AIAA Publications

What is AIAA?

The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) is the leading professional society for the field of aerospace engineering. It works to advance the arts, sciences, and technology of aeronautics and astronautics. 

- Stipe, Shannon. “Home - AIAA Papers Collection - ResearchGuides.” Linda Hall Library, 10 May 2022, https://libguides.lindahall.org/aiaa.

Here at the University of Alabama in Huntsville, research and education in the field of aerospace engineering has been a significant part of the history and identity of UAH. Thus,  the M. Louis Salmon Library at UAH has a long history of collecting and providing access to publications from AIAA.

This page will provide a general breakdown (and a flowchart) that explains how to effectively locate and access those resources. (Also, the 'collections' tab will discuss the extent of those resources available through the UAH Library.)

Are you looking for an AIAA publication?

• Search the AIAA database.
  • You should find it in full-text (FT) online access IF it meets one of these conditions:
    • If it's an article from 1 of the 7 journal titles in the UAH Library's AIAA journal subscription package (link), or
    • If it's a conference paper from an AIAA conference in 2022 or later.
  • Even IF you don't have FT access, is it indexed / described within the AIAA database? (This database can be used as an index to find more information about an AIAA publication - even if the UAH subscription might not include full-text access.)
    • If so, make a note of that information.
  • Also, does the AIAA database say that it's a paper from an AIAA conference / meeting during 1963-2005?
    • If so, be sure to note the AIAA conference paper number for this document.
       
• Look it up in Primo Pathfinder, to see if it's in the UAH Library collections.
  • This will return some AIAA books and AIAA conference papers (mostly in print) which have been added to the Library over the years.
    • PRO TIP #1: If you want to find an article from a journal, or a paper from the proceedings of a conference, or a chapter from a book, then you may want to search for that larger document (the journal, the conference proceedings, the book) to see if it's in the Library's collections.
    • PRO TIP #2: If your initial search does not find it, the 'include non-full-text results' option in Primo Pathfinder will broaden your search. If it finds your document, it may give you more details about it (even if it is not available in full-text).
       
• If you need a paper from an AIAA conference / meeting during 1963-2005, hopefully the AIAA database above was able to provide the AIAA conference paper number for this document. For this time period, the UAH Library has most of these papers in print (link).
   
• A very small number of older, historic AIAA publications have been digitized through the UAH Archives and Special Collections; if that sounds like the type of document you need, you could search in those collections (link).
   
• If you cannot get to the document you need - not in print, and not online - submit a request in ILL. (View the ILL page for more info.)
  • Use the most-suitable form:
    • Either the book request form (if you need the entire volume / book),
    • Or the article request form (for a journal article / book chapter / conference paper).
  • Include as much detail as possible about the document: title, author(s), date, if it was part of another work - a chapter in a larger book, the proceedings of a conference, a journal article, etc.

Links and More Info

[1] AIAA Database

[2] Primo Pathfinder

[3] AIAA conference papers in print info

[4] Archives' UAH Digital Collections info

[5] ILL info