These databases and search engines provide at least some full-text documents to the public at no charge. Most of these databases include documents on a variety of scientific topics.
- Biodiversity Heritage Library (BHL)
- Encyclopedia of Life (EOL)
- Google Scholar (meta search engine)
- HathiTrust Digital Library
Climate
- Climate Adaptation Science Centers
- Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission (CRITFC) Climate Change Scientific and Technical Resources
Federal Government Databases by Department
Department of Agriculture
- Soil Surveys by State, Natural Resources Conservation Service
- National Agricultural Library
- ScienceBase
- TreeSearch, U.S. Forest Service
- USGS Publications Warehouse
Department of Commerce
Department of Defense (DoD)
- Army Corp of Engineers (USACE) Publications
- Army Environmental Command (USAEC)
- Defense Environmental Programs (DEP) Annual Report to Congress (AEC)
- Defense Technical Information Center (DTIC)
- Homeland Security Digital Library (HSDL)
- Idaho National Laboratory (INL) Research Library
- Planning Community Toolbox, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE)
- US Army Corp of Engineers (USACE) Digital Library
Department of Energy (DOE)
- Depleted UF6 Management Information Network, U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s)
- INL Research Library Digital Repository
- The Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI)
- Office of Environmental Management Risk Assessment Information System (RAIS)
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
- National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) – Provides downloadable copies of Environmental Impact Statements (EIS) submitted since October of 2012, and records of all those submitted since 1987. Federal Agencies are required to submit Environmental Impact Statements to the EPA.
National Institutes of Health (NIH)
- PubChem National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI), National Library of Medicine (NLM),
US Geological Survey (USGS)
Other Federal Government Resources
- Catalog of Government Publications (CGP) – Government Publishing Office (GPO)
- MetaLib Government Publishing Office (GPO) – Search many government databases at once with this meta search engine.
- Government Accountability Office (GAO)
- Interstate Technology & Regulatory Council (ITRC) Environmental Research Institute of the States (ERIS) and Environmental Council of the States (ECOS)
- Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) Library
- Science.gov
- See our FARRIT page on Government Documents for more government resources.
Updated by rjoiner on August 11, 2020.