Practical training in information science : selection of guides and tutorials

Details: Last Updated: 20 November 2025

Main sections :
- The main tools and resources (guides and tutorials to discover and use them)
- The main training organiz ations specialized in scientific and technical information

Index : Academic search ultimate ; ADUM ; BibCNRS ; Centre Mersenne ; Click & Read ; CORE ; Data management plan (writing) ; DMP (writing) ; DOI (how to get it) ; EBSCOhost ; EBSCO Open dissertations ; ECCO ; EEBO ; EndNote ; Espacenet ; Essential science indicators (ESI) ; Georef ; HAL ; Horizon Europe ; ISTEX ; Journal citation reports ; JSTOR ; Matilda ; Nature.com ; OpenAlex ; OpenEdtion ; ORCID (how to get it) ; PANIST ; Persée ; PLMLaTex ; RRUFF project ; Science direct ; SCOPUS ; Springer Link ; STAR ; STEP ; Sygefor ; Training (organizations) ; UniCA library (portal) ; UniCA library (training) ; URFIST ; VosViewer ; Web of science ; Wiley online library ; WOS ; ZbMathOpen ; Zotero

The main tools and resources (in alphabetical order) (guides and tutorials)

Academic search ultimate (EBSCO)

Academic search ultimate
EBSCO

the world’s largest multidisciplinary full-text database. It provides access to over 9,000 journals via the EBSCOHost search engine. An average 12-month embargo is required to access articles.

Tutorial : EBSCO - Academic search ultimate : video (2021)

OCA access : via the BibCNRS portal + "database" section + "Academic search ultimate"

BibCNRS

BibCNRS
CNRS

The BibCNRS portal provides access to the electronic resources funded by the CNRS (databases, books, journals, datasets). Access to the resources available on BibCnrs is reserved for researchers working in CNRS laboratories as well to doctoral students and post-doctoral researchers in the same laboratories. It is accessible to all OCA staff and others beneficiaries via the institute of attachment of the laboratories (INSU or INSIS) . BibCNRS tutorials are included in the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) section :
- What is BibCNRS? Who can benefit from BibCNRS?
- How to authenticate in BibCnrs?
- How to search in BibCnrs?
- How to personalize your profile?
- How to create an alert?
- What is the Unified Click & Read Extension?
- What is the Diamant model in BibCnrs (economic model of scientific publication in Open Access)?

List of e-resources for OCA staff and other beneficaries :
- List of the documentary resources for INSU (beneficiaries : Galilee ; Geoazur ; Lagrange)
- List of the documentary resources for INSIS (beneficiaries : Artemis)
Link to BibCNRS portal : https://bib.cnrs.fr/

Centre Mersenne

	Centre Mersenne MathDoc , unité d'appui du CNRS et de l'Univ. Grenoble Alpes Infrastructure of scientific publications in Latex and open access in the field of math. and physics.The center offers publishing tools and services to researchers.
	Link to the services : https://www.centre-mersenne.org/en/ Link to the journals and books : https://www.centre-mersenne.org/en/our-journals/ See for ex. : Comptes-rendus Académie des sciences : Géoscience ; Math ; Mécanique ; Physique

Click & Read

Click & Read
CNRS

A very important browser extension to facilitate access to scientific publications. It provides direct access to the full text of the BibCnrs, ISTEX, PANIST and Unpaywall platforms
Available for Firefox, Chrome , Edge and Safari

Guides :
Click & Read (instructions for use in french) : What is it ? How to install it ? How to add the extension to : Firefox - Chrome - Edge - Safari

Link : https://clickandread.inist.fr/info

CORE

CORE
The open university and JISC

Global Open Access Research Papers Aggregator. It provides access to more than 268 million documents in full text. Multidisciplinary and multilingual

Guides :
CORE - Leaflet
CORE Services : overview

Link to the CORE plateform : https://core.ac.uk/

DOI - Digital object identifier (how to get it)

DOI - Digital object identifier

A digital object identifier system to facilitate the long-term digital management.
It is used in particular in bibliographic databases to identify scientific articles.

Fiche DOI (INIST-CNRS - Doranum) : What is a DOI ? Why a DOI ? How to get it ?

Link : https://doranum.fr/wp-content/uploads/Fiche-DOI.pdf (consulted on 08/03/2023)

EBSCOhost

EBSCOhost
EBSCO

An electronic resource search and consultation platform developed by the subscription agency EBSCO.

Guides :
- Introduction to EBSCOhost - Tutorial
- EBSCOhost - Ressources en Français [French resources] (oct. 2025) :

Tutoriel : Utiliser le dossier Mon EBSCOhost [Tutorial : Using the My EBSCOhost folder]
Tutoriel : Créer une alerte de recherche dans EBSCOhost [Tutorial : Creating a search alert in EBSCOhost]
Tutoriel : Créer un avis de publication dans EBSCO host [Tutorial : Creating a publication notice in EBSCOhost]

OCA access : via the BibCNRS portal + "database" section + "EBSCOhost"

EBSCO Open dissertations

EBSCO Open dissertations
A collaboration between EBSCO & Bibliolabs

This database contains over 1.5 million electronic thesis and dissertation records from over 320 universities worldwide. It now includes content from the American Doctoral Dissertations database(1933-....) . EBSCO Open Dissertations is free for authors of ETDs as well as the participating institutions

EBSCO presentation (nov. 2022)

Link to the EBSCO presentation : https://about.ebsco.com/fr-fr/products/research-databases/ebsco-open-dissertations
Link to the database : https://opendissertations.org/
Other acces to OCA staff : via the BibCNRS portal + "database" section + "EBSCO open dissertations"

ECCO & EEBO

ECCO [Eighteenth Century Collections Online] & EEBO [Early English books online]
Gale

2 complementary databases allowing access to the full text of British works published between the 15th and 18th centuries. Resources acquired under a french national license. ECCO allows you to search simultaneously in the 2 databases.

Guides :
ECCO - Eighteenth Century Collections Online : Présentation (Bibliothèque interuniversitaire Sorbonne, 2024)
EECO (licencesnationales.fr) : contractual and technical information in French

OCA access : via the BibCNRS portal + "platforms" section + "ECCO" (consulted on feb. 11 2025)

EndNote / EndNote Web

EndNote
Clarivate analytics

A bibliographic management software developed by the company Clarivate Analytics.
It allows the creation of a personal library of references and the export of these in different formats.

Guides :
Comment utiliser EndNote Web? : video in french language (Source : Bibliothèques UQAR, MAJ 2024)
EndNote 2025 - Documentation : in french language (Bibliothèque Polytechnique de Montréal , Update sept. 2025).
EndNote 2025 online (Clarivate analytics) : Information on using EndNote, with links to resources

OCA access : via the BibCNRS portal + "database" section + "EndNote Web" (+ password Janus used to declare his hollidays) III See also : Zotéro

Espacenet

Espacenet
European pattern office
A free database that provides access to more than 160 million patent documents from around the world containing information
on inventions and technical developments from 1836 to the present day. It includes an interface in French, English and German
Guides :
Espacenet : how to search by patent number (Patent european office , YouTube) - Video + other titles
Comment utiliser le nouveau Espacenet (Patent european office , YouTube) : video

Link : https://worldwide.espacenet.com/?locale=fr_EP

Essential science Indicators (ESI)

Essential science Indicators (ESI)
Clarivate analytics

Database showing emerging scientific trends, researchers, institutions, articles,
influential journals and countries in a research field. It compiles data from the last 10 years..

Guides :
Essential science indicators - Learn the basics (Clarivate analytics) : site en anglais .
Essential science indicators : quick reference guide (Clarivate analytics)
Library on Demand - Introduction to Essential Science Indicators (Augusta university) : video
Field Baselines & Thresholds in Essential Science Indicators : (Clarivate analytics sur YouTUBE) : video

OCA access : via the BibCNRS portal + "database" section + "Essential science indicators"

Georef (Earth science database)

Georef
American geological institute

A bibliographic database of the American Geological Institute specialized in Earth Sciences : more than 3 million references
Period covered : North America (1669-) - Rest of the world (1933-...)
Update : twice a week

Guides :
- Georef (Wikipédia)
- About the Georef database (american geological institute)

OCA access : via the BibCNRS portal "database" section + "Georef"

HAL (INIST CNRS)

HAL Science ouverte
CNRS

The HAL-CNRS portal hosts all the scientific production of the CNRS.
It is intended for the archiving, distribution and conservation of research work : articles, conference communications, reports, theses.

Guides :

- HAL Documentation - Homepage / CCSD : Deposit (How to deposit one’s file and complete the metadata )
; IDHal and CV ; Managing one’s deposits (How to add a new version or an annex file to an online doc., modify his deposit )
- HAL Documentation - Tutoriels vidéo (INIST CNRS & CCSD)

Link to HAL portal : https://hal.science/
Link to IRD HAL portal : https://ird.hal.science/
Link to OCA HAL portal : https://hal.science/OCA/
Link to UniCA HAL portal : https://univ-cotedazur.hal.science/
List of HAL collections of INSU : https://cnrs.hal.science/page/insu-institut-des-sciences-de-lunivers1 ( 3 OCA labs : Galilée ; Géoazur ; Lagrange)
List of HAL collections of INSIS : https://cnrs.hal.science/page/insis-institut-des-sciences-de-lingenierie-et-des-systemes1 (1 OCA lab : Artémis)

Horizon EUROPE

Horizon Europe
CEE

Horizon Europe is the European Union's 9th framework program for research and innovation covering the period 2021 to 2027

Guides
- Horizon Europe : le manuel en ligne (MESRI Horizon Europe,2021) : a french useful tool for project promoters, giving them information
on the portal process step by step, from set-up, submission, through setting up the contract and up to its Implementation
- Guidance & Manuals (European commission) : includes Horizon Europe step by step guide

Link to the manual : https://www.horizon-europe.gouv.fr/le-manuel-en-ligne-d-horizon-europe-est-disponible-24447

ISTEX, Initiative d’excellence de l’Information Scientifique et Technique

ISTEX - Initiative d’excellence de l’Information Scientifique et Technique
(MESRI, CNRS, Abes, Couperin, France universités, Université de Lorraine)

A multidisciplinary database of scientific literature made available to French higher education and research staff.
The database contains more than : 27,4 million documents ; 9.456 journals ; 437.306 ebooks published over the period 1473-2021

Guide :
ISTEX (plateform) : detailed description, tutorials of the open source platform developed by INIST

OCA access to ISTEX resources : via the BibCNRS portal by searching an article.
Note : by installing the Click & Read extension (see + above) you can access it directly without going through the portal

Journal citation reports (JCR)

Journal citation reports
Clarivate analytics

Bibliometric database covering approximately 10,500 academic journals. Available in 3 editions : JCR Sciences (more than 9500 journals); JCR Social science (more than 3500 reviews) ; JCR Arts & Humanities (more than 1780 journals)

Guide :
Journal citation reports - Learn the basics (Clarivate analytics)
Journal citation reports - guide d'utilisation (Infothèque HEG, 2011)

Journal citation reports (wikipedia)

OCA access via the BibCNRS portal + "database" section + "journal citation reports"

JSTOR (database)

	JSTOR ITHAKA Paying digital library that provides online access to the archives of academic and scientific publications. Via BibCNRS portal : only access to 15 Art & Sciences collections + 1 Math collection. and Statistics. Guide : JSTOR Support - using JSTOR
	OCA access : via the BibCNRS portal + "database" section + "JSTOR"

Matilda

Matilda: un outil bibliographique et bibliométrique pour la science ouverte
Agence Nationale de la Recherche (ANR)

"Matilda est une plateforme bibliographique et bibliométrique pour la science ouverte. Son objectif est de faire en sorte que les données de références et de citations soient désormais aussi utilisables que les textes et jeux de données de la recherche en accès ouvert. Ce faisant, Matilda cherche à donner une place équitable aux contenus académiques exclus des outils propriétaires, en adoptant un principe d’égal traitement des textes scientifiques et de leurs métadonnées" [Matilda is a bibliographic and bibliometric platform for open science. Its goal is to ensure that reference and citation data are now as usable as open access research texts and datasets. In doing so, Matilda seeks to give equal access to academic content excluded from proprietary tools, by adopting a principle of equal treatment of scientific texts and their metadata.] (source : BiblioFrance.org)

Guides :
Matilda (BiblioFrance.org)
Matilda (ANR)

Tutorial : Matilda short tutorial 2023 (YouTube)

Lien d'accès à la plateforme : https://matilda.science/

Nature.com

Nature.com
Nature publishing

Nature publisher's platform. It provides access to titles subscribed to by the CNRS in the field of science..

OCA access : via BibCNRS portal , + "plateforms" + "Nature journals" : https://bib.cnrs.fr/database

OpenAlex

OpenAlex (OurResearch, 2022-...)

Open access bibliographic and bibliometric database. It is used particularly by universities to measure progress in open access publishing. In France, it is supported by the French Ministry of Higher Education and Research, the CNRS (National Centre for Scientific Research), and Sorbonne University. Click and Read is compatible with OpenAlex and also VOSviewer (free software for visualizing collaborative networks).

Guides :
- OpenAlex - Wikipedia (2025) : histoire et contenu détaillé de cette base
- OpenAlex en français dans le texte : publications, données, réseaux - OurResearch (2025) : Atelier de présentation de l'outil par Laetitia Bracco, univ. de Lorraine

Lien d'accès : https://openalex.org/

OpenEdition

OpenEdition
Centre pour l’édition électronique ouverte (Cléo, UAR 2504 du CNRS, d’Aix-Marseille Université, de l’EHESS et d’Avignon Université).

A portal of electronic resources in the humanities and social sciences. It brings together four platforms dedicated to journals (OpenEdition Journals, formerly revues.org), book collections (OpenEdition Books), research blogs (Hypotheses), and scientific events (Calenda). It contains 15,084 books, 654 journals, and 5,063 blogs. The majority of titles are open access, while the others are reserved for partner institutions. (OpenEdition Freemium). It exclusively distributes digitally books and journals published primarily by university presses or learned societies. A national research infrastructure since 2016, its main mission is the promotion of open access electronic publishing at the national and international levels.

Guides :
OpenEdition (BU Lyon 3) : presentation
En savoir plus sur OpenEdition (BU Univ. de Poitiers)
OpenEdition (Wikipédia)

Direct access offered by the Université Côte d'Azur : https://www.openedition.org/
Other access to OCA staff via BibCNRS portal + "plateformes" + "OpenEdition" : https://bib.cnrs.fr/database

ORCID (how to get it)

ORCID - Open Researcher and Contributor ID

Alphanumeric code that identifies the authors of academic and scientific contributions.

Guides :

ORCID INIST-CNRS - DORANUM) : Pratical sheet in french : c'est quoi un ORCID ? [What is an ORCID ?] ; comment l'obtenir ? [how to get it]

ORCID, l'identifiant chercheur pour une science ouverte (Univ. d'Angers, Dir. de la recherche, de l’innovation et des études doctorales & de la com., dec. 2022) : french video

PANIST

	PANIST - Plateforme d'archivage nationale de l'Information Scientifique et Technique A french national archive of journals subscriptions. So far : 7.3 million articles from 2002 to 2018 from publisher Elsevier. Access to these resources is limited to Higher Education and Research staff. Guides : PANIST : pour qui ? Quoi ? Comment ?
	Link to the plateform : https://www.panist.fr/ OCA access to PANIST resources : via the BibCNRS portal : by searching an article or a journal Note: by installing the Click & Read extension (see + above) you can access it directly without going through the portal

PERSEE

PERSEE
(UAR Persée, UAR 3602 Persée, service de l'Univ. de Lyon, du CNRS et de l'ENS de Lyon)

Free access portal of archives of French scientific publications in the field of Human and Social Sciences and Life and Earth Sciences.
It contains more than 350 collections; 900,000 documents.

Guides :
Persée Portal - Presentation (wikipedia)

Link : https://www.persee.fr/

PLMLatex : online LaTeX editor

PLMLatex
CNRS

PLMLatex allows to create, view, edit to multiple and share LaTeX documents from a web browser.

Guide : PLMlatex - PLM User guide

OCA Access : via the collaborative site : https://plmlatex.math.cnrs.fr/login (complexion is available through your OCA account - source : DSI) (consulted on 08/04/2023)

RRUFF.net

RRUFF Project
University of Arizona

An integrated database of Raman spectra, X-ray diffraction and chemistry data for minerals
Description
Leaflets (pdf format)

Link to the database : https://www.rruff.net/
Other access for OCA : via BibCNRS portal + "plateforms" + "RRUFF" : https://bib.cnrs.fr/database

Science direct (Elsevier)

Science direct

Elsevier

Main platform of the Elsevier publisher. Multidisciplinary, it provides access to more than: 3,800 academic journals ; 35000 electronic books.

Guide :
Science direct user's quick start guide (Elsevier)
Science direct (BU Evry Univ. Val d'Essone)

OCA access : via the BibCNRS portal + "database" section + "Science direct" (consulted on 08/04/2023)

SCOPUS (Elsevier)

SCOPUS

Elsevier

Bibliographic and citation database. Multidisciplinary, it references more than 21,000 scientific journals.
Interest of SCOPUS : possibility to search by OCA laboratory

Guides :
Tutoriel SCOPUS (BU Lyon 1 - 08/27/2018) - in french
Scopus : guide d'utilisation / Elsevier , 2019 - in french, format pdf, 9 p.

OCA access :
- direct access via UCA (recognition by OCA's IP address)
- or indirect via BibCNRS portal + "database" section + "SCOPUS"
III See also this other bibliographic and citation database : WOS (consulted on 08/04/2023)

Springer Link (Springer)

Springer link
Springer

Main Springer publisher Platform. It provides access to more than 1,500 science and technology journals (Springer + Kluwer).

Guide :
Utiliser Springer link in UBL / L. Douilly , A. Colno, D. Belvèze . Formadoct. Rennes : Univ. Bretagne Loire , 2013, MAJ 23 jan. 2020

OCA access : only the archives via the BibCNRS portal + "database" section + "Springer link" (archives of subscriptions taken out by the CNRS until 2018?) (consulted on 08/04/2023)

STAR / STEPS / theses.fr

STAR ; STEP ; Theses.fr

Agence Bibliographique de l'Enseignement Supérieur (ABES)

French national system for reporting and permanent archiving of electronic theses.
STEP's function is to ensure the reporting of theses in preparation. This application guarantees their referencing and indexing in the search engine theses.fr
STAR allows the national deposit of the thesis but also the updating of the thesis files (metadata and versions) post-archiving.

Guides :
STAR : presentation & STEP : presentation / ABES
STEP : course & STARS : course / ABES
2 french courses intended for professional users to get started with the applications (reporting of theses in preparation ; national deposit of the thesis ; interconnection between Step, Star and ADUM)

Université Côte d'Azur (UniCA) - Library portal (how to use)

	Université Côte d'Azur . Bibliothèques Université Côte d'Azur (UniCA) Documentary portal of the network of UniCA libraries. Includes the OCA library catalog + access to journal packages taken jointly with the UniCA Guide : see the section : "utiliser nos services" [use our services] ; "rechercher et trouver" [search and find]
	Link : https://bu.univ-cotedazur.fr/fr

VosViewer

VosViewer

A free bibliometric tool. It allows users to build and visualize bibliometric networks. These networks can include, for example, journals, researchers, or individual publications, and they can be built based on citation relationships, bibliographic linking, co-citation, or co-authorship. It also offers a text exploration feature that can be used to build and visualize co-occurrence networks of important terms extracted from a corpus of scientific literature.

Tutorials :
Analyse de réseaux bibliométriques avec VosViewer / Romain Campa (The innovation journey, YouTube) : vidéo en français
La visualisation des données bibliométriques avec VOSviewer (Bibliothèque de l'UQO, YouTube)
Webinar : OpenAlex and VOSViewer: Uniting to enable free, easy, and high-quality research analytics / Nees Jan van Eck, Kyle Demes, Jason Portenoy (Youtube, 2023 ) : la combinaison des deux facilite certaines analyses bibliométriques (analyses de co-auteurs ; cartographie des réseaux au niveau de l’institution et du pays ; la co-occurrence de sujets de recherche)

Lien d'accès pour télécharger l'application : https://www.vosviewer.com/download

Wiley online library

Wiley online library
Wiley

Multidisciplinary platform from the Wiley publisher. It allows access to subscribed journals.

Guide : Wiley online library training hub resources

Direct access to OCA : https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/ (jointly subscription UCA-OCA)
Some titles financed by the CNRS are also accessible via the BibCNRS portal (consulted on 08/04/2023)

WoS - Web of Science (Clarivate analytics)

WoS - Web of Science
Clarivate analytics

Multidisciplinary bibliographic and citation database.

Guides :
- Web of Science core collection : guide de référence (Thomson reters)
- Web of Science : Trucs et astuces : Présentation (BiblioGuides - Portail doc. Sorbonne Universités - MAJ 2021/06/30)
- Comment obtenir les données globales de citation de mes articles (h-index...)? (Vidéo - Source : Bibliothèque Polytechnique de Montréal)

OCA access via the BibCNRS portal + "database" section + "Web of science" IIII See also this other citation database : SCOPUS (consulted on 08/04/2023)

zbMATHOpen

zbMATHOpen

FIZ Karlsruhe GmbH ; European Mathematical society (EMS)

Open access bibliographic database in the field of mathematics.
It contains more than 4,4 million bibliographic records extracted from more than 3,000 journals and 190,000 books.

Guide :
zbMATHOpen - FAQ topics : description and instructions for use of the database

Link : https://zbmath.org/ (consulted on 08/04/2023)

Zotero (bibliographic citation management tools)

Zotéro

Free and open source bibliographic reference management software

Guides :

- Zotéro documentation : english support
- Zotéro (URFIST Méditerranée, update dec. 2018) : with 6 french tutorials :
n°1 : Introduction et Installation de Zotero ;
n°2 : Collecter des références bibliogr. ;
n°3 : Gérer ses références bibliogr. ;
n. 4 : Création de listes bibliogr. & Intégration dans un traitement de texte
n°5 : Synchronisation de la bibliothèque & Sauvegarde des données ;
n°6 : Partage de références bibliogr.

Link : https://www.zotero.org/ III See also an other software : EndNote

Training organizations in Information science (Training offerings)

Institut de l'information scientifique et technique (INIST)

Institut de l'information scientifique et technique (INIST)

- mission : coaching and training in Scientific and Technical Information
- users : CNRS members

Lien : https://www.inist.fr/?-Formations-&lang=fr

Université Côte d'Azur (UniCA). Direction des bibliothèques et de la science ouverte (DIBSO)

Université Côte d'Azur - Bibliothèques - Se former
UniCA, Direction des bibliothèques et de la science ouverte (DIBSO)

Mission :
training in documentary research method and tools

Users : UCA members

Guides :
-To view the training offered, access to the UCA platform and click on the training section : "Se former" by level : (licence, master degree, doctorate)
- METODA : self-training site (OCA password is required)

- ADUM (Accès Doctorat Unique Mutualisé) : unique space for doctoral students dedicated to all registration and thesis defense procedures.
It's also the platform for managing UCA doctoral training .

Lien https://bu.univ-cotedazur.fr/se-former

Unité Régionale de Formation à l'Information Scientifique et Technique (URFIST)

Le Réseau des URFIST

The URFISTs (Regional Units for Training in Scientific and Technical Information) are tasked with research and training university users on the tools, practices, and developments in scientific information. They offer year-round training and online resources (training materials; tutorials).

Link : https://sygefor.reseau-urfist.fr/#/training
Registration for training via the platform SYGEFOR (SYstème de GEstion des FORmations)
To note : Since June 30, 2025, URFIST Méditerranée is no longer hosted by Université Côte d’Azur.