, National University of Singapore, and consortia including JU:LINK and CARL. Integration occurs with discovery tools from EBSCO Information Services, Ovid Technologies, and institutional repositories at ETH Zurich and TU Delft. Remote access options use authentication systems like Shibboleth and OpenAthens, and links to full text point to publishers including Nature Publishing Group, Routledge, and Informa when permissions allow.

Impact and Usage

Researchers affiliated with NOAA, FAO, WorldFish, International Union for Conservation of Nature, and university departments at University of California, Santa Barbara and University of St Andrews use the database to inform stock assessments, environmental impact statements, conservation plans, and policy briefs. It supports citation analyses comparable to outputs indexed in Scopus and informs reports for agencies such as United States Fish and Wildlife Service and European Environment Agency. Academic programs at University of British Columbia, University of Auckland, Plymouth University, and University of Tromsø incorporate its records into coursework and theses.

Related Databases and Integration

Comparable and complementary resources include Aquatic Commons, FishBase, SeaLifeBase, Ocean Biogeographic Information System, Global Biodiversity Information Facility, AGRIS, CAB Abstracts, and subject indexes maintained by National Oceanography Centre. Integration workflows link records to institutional repositories at Imperial College London, citation managers like Zotero and EndNote, and research networks such as ResearchGate and ORCID.

Category:Bibliographic databases Category:Marine biology Category:Fisheries science