Lafayette College Library

Creating Alerts and Saved Searches in Web of Science

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

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 and Search Alerts: Saved Searches lets you save search strings you wish to run again, with or without automatic notification. Search Alerts offer automatic notification of new articles on a particular topic, by a particular author, or published within a particular journal. Search Alerts last for 6 months from date of set up and may be renewed.

To create Alerts or Saved Searches, start by registering as a new user. Then, anytime you want to update your profile (i.e. add or delete Alerts, renew Saved Searches), sign in to your personal profile while you are using Web of Science.

Registering for a personal profile

  1. Go into Web of Science from the Library home page. (You will find a link under "Most Used Resources".)
  2. Near the top center of the screen, click on "Sign In".
  3. To set up a profile, 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.
  4. Once registered, you will return to Web of Science and can set up Alerts or Saved Searches.
  5. Be sure to log out of the database (top corner) when finished with your search session. This will also log you out of your personal profile.

Setting up a Citation Alert

  1. Enter Web of Science and sign in to your personal profile.
  2. Search as usual to locate articles of interest.
  3. View the full record of the article of your choice by clicking on the title.
  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. Be sure to log out of the database (top corner) when finished with your search session. This will also log you out of your personal profile.

To add additional Citation Alerts, just repeat the above steps. If you are already signed in, just continue searching and repeat steps 2 to 4. Be sure to log off when finished with your search session.

To modify existing Alerts in a subsequent session, sign in and click on "My Citation Alerts" at the top of the screen. Your personal list of Citation Alerts will be displayed, as well as the modification options.

Creating Saved Searches with Search Alerts

  1. Enter Web of Science and sign in to your personal profile.
  2. Search as usual to locate articles of interest.
  3. When your results are displayed on the screen, click on "Search History" on the navigation tab.
  4. Delete any unwanted search strings, then click on "Save History". You can save a maximum of 20 searches as one Alert.
  5. 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 and send the results to your email account, check "Send Me E-mail Alerts" and select your preference for frequency (weekly or monthly). Finally, customize your search results (i.e. record length, format) by changing the defaults in the dialog box before saving.
  6. Be sure to log out of the database (top corner) when finished with your search session. This will also log you out of your personal profile.

You may set up additional Saved Searches during the same search session by repeating steps 2 to 5. To modify your Saved Searches in a subsequent session, just sign in to your account. A list of your saved searches is available through the "My Saved Searches" link at the top of the screen.

Running Saved Searches without email Alerts

Enter Web of Science and sign in to your personal profile. Click on "My Saved Searches" at the top of the screen. 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 Search". The results, including any new articles added to the database since you saved your search, should be displayed momentarily. You can limit these results by date range to see only recent additions, if desired.

For help

Contact Amy Abruzzi at 610.330.5631 or email abruzzia@lafayette.edu