The Ohio State University Libraries in partnership with the Department of Chemistry are pleased to announce that they have entered into a license agreement with Chemical Abstracts Service (CAS) to provide electronic access to the Chemical Abstracts (CA) database for OSU faculty, staff and students. Access is via SciFinder Scholar, a proprietary software program based on client-server technology. SciFinder Scholar provides a graphic interface that permits easy, natural language searching by subject, author, and chemical substance. Both PC and Macintosh versions of the client are available.

The Chemical Abstracts database (1967 to present) is the largest and most comprehensive database of chemical literature in the world. It covers not only the core areas of chemistry but also chemistry related sciences such as biotechnology, agricultural chemistry, environmental science, medicine, toxicology, food science, textiles, petroleum products and packaging among others.

June 17, 2003 -- Access to the CA database using The SciFinder Scholar access limit has been increased from 4 to 8 simultaneous users 24 hours a day. In addition, we will now have access to substructure searching.

The latest version of SciFinder Scholar is available for downloading from

"OIT Software Downloads" server

Restricted to current OSU faculty, staff and students

By accessing the download area, you implicitly accept the SciFinder Scholar User Agreement.

In addition, SciFinder Scholar is available from selected computers in the Biology Pharmacy Library and Science & Engineering Library. For more information on SciFinder Scholar, please go to

CAS SciFinder Scholar Web Site

If you have questions regarding either access to or use of SciFinder Scholar, please contact:

      chemistry_librarian@chemistry.ohio-state.edu