Staying current and keeping up to date with the research
It is crucial for graduate students, researchers and academics alike to keep up-to-date with the most recently published information and developments in their field. Nobody would like to be caught off guard not knowing about a new insight or discovery. Stay up to date with the latest research and trends in your discipline by setting up the following alerts:
Set up a subscription to the journal table of contents, to all new publications, or to publications on a particular topic to obtain the most recent publications from journals in your field. These subscriptions will send material to you via RSS feed or e-mail.
Setting up database alerts is one way to find articles related to your research. Upon creating a search in a database, you can create an alert that will automatically run that search at a specified time period and return new results via e-mail or RSS feed. These search alerts can help you monitor new results in a particular journal, by a particular author, or for a particular topic. Note that ways of setting up of search alerts differ in different databases.
Scopus, Web of Science and Google Scholar enables you to create citation alerts that notify you each time a particular document has been cited by a new article.
Scopus citation alerts
Web of Science citation alerts
Google Scholar Citations
Table of Contents (Toc) alerts allow you to be automatically notified via email or RSS when the new issue of a journal is published and provide information on the table of contents of these new issues. The ways of setting up ToC alerts differ in different databases.
Summary of types of alerts found in databases:
| Databases |
Alert Types |
| EbscoHOST |
Saved Search and Journal Alerts. Perform your search and click the Search History/Alerts tab above the search results. |
| ProQuest |
Search alerts which email you new results for your favourite query. Publication alerts, which notify you when a new issue is available. Perform your search then click Save search / alert |
| ScienceDirect |
Click Sign in > Register in the top right-hand corner, for Saved searches and Search alerts. |
| Wiley Online Library |
Create "My Profile" then sign up for e-mail content and search alerts, saving quick links to favorite journals and articles, activating roaming access and more. Details |
| Web of Science | ToC and Saved search alerts. Click My Tools to register or manage alerts and search history. |