Web of Science: Cited Reference Searching

Web of Science

Even though it has the word "science" in its title, Web of Science Links to an external site. actually is a database that includes thousands of journal articles not only from the sciences, but also from the social sciences.

Some of the disciplines covered in the sciences include: agriculture, astronomy, biochemistry, biology, chemistry, computer science, materials science, mathematics, medicine, neuroscience, physics, plant sciences, and zoology. 

Disciplines covered in the social sciences include: anthropology, economics, history, library & information science, law, linguistics, philosophy, political science, psychology, public health, sociology, urban studies, and women's studies.

The following steps outline how you can do a cited reference search in Web of Science Links to an external site..

1. Go to Web of Science Links to an external site.. Click on the arrow next to "Basic Search," and then select "Cited Reference Search" in the drop-down menu.

2.  Enter information about the article you want to track. The most efficient way to search is to enter the first author's name in the first box (last name first and first initial). In the next search box, enter the abbreviation of the name of the journal. You can find the abbreviation by clicking on "View abbreviation list" below the search box. Finally, enter the year the article was published in the last box. Then click "Search."

 3. In this example, only one result came back. If you had more than one result and weren't sure, which one referred to your article, you can click on "Show Expanded Titles" in the second column to get the full title of the article. Check the box next to your article in the first column of the table. Then, click "Finish Search."

4. You will now have a list of all of the articles that have cited your original article that are included in the Web of Science database. In this example, it has been cited 33 times. You can access the abstracts, and in some cases the full-text, of the articles. You can also refine your results to better meet your needs.

For more information about cited reference searching and general tips on using Web of Science Links to an external site., check out the video tutorials Links to an external site. from the publisher.

Learn how to use Links to an external site. Web of Science, if you start your search with Google Scholar.