This post is heavily based on a course “Literature Research in Academic Databases” (provided at ISTA) to understand how to perform literature review in science including the use of Google Scholar, Web of Science, and Scopus. I have adapted it for my field of research.

Introduction

Academic Databases

Definition. An academic database is a searchable collection of academic literature. They provide access to a range of academic content, such as journal articles, conference proceedings, books, patents, technical reports and others.

Example.

  • Web of Science
    • Comprehensive citation search
    • Cross-disciplinary
  • SciFinder
    • Comprehensive for chemical literature
  • Scopus
    • Contains abstract and citations of articles
  • PubMed
    • Free
    • Life sciences and biomedical topics
    • Quality control before being indexed
  • MathSciNet
    • From American Mathematical Society
    • Comprehensive in Mathematics

Disclaimer: Many academic databases are not free to use. Try going through your institution if you have one.

Search engines

While searching, remember you can use the following tools.

  • Related articles
  • Boolean connectors (AND, OR, NOT)
  • Edit distance proximity (near, next, within)
  • Restrictive search (use of quotation marks “”)
  • Regular expressions (using * or . as a wild character)

Tips for searching

  • General to specific: use less filters in the beginning.
  • Consult different databases

Google Scholar

Characteristics.

  • Free to use
  • Advanced search available
    • Quotation for exact match
    • Logical operators AND, OR, NOT
  • Research might take between 6 and 12 months to be indexed
  • “Cited by” feature to track research development
  • Article versions available
  • Mark articles
  • Save searches (to make them later again)

Limitations.

  • Indexing only: Journal Articles, Conference proceedings, Court opinions, Patents, Books, Book chapters & reviews
  • Not catalogued by professionals

Tips.

  • Results are influenced by your search history. If you need to, connect to google scholar without them being able to tell it is you.
  • Mark articles and organize them in “libraries”.

Web of Science

Characteristics.

  • Covers best life sciences, medicine, social sciences, arts, and humanities
  • Curated by professional to include most relevant content and their sources
  • Free author search
  • Paid content and AI-guided search, with research institutions usually providing access
  • Get notified on new results for a search
  • Index is organized in collections (based on topic or year)
  • Advanced search available
    • Quotation for exact match
    • Logical operators AND, OR, NOT
    • Distance oparator NEAR/x
    • Same address SAME

Limitations.

  • Mostly paid
  • Only curated content is included, not everything will be there

Tips.

  • Webinars to help you use Web of Science.

Scopus

Characteristics.

  • Database contains only abstracts and citations
  • It covers life sciences, social sciences, physical sciences, and health sciences
  • Indexes journals, books, conference proceedings, and patents
    • Journals are yearly evaluated on
      • h-Index
      • CiteScore
      • SJR (SCImago Journal Rank)
      • SNIP (source normalized impact per paper)
  • Paid, with research institutions usually providing access
  • You can
    • Search on a topic
    • Find author information, such as H-index, and lists of publications
    • Locate Impact metrics for a journal title using SNIP, SJR, and CiteScore
    • Cited by feature to track research development
    • Locate potential collaborators or subject experts
    • Set Citation Alerts
  • Video tutorials
    • For example
      • assess an author’s impact
      • keep track of an author
  • Advanced search available
    • Logical operators AND, OR, AND NOT
    • Preceds by PRE/n
    • Within W/n

Limitations.

  • Mostly paid

Tips.

  • Try the “cited by” feature, alongside with google scholar’s same feature
  • Get historic citations on a topic by a simple search, displayed in different forms

Metrics

Measuring the impact of journals, articles, and authors is not trivial. Remember: metrics may not solve your particular problem, only give you some insights.

Journals

Metrics available include

  • SciteScore
    • Based on Scopus index only
    • Metrics for journals, articles, and researchers
    • Free to use
  • SCImago Journal Rank (SCJ)
    • metric for journals, book series and conference proceedings
    • based on the subject field, quality and reputation
  • Source-Normalized Impact per Paper (SNIP)
    • considers differences in disciplinary characteristics
    • may be used to compare journals in different fields
  • Impact Factor
    • used as a proxy for the relative importance of a journal within its field

Articles

Metrics available include

  • Citations
  • Field-weighted Citation Impact
  • Altmetrics
    • based on online presence
    • track mentions of a work in social media
  • Article Influence score
    • average influence of a journal’s articles over the first five years after publications

Authors

Metrics available include

  • h-index
    • measures productivity and citation impact of publications
    • depends on the index you search in

Personal learning

The following is what I appreciate most from this course.

  • seeing how to use Scopus, which I have never used but knew that existed
  • understanding the differences in what and how articles are indexed in different databases
  • finding out that Scopus also has a “cited by” feature, which is what I mostly use when doing literature review