Web of Science Overview
Still need additional articles for your topic after conducting a literature search? Try the Web of Science database! Web of Science is a database which provides citation metrics associated with millions of articles across two major database indices (Science Citation Index and Social Science Citation Index). articles; In other words, Web of Science allows you to follow citation trails by viewing the times cited (who cited the article - goes forward in time) as well as the cited references (who the original author cited - goes back in time) a specific article. Remember that the more citations that an article has, the more credible it may be!
Since each author who conducts a study has to illustrate that their research is new and unique while simultaneously crediting the existing body of literature, you can use that to your advantage and make them work for you. Well cited articles can potential goldmines when conducting your literature reviews. Here are some simple steps on how to use Web of Science:
1) Web of Science can be found in the Database A-Z list. Here is the direct link (cut and paste in a new tab if needed): https://guides.ucf.edu/database/WebScience
2) Type the title of the selected article in the search box. Try with and without quotation marks. If it has a subtitle, try removing the colon if you don't get any hits.
3) Click on the article title in the results list to open the article record. On the right side, click on the links for Times Cited and Cited References.
4) You can print, email or add records to citation managers like EndNote Web and Refworks. Just check the box to the left hand side of the each article you are interested in and click "Add to Marked list". Then click on Marked List in the upper right hand corner to export your citations. Also, click the Get Full Text button to view the entire article. If you don't see the GFT button, look for the title in QuickSearch https://guides.ucf.edu/database/QuickSearch. Remember to always be on the lookout for keywords and other terms that you can use in your original search!
If Web of Science doesn't have the article title you want, try Google Scholar https://guides.ucf.edu/database/GoogleScholar or one of the other databases on this list: https://guides.ucf.edu/c.php?g=78538&p=515011. Keep in mind that Google Scholar also lists websites in their times cited lists. Also, the Times Cited/Cited Reference links usually do not display for multi-database searches, unless all of the databases selected include that feature. For instance CINAHL includes citation metrics, but Medline does not.
Web of Science
General Information:
Web of Science consists of five databases; UCF subscribes to three:
- Science Citation Index Expanded (covers 150 scientific disciplines in more than 6,650 journals dating from 1965)
- Social Sciences Citation Index (covers approximately 1,950 journals in more than 50 disciplines since 1965)
- Arts & Humanities Citation Index (covers 1,160 journals dating from 1975)
These three databases are equivalent to the printed citation indexes. A cited reference search allows you to find articles that cite a previously published work. This way you can find out if an idea, theory, or other initiative has been confirmed, used, improved, refuted, corrected, etc. It also allows you to build a bibliography of references by going forward in time (if you use an article’s works cited list, you go backwards in time).
Search Tips:
While the intended purpose of these databases is to search for a known citation (Cited Reference Search), you may also conduct a General Search (search for topic term(s), authors, source titles, or addresses) or an Advanced Search (where you can create a more complex search).
You can limit your search to a single index or a specific period of time, or conduct a comprehensive search of all databases and all years. The comprehensive search does not appear to negatively impact how long it takes to get results: Slow is slow. Using the Author Finder allows you to narrow the field more precisely.
Boolean operators, AND, OR, NOT and the proximity operators of SAME and NEAR are supported. If you use multiple operators, be sure to use parentheses.
The asterisk (*), question mark (?), and dollar sign ($) are wildcard symbols.
A full record contains all the information about the article you find from a search. This generally includes:
Cited References list the references contained in the article found.
Times Cited lists the references that cited the article since its publication.
Related Records shows records of articles that share cited references with the article.
After beginning a search, use the features in the left side column to refine your search.
If you have problems loading the Citation Map page, choose only the Forward or Backward direction. If you choose both, you may have display problems if there are a large number of records.
Be sure to log off when you are done searching Web of Science.
For More Help:
Web of Science is a powerful tool for expanding your research. You can use the Help index to locate help topics. There also is a tutorial provided.
Subject Guide
EFSC/UCF Joint-Use Library, UCF Cocoa Campus, 407.823.0713