Lafayette College Library

Web of Science, our premier database for locating journal articles in natural sciences, social sciences and engineering, now offers an unlimited number of personal accounts under the Library's subscription. There are two main services available to personal account holders:

Citation Alerts: Automatic notification whenever articles of interest are cited in a new article. Citation alerts last for 1 year from date of set up and may be renewed.

Saved Searches: Automatic notification of new articles on a particular topic, by a particular author, or published within a particular journal. Saved searches last for 6 months from date of set up and may be renewed. Note: you may also use this feature to save search strings you wish to run again, without the automatic notification feature.

To use the alerts or saved search functions, start by registering as a new private account user. Then, anytime you want to update your profile (i.e. add or delete alerts, renew saved searches), log in to your account while you are using Web of Science.

Registering for a personal account

1. Go into Web of Science from the Library home page. (You will find a link under "Most Used Resources".)
2. In the center drop box, select "ISI Web of Knowledge Home".
3. To set up an account, click on "register". You will be asked to enter an email address and create a password. Tip: don't select automatic sign in if you work from a public computer.

Once registered as a personal account holder, you may return to Web of Science and set up alerts or save searches.

Setting up a citation alert

1. Enter Web of Science (access the homepage through the center top, drop-down menu) and login to your personal account on the Web of Knowledge Home Page.
2. Return to Web of Science, select the database(s) of interest, and search as usual to locate articles of interest.
3. View the "Full Record" of the article of your choice (not the summary screen listing all your results).
4. Click on "Create Citation Alert" appearing in the box to right of your screen. You should then receive a message that the article has been successfully added to your list of citation alerts. You will be notified whenever a new article citing an article in your alerts is added to the database.
5. Logging out of the database (red button, top corner) will also log you out of your account when finished.

To add additional citation alerts, just repeat the above steps. If you are already logged into your personal account, just continue searching and repeat steps 2 through 4. Be sure to log off when finished.

To modify existing alerts in a subsequent session, start by logging into your personal account. Use the drop down menu to select "Citation Alerts" and click on "Go". Your personal list of citation alerts will be displayed, as well as the modification options. For example, you may delete or renew alerts at any time. Be sure to log off when finished.

Creating saved searches with automatic alerts

1. Enter Web of Science and login to your personal account on the Web of Knowledge Home Page.
2. Return to Web of Science, select the database(s) of interest, and search as usual to locate articles of interest.
3. While viewing the "Search Results -- Summary" screen, click on "Search History". Click on "Save History".
4. A "Save Search History" box will appear on the screen, with the information from your search. You will be asked to name your search and provide a short description (optional). If you would like Web of Science to automatically perform this search for you, check "Send Me E-mail Alerts" and select the frequency (weekly or monthly) that you desire updates. Otherwise, the search will be saved but only you can re-run it. Finally, customize your search results (i.e. record length, format) by changing the defaults you see in the dialog box before saving.
5. Logging out of the database (red button, top corner) will also log you out of your account when finished.

You may set up multiple saved searches during the same search session by repeating steps 2-4. To modify your saved searches in a subsequent session, just start by logging into your account. You will find a list of your saved searches is available through the center top, drop-down menu.

Running saved searches without email alerts

Enter Web of Science and login to your account. Select "Saved Searches" from the drop down menu. When presented with your list, click on "Open/Run History" appearing in the far right column. When your set appears on the screen, select "Run/Continue". The results, including any new articles added to the database since you saved your search, should be displayed momentarily.

For help

Contact Amy Abruzzi, Electronic Resource Coordinator at: x5631 or email abruzzia@lafayette.edu