Generative AI in Databases
Many of Gleeson Library's subscription databases are adding Generative AI and other AI tools to help you search, summarize, and analyze the information you find. This guide identifies the AI tools currently available in our databases, and briefly shows you how to use them.
Tip: These AI tools in most cases are not meant as:
- a substitute for traditional search methods with hands-on selection of results
- a substitute for reading documents yourself
- a substitute for analyzing and synthesizing information yourself
But they are intended to assist you in these tasks, and hopefully to make them more effective and efficient. See: Responsible Use of AI, on this page below.
How to Use This Guide
AI tools are categorized by type, and links for publishers and databases will take you to descriptions of the AI tools they provide.
AI Tools by Type
Click on a publisher name to go to the description of their AI tools. See also the publisher menu on the left (large screens), or the dropdown menu above (small screens).
AI Tools by Database
See a complete list databases with AI tools, and click on the AI Tool link or the publisher link to go the description of the AI tools.
Types of AI Tools
1. Analysis, synthesis, or summary of search results
AI tools that analyze or synthesize information will typically accept a natural language query, and return an analysis or overview of the topic based on the documents or information within the database.
| Publisher | Databases |
|---|---|
| CAS | SciFinder |
| JSTOR | JSTOR, JSTOR 19th Century British Pamphlets, and JSTOR Struggles for Freedom: Southern Africa |
| O’Reilly | O'Reilly for Higher Education |
| Elsevier | Scopus |
| Statista | Statista |
2. Search assistance
AI tools that assist in database searching will typically accept a natural language query, and translate it into a more effective search using keywords and boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT). This can be useful for complex searches or searches where identifying effective keywords is difficult.
| Publisher | Databases |
|---|---|
| CAS | SciFinder |
| EBSCO | Fusion, and nearly 80 additional databases—see full list below |
| JSTOR | JSTOR, JSTOR 19th Century British Pamphlets, and JSTOR Struggles for Freedom: Southern Africa |
| Oxford | OED, Oxford Handbooks, Oxford Journals, and Very Short Introductions |
3. Document summaries
AI tools that provide document summaries can help make choosing relevant articles from a results list more efficient.
| Publisher | Databases |
|---|---|
| EBSCO | Fusion, and nearly 40 additional databases—see full list below |
| Elsevier | ScienceDirect |
| IBISWorld | IBISWorld |
| JSTOR | JSTOR, JSTOR 19th Century British Pamphlets, and JSTOR Struggles for Freedom: Southern Africa |
| Ovid | Nursing and Health Professions Premier Collection |
| ProQuest | ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global, ProQuest Ebook Central, and ProQuest One Business |
4.Other
Tools that do not fall into the three primary categories.
Plagiarism and AI content checker
| Publisher | Database |
|---|---|
| Clarivate | RefWorks |
Responsible Use of AI
Database Publishers
AI tools can make mistakes, but the following shared features help to establish trust, academic integrity, and safety for users of AI tools in library databases.
Source Restriction
Each tool grounds its AI outputs strictly in its own proprietary, curated database—whether scientific literature, ebooks, industry reports, or academic articles—never pulling answers from the general open web.
Retrieval-Augmented Generation
Most tools rely on retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), where relevant internal documents are retrieved first, and then the AI generates responses strictly from those retrieved sources.
Responsible AI and Transparency
All platforms focus on responsible AI: providing citations, links to source materials, and transparency around the origins of AI-generated content, with user-facing indicators or explanations.
Privacy and Security
No user queries or generative model outputs are used to train public AI models, respecting academic privacy and intellectual property. Most systems are isolated, secure, and designed for educational and library compliance.
Human Oversight
Outputs are reviewed and validated by human experts, librarians, or platform specialists—especially for summarization, paraphrasing, and key findings in sensitive research fields.
Closed vs. Open Domain
Unlike public tools such as ChatGPT, these systems are closed-domain: their AI interacts only with their own datasets and does not reach beyond for generative completion, except for some citation or DOI lookups.
AI-assisted, human-verified text
Students
The Student Guide to AI Literacy (MLA-CCCC) outlines essential GenAI literacy skills, emphasizing ethical use, critical evaluation, responsible prompting, and understanding AI’s risks, policies, and impacts.
Faculty
The Guidelines for Responsible Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) at USF provides support for the use of Generative AI in education and research, and places it in the context of academic integrity and ethical principles.
AI Tools in Databases
Click on the publisher name, or the AI tool link to go to a description of the AI tools.
| Publisher | Database Name |
Type of AI Tool: Topic Analysis, Synthesis, or Summary |
Type of AI Tool: Search Assistance |
Type of AI Tool: Document Summary |
Type of AI Tool: Other |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| EBSCO | AAS Historical Periodicals Collection | No |
Yes |
No | |
| EBSCO | Academic Search Complete | No |
Yes |
Yes |
|
| EBSCO | African American Historical Serials Collection | No |
Yes |
No | |
| EBSCO | Alt HealthWatch | No |
Yes |
Yes |
|
| EBSCO | America: History and Life | No |
Yes |
No | |
| EBSCO | APA PsycInfo | No |
Yes |
No | |
| EBSCO | Architectural Digest Magazine Archive | No |
Yes |
Yes |
|
| EBSCO | Art & Architecture Source | No |
Yes |
Yes |
|
| EBSCO | Arte Público Hispanic Historical Collection | No |
Yes |
No | |
| EBSCO | ATLA Historical Monographs Collection | No |
Yes |
No | |
| EBSCO | ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials PLUS | No |
Yes |
No | |
| EBSCO | Atlantic Magazine Archive | No |
Yes |
Yes |
|
| EBSCO | Avery Index to Architectural Periodicals | No |
Yes |
No | |
| EBSCO | Bibliography of Asian Studies | No |
Yes |
No | |
| EBSCO | Bloomberg Businessweek Magazine Archive | No |
Yes |
Yes |
|
| EBSCO | Book Review Digest Retrospective | No |
Yes |
No | |
| EBSCO | Business Periodicals Index Retrospective | No |
Yes |
No | |
| EBSCO | Business Source Complete | No |
Yes |
Yes |
|
| EBSCO | Chicano Database | No |
Yes |
No | |
| EBSCO | CINAHL Ultimate | No |
Yes |
Yes |
|
| EBSCO | Civil War Primary Source Documents | No |
Yes |
No | |
| EBSCO | Cochrane Clinical Answers | No |
Yes |
No | |
| EBSCO | Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews | No |
Yes |
No | |
| EBSCO | Communication Source | No |
Yes |
Yes |
|
| EBSCO | Ebony Magazine Archive | No |
Yes |
Yes |
|
| EBSCO | EBSCO eBook Collection | No |
Yes |
No | |
| EBSCO | EBSCO Religion | No |
Yes |
No | |
| EBSCO | EconLit | No |
Yes |
No | |
| EBSCO | Education Source | No |
Yes |
Yes |
|
| EBSCO | Engineering Source | No |
Yes |
Yes |
|
| EBSCO | Environment Complete | No |
Yes |
Yes |
|
| EBSCO | ERIC: Educational Resources Information Center | No |
Yes |
No | |
| EBSCO | Esquire Magazine Archive | No |
Yes |
Yes |
|
| EBSCO | Essay & General Literature Index Retrospective | No |
Yes |
No | |
| EBSCO | European Views of the Americas, 1493-1750 | No |
Yes |
No | |
| EBSCO | Forbes Magazine Archive | No |
Yes |
Yes |
|
| EBSCO | Fortune Magazine Archive | No |
Yes |
Yes |
|
| EBSCO | Frick Art Reference Library Periodicals Index | No |
Yes |
No | |
| EBSCO | Fusion | No |
Yes |
Yes |
|
| EBSCO | Gateway to North America | No |
Yes |
No | |
| EBSCO | GreenFILE | No |
Yes |
No | |
| EBSCO | Health Source: Nursing / Academic Edition | No |
Yes |
Yes |
|
| EBSCO | Historical Abstracts | No |
Yes |
No | |
| EBSCO | Hospitality & Tourism Complete | No |
Yes |
Yes |
|
| EBSCO | Humanities Source | No |
Yes |
Yes |
|
| IBISWorld | IBISWorld |
No |
No |
Yes |
|
| EBSCO | Index to Jewish Periodicals | No |
Yes |
No | |
| EBSCO | Index to Legal Periodicals Retrospective | No |
Yes |
No | |
| EBSCO | Inspec with Full Text | No |
Yes |
Yes |
|
| EBSCO | Jet Magazine Archive | No |
Yes |
Yes |
|
| JSTOR | JSTOR |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
|
| JSTOR | JSTOR 19th Century British Pamphlets |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
|
| JSTOR | JSTOR Struggles for Freedom: Southern Africa |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Publisher | Database Name |
Type of AI Tool: Topic Analysis, Synthesis, or Summary |
Type of AI Tool: Search Assistance |
Type of AI Tool: Document Summary |
Type of AI Tool: Other |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| EBSCO | Library, Information Science & Technology Abstracts | No |
Yes |
No | |
| EBSCO | Life Magazine Archive | No |
Yes |
Yes |
|
| EBSCO | Literary Reference Source Plus | No | No |
Yes |
|
| EBSCO | Maclean’s Magazine Archive | No |
Yes |
Yes |
|
| EBSCO | Mental Measurements Yearbook with Tests In Print | No |
Yes |
No | |
| EBSCO | Military & Government Collection | No |
Yes |
Yes |
|
| EBSCO | MLA Directory of Periodicals | No |
Yes |
No | |
| EBSCO | MLA International Bibliography with Full Text | No |
Yes |
Yes |
|
| EBSCO | Nation Archive | No |
Yes |
Yes |
|
| EBSCO | National Review Archive | No |
Yes |
Yes |
|
| EBSCO | New Republic Archive | No |
Yes |
Yes |
|
| EBSCO | New Testament Abstracts | No |
Yes |
No | |
| EBSCO | Newspaper Source | No |
Yes |
Yes |
|
| Ovid | Nursing and Health Professions Premier Collection | No | No |
Yes |
|
| O’Reilly | O'Reilly for Higher Education |
Yes |
No | No | |
| EBSCO | Old Testament Abstracts | No |
Yes |
No | |
| Oxford | Oxford English Dictionary | No |
Yes |
No | |
| Oxford | Oxford Handbooks Online | No |
Yes |
No | |
| Oxford | Oxford Journals | No |
Yes |
No | |
| EBSCO | People Magazine Archive | No |
Yes |
Yes |
|
| EBSCO | Philosopher's Index | No |
Yes |
No | |
| EBSCO | Political Science Complete | No |
Yes |
Yes |
|
| ProQuest | ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global | No | No |
Yes |
|
| ProQuest | ProQuest Ebook Central | No | No |
Yes |
|
| ProQuest | ProQuest One Business | No | No |
Yes |
|
| EBSCO | Readers' Guide Retrospective | No |
Yes |
No | |
| Clarivate | RefWorks | No | No | No | |
| EBSCO | Revolutionary War Era Orderly Books from the New-York Historical Society | No |
Yes |
No | |
| Elsevier | ScienceDirect | No | No |
Yes |
|
| CAS | SciFinder |
Yes |
Yes |
No | |
| Elsevier | Scopus |
Yes |
No | No | |
| EBSCO | Short Story Index Retrospective | No |
Yes |
No | |
| EBSCO | SocINDEX with Full Text | No |
Yes |
Yes |
|
| EBSCO | SPORTDiscus | No |
Yes |
Yes |
|
| EBSCO | Sports Illustrated Magazine Archive | No |
Yes |
Yes |
|
| Statista | Statista |
Yes |
No | No | |
| EBSCO | Time Magazine Archive | No |
Yes |
Yes |
|
| EBSCO | U.S. News & World Report Magazine Archive | No |
Yes |
Yes |
|
| EBSCO | Urban Studies Abstracts | No |
Yes |
No | |
| EBSCO | Vanity Fair Magazine Archive | No |
Yes |
Yes |
|
| Oxford | Very Short Introductions | No |
Yes |
No |