Creating Research AlertsSarah Lester & Mike Nack, Stanford Engineering LibraryWinter Quarter 2011

What we’ll cover today• What is a research alert?• Different technologies (email vs. RSS)• Creating alerts in Scopus• Creating alerts in Web of Science• Creating alerts in xSearch• Other sources for alerts• Pre-built alerts @ the Engineering Library

What is a research alert?• Research alerts are notifications from a research source that

notify you anytime a new result or item is found that matches criteria you’ve provided• Examples:

• Search in a database that notifies you when there are new results matching your search criteria

• Table of Contents alerts that show you the titles of articles in a new volume of a journal

• Author alerts that tell you when a particular author has a new paper published

Technologies (Email vs. RSS)• Alerts used to only be via Email• Set-up alert• Provider sends email the at the specified rate requested

• Now you can use RSS• Notification is constant• Each new item shows up in your RSS feed as it becomes available• Many RSS readers from which to choose.

Creating alerts in Scopus• Before you get started you need to create an account on

Scopus• To do this click on the Register link in the top right corner of any

page on Scopus.

• You can create an alert in Scopus from any search result, just click on the Set Alert or Set Feed icon

Creating alerts in Scopus

Creating alerts in Scopus• You can also create alerts from individual papers

Creating alerts in Scopus• Or create alerts for a particular author or organization

Creating alerts in Web of Science• Like Scopus, you will first need to create an account at Web of

Science

Creating alerts in Web of Science• To create a alert you must first perform a search

Creating alerts in Web of Science• If you are happy with the results, click on Search History in the

top navigation bar

Creating alerts in Web of Science• Select the search or searches that you want to use for your

alert

Creating alerts in Web of Science• Give your alert a name and choose the frequency you want to

receive it• If you plan to use RSS instead of email, uncheck the box next

to send me e-mail alerts

Creating alerts in Web of Science• If you plan to use RSS, on the confirmation screen you will see

the icon to connect to the feed

Creating alerts in Web of Science• Alternately, you can create a “Citation Alert” for a single

paper, to be notified when the paper is cited by another author

Creating alerts in Web of Science• To edit your Citation Alerts, access the “My Citation Alerts”

link in the upper right of the page when signed in• You can access and edit your Saved Searches in this same area

Creating alerts in xSearch• Like Web of Science & Scopus, you can create an alert based

on a set of search terms• xSearch uses your SUnet so you don’t need to create an

account

Creating alerts in xSearch• After your search is completed, click on “Create an alert from

this search”

Creating alerts in xSeach• Give your alert a name, and set the alert frequency• If you plan to use RSS change Alert Email Delivery to Never

Creating alerts in xSearch• Once the alert is created, you’ll have the icons available to add

the alert to your RSS reader.

Creating alerts in xSearch• Tip – Want to get alerts from Web of Science but don’t want

to try and figure out there interface?• You can run alerts on just Web of Science in xSearch by

selecting only Web of Science for your search source

Other sources for alerts

• Publishers, database companies, Engineering Library Website.

Pre-built alerts @ the Engineering Library

• The “What’s New” tab at the library website http://englib.stanford.edu

Pre-built alerts @ the Engineering Library

• Articles

Pre-built alerts @ the Engineering Library

• E-Books

Pre-built alerts @ the Engineering Library

• Books

Pre-built alerts @ the Engineering Library

• News

More on RSS

• How to view RSS feeds• Click on RSS icon

More on RSS

• Choose an RSS reader (Yahoo, Google, Windows, etc. (First sign in)

More on RSS

• Example of ‘My Yahoo’ RSS reader.

More on RSS

• Example of ‘IE/Windows Gadget’ RSS reader.• From within IE, click on ‘Subscribe to this feed’.

More on RSS

• Click ‘Subscribe’.

More on RSS

• To view feeds within IE, click on ‘favorites’ and then ‘Feeds’.Click ‘Subscribe’.

More on RSS

• To view feeds using Windows Gadgets, right click on your desktop, and click on ‘Gadgets’.• Drag the “Feed Headlines” gadget onto your

Desktop.

More on RSS

• Click on ‘Options’.

More on RSS

• Select your feed and click ‘OK’.

More on RSS

• Now the feed is displayed on your Desktop.