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Search tip: Stay up to date on your topic during the holidays
The holidays are approaching and this means some time off from the university and from your research or study. You can give yourself a break and enjoy the holidays without the fear of missing out on important research updates by setting up search alerts in your favourite databases.
What are search alerts?
About 2.5 million scientific articles are published each year and you are not the only one that is having trouble keeping track of what is new. The first thing you can do is to set up a search alert to make sure you are notified whenever new search results are available.
How to set up a search alert?
You can set up a search alert in almost every database. Make sure you are logged in first. After you have run your search, click on ‘auto alert’, ‘set alert’, ‘safe search’ or ‘share search’ depending on the database you are in.
Scopus
Scopus allows you to easily set up an alert right after you ran your search. Make sure you are logged in. Click on ‘Set alert’, give it a name, and choose the frequency. You are all set.
Ovid
For databases hosted on the Ovid platform, you must save your search first, through your search history. You can also fill in how often you want to receive notifications. The databases that run through Ovid are CAB Abstracts, Medline, Zoological Record, and Agricola.
EBSCOhost
If your database is hosted by EBSCOhost, open your search history and click on ‘Save Searches / Alerts’. Give your search a name and select ‘Alert’ in the next window. Databases hosted by EBSCOhost are Avery Index to Architectural Periodicals, CAB Abstracts, ECONLIT, ERIC, GreenFILE, Medline, PsycARTICLES, PsycINFO or SocINDEX.
Other databases
Is your favourite database not in the ones aforementioned? Check out this page or contact us to get some help.