Working with Search Results
After a search is run, WOS will display a list of records. The total number of records, and the number of pages of results, will appear near the top of the screen. To view any record, click on the title.
Among other things, records will show the article title, author(s), publication name, document information, an abstract, keywords, cited references, times cited, funding information if appropriate, a link to the journal impact for the publication, and links to the full text of the article.
Cited References refers to the author's bibliography, and lists the earlier articles which the author used. Times Cited refers to later citations of this article in other articles, by other authors building on this work.
You may refine your results (with filters) to further focus your results (e.g. by broad subject categories, publication dates, document types, open access availability, authors/organizations, funding agencies, etc.).
One of the most useful filters is Document Type. Because scholars cite a multitude of sources in the scholarly literature (e.g. articles, meeting abstracts, conference proceedings, book chapters, letters, reviews, etc.), this filter can help you narrow your results.
You may sort your results by publication date, times cited, usage count, relevance, first author, source title, etc. to more quickly identify citations of interest.
Click on the Analyze Results link to rank your results by specific parameters, such as disciplines, publication years, authors, etc. This feature can help you identify trends or gaps in areas of research.
Combining Search Results
You may create a new search by combining any number of previous searches. To do this, click on the Search History box located at the top of the screen. Each search you have done is assigned a set number. Select any combination using AND or OR. Your choice will yield a new set. Click on the Results number to view the records.
For results found in both Basic Search and Cited Reference searching, click on the check box to the left of titles on to save for later printing or exporting. Or you can Select Page to select all results. Select which fields you want to save (for example, do you want the abstract?). Click on the icon to print, email or on the button for exports to EndNote, etc. Follow the prompts for the option you have chosen.
Record Details
Click on the citation title to display the complete record for the item. There you'll see much more information about the citation, potentially including an abstract, author-provided keywords, the number of times the work has been cited in the database, and a link to the journal impact factor, if the document is a journal article. A handy feature here is a list of the cited references for the citation you viewed, allowing you to easily track the cited works in the bibliography. With the cited references list and the link to the works that cite the item you're viewing, you are able to trace the research effort of a group, author, or to track on the development of a topic or research area over time.
Clicking on the M Get It button will connect the citation to our online journal subscriptions or catalog record for print items.