News You Can Use from the Eccles Library

• Why Peer Review Matters
  • Ensures accuracy, rigor, and credibility in published research
  • Provides mentoring opportunities for emerging scholars
  • Strengthens a culture of scholarly collaboration and responsibility
  • Builds trust between academia and the public
• Conversation Starters
  • Reflect on your own experiences as an author, reviewer, or editor and share them with colleagues and students
  • Encourage early-career researchers to explore opportunities to act as peer reviewers
  • Integrate discussions of peer review into your courses to model the values of academic integrity
• Explore and Connect
  • This year’s PRW theme
  • PRW events and activities 
  • Peer Review toolkits, best practices, and guidelines
  • Further learning- check out:
    • UC Berkeley Library's Peer Review LibGuide
    • Peer Review the Nuts-and-Bolts: A Guide for Early Career Researchers (Standing up for Science 3, 2017)
    • "The Peer Review Process: Past, Present, and Future" (2024) https://doi.org/10.3389/bjbs.2024.12054

So, you have picked your research topic, but an initial resource hunt is not delivering and digging deeper on subscription platforms feels daunting. Let’s make starting your research easier. 

Reminder: Before using AI tools in your work, consult your professor to confirm whether it’s allowed and to learn the appropriate way to cite it.

Meet Scopus AI: Your Academic Resource Booster

Scopus AI is designed to simplify the discovery process by letting you type questions in plain language with no need to master Boolean logic or advanced search tricks. 

• Concise summaries with references: Get quick, trustworthy overviews of a topic with linked citations you can pursue. 
• Interactive concept maps: See how ideas, subtopics, and emerging themes connect, helping you branch out into areas you might not have considered. 
• Time-saving discovery: Instead of scrolling through endless results, one query can highlight fresh directions, influential papers, and the top experts in your field. 

This tool not only makes exploration easier but also helps you jump start your search and build your bibliography with confidence. 

Pro Tip: Expand Your Search

Use the new keywords and phrases Scopus AI identifies to fuel deeper searches across the NWC Library’s other subscription platforms leveraging the Library's A to Z Resources List. 

Want to Learn More? 

Here are some highlights from the Scopus AI vendor: 

(Image Source: Scopus AI FAQ) 

Visit the "Scopus" tab on NWC’s Gen AI for Academia’s AI in Library Research Resources tab.

Have more questions or want to let us know how Scopus AI works for you? 

Contact: libref@usnwc.edu 

In your new student orientation session, some resources were shared with you. One was the JPME Prospective Research Topics Database (PRTD) through the Joint Electronic Library Plus (JEL+). We just received an update we wanted to pass along to you: the J-7 JPME Office this July directed the removal of the outdated PRTD from the JEL+ site.

Where can you go to find topic ideas or look over example student papers?

The following are some suggestions to find topic ideas to jump start your research or to read example student papers:

• SECDEF Call for Research Memorandum (12 MAY 2025)​- topics
• Joint Electronic Library Plus ​(CAC Access Only)- concepts 
• Defense Technical Information Center (DTIC) - student papers from NWC and other PME institutions​ (along with technical reports)
• NWC Library Online Catalog: collection found here or search within NWC Student Papers (by selecting the red circled facet in the image below):​

Have more questions?

Contact: libref@usnwc.edu