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How to: Stay Abreast of the Literature in Your Field Painlessly |
Basic Idea
Create and store a search in the database of choice. Run the search limiting the results to anything added since the last time you ran it.
Note: In both Ovid and Web of Science the updating process can be made automatic.
The stored search can allow you to routinely:
- Browse the tables of contents of your favorite journals (journal search)
- See what your associates have been publishing (author search)
- Browse journal citations & abstracts in your research or practice area (topic search)
- See who is citing the articles you have written (cited author search)
Popular Databases Which Offer This Feature (often referred to as SDI)
MEDLINE (Ovid) and other Ovid databases
Instructions
- Particularly nice in Ovid because once the initial search is saved you need do nothing. The search is automatically run whenever your database of choice is updated. The results arrive in your email.
Web of Science (SCI and SSCI)
After clicking on
Instructions choose the appropriate workstation button, then click on ISI Web of Science, then on Full Search, then on General Search, then on Search History.
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To receive notification of updates via email, after creating your search switch to Advanced, Click on Save Search History,
and enter your email address.
- Particularly nice because you can create a search to see who has cited your article or another key article.
PubMed
Instructions
- PubMed searches are "on demand" not automatically run as in Ovid.
- Don't save PubMed searches on a public machine as others may be able to modify or delete your saved searches.
Caveats
You may want to review your search strategy at least annually. Modify it to include
new subject headings and/or journal titles added recently to the database.
For help constructing a strategy or choosing databases contact one of the
reference librarians at OHSU.
-- Leslie Cable, Reference Librarian
