Cited Reference Searching - Web of Science

Usually literature searches employ keyword, author name or subject heading searches.

Another searching method retrieves literature based on references that cited a journal article.

Web of Science, despite its name, indexes literature in a variety of disciplines including social sciences and humanities.

This tutorial provides an overview of how to do cited reference searching in Web of Science.

What a Cited Reference Search Is

Let's say Ralph publishes a paper on the brains of a housefly.

Then, Wilhelmina, also a housefly brain expert, reads Ralph's paper, does some research related to Ralph's work, and publishes her own paper.

In her paper, she cites Ralph's published work.

A cited reference search (CRS) is a search for other publications that cite a specific publication.

Moving to the CRS Interface

Click on "Cited References" to the right of "Authors" in the menu bar above the query dialog box.

Forming the Query

Here is where to specify the publication being cited.

Essentially, one needs to specify the particular article is being cited by identifying parts of the publication's citation.

This can be done in several ways.  However, specifying Cited Author and Cited Title is the most expedient method, assuming you have the correct author and title.

AUTHOR

In the first query dialog box, Enter the primary author's last name, followed by a space, followed by one to three initials.  If the Author has a single initial, place an asterisk after the first initial.  Do not use other punctuation.

Enter Rutherford E*

Forming the Query

Article Title

The second query dialog box defaults to "Cited Work".

Drop down the citation parts menu, and select "Cited Title" at the bottom of the list.

Then enter the publication title into the dialog box:

scattering of alpha and beta particles by matter and the structure of the atom

Then click on the "Search" button.

Interpreting the Results

 There are three results that seem quite similar.  Note in the last column "Citing Articles" that the last two results have a value of 1, but the first result has a value of over 600.

Looking closer at the "Volume", "Issue" and "Page" columns, we see variation.

The bottom two results have errors in their citations, incorrect volume and page, and lacking issue.

The first result is cited correctly, the last to aren't.  Even so, the citations are valid. Rutherford's article on scattering of alpha and beta particles has been cited over 600+ times!

Finish the search by checking the select box on the left for all three results, and then click on the "See Results" button above.

Search Results

You now can review the citations of works that referred to the Rutherford paper.

You can sort and view the search results by date, relevance or citation frequency.

Additionally, you can search for other keywords in the resulting citations.

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Do let me know if you have questions or comments about this tutorial.

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