Keeping up with Current Research: October 2010 Sue Bird Bodleian Subject Librarian Geography

Oxford Research Archive Students registered on the D.Phil. programme from 1st October 2007 are required to deposit both a print copy (in the Bodleian Library) and a digital copy (in ORA) of their thesis.

Current Awareness Services The information explosion during 1950’s & 60’s gave rise to fears of not being able to keep up to date with the literature and so current awareness services came into being. Originally hardcopy and postal services. Advent of the internet has vastly improved such services.

ELECTRONIC ALERTING SERVICES (EAS) EAS make use of and e- databases. In the academic community these are usually provided by the Institution and so are free to the end-users. WARNING : No database is comprehensive and no matter how well you frame your enquiry, an EAS will never be as clever as your brain is at picking out material of interest.

RSS = Really Simple Syndication RSS is a family of web feed formats A web feed is a data format used for serving users frequently updated content. Content distributors syndicate a web feed thereby allowing users to subscribe to it.

SfX: Oxford University e-Journals – full text ZETOC : Electronic table of contents: Covers the British Library’s Document Supply Centre’s intake of journals SCOPUS Science Direct. Updating service for journals mainly from Elsevier Web of Knowledge: Covers all the ISI Citation databases, Arts & Humanities, Social Science & Science

Databases vs. Search engines Contents are indexed by subject specialists Subject headings Limiting functions e.g. publication types, language Allow you to View Search history Combine searches Mark and sort results Print/save/ /ex port Save searches Set up alerts Searches done by automated “web crawlers” No thesaurus / subject headings – just free text searching No limiting functions Usually none of these!

E-Journals “I didn't check for the hard copy - so used to getting online access!”

ZETOC British Library: Electronic Table of Contents +++Broad coverage. Easy to set up. Easy to modify & extend ---Not so timely as some (it depends on BL receipt of hard copy)

SCOPUS Research Service from Elsevier +++Includes GeoBase Searches abstracts Full text links to

Keeping up to date with SCOPUS Covers journals loaded onto ScienceDirect (but not exclusively) Includes Abstracts in the searches as well as journal titles, keywords and citations Can look at the results over the net Journal and Citation alerts are ed Search (Keyword) alerts must be viewed online

Reference Management Systems ProCite, Reference Manager and EndNote (works without web access – but software needs to be installed on own machine – charge of c£80 from OUCS) RefWorks (web based – access your records anywhere - free to members of university) EndNote on the Web (free to members of university, but has limited feature set – designed to be used alongside desktop version) Zotero is a free plug-in for Firefox browser (only) – limited but growing capability

So what can reference management software do? Store references to items in many different formats and material types Search, select and output references in a variety of pre-determined styles, or one of your own making Import references direct from databases like Scopus or Web of Knowledge, or library catalogues like OLIS Search external databases from within the reference management software, and save references retrieved Insert references into a word-processed document and format them in a particular style at the touch of a button Store links to documents – pdf’s, images – or copies of them within database

EndNote, EndNote Web & RefWorks compared Compare features: EndNote Web EndNote DesktopRefWorks Save references+++ Organize & edit references+++ Storage capacity (number of references)10,000unlimited Import from many databases and OPACs+++ Cite & format papers with bibliographies+++ Create & save advanced searches +create (not save) Customize views & displays ++ Edit reference import filters & output styles + RW can add or edit import filters Users can edit output styles Use term lists for auto-entry ++ Cite tables, figures, & equations ++ Work Offline (anytime/anywhere) +Write papers offline only Local Personal Files and Documents ++ High Performance Desktop Environment +

EndNote system:- Software package that you purchase from O.U.C.S. but you then have it permanently There is also now a Web version Courses laid on for both main systems (

Web of Knowledge WEB of Science: ISI citation indexes Broad Coverage – all subject areas Run when convenient Automatic export to EndNote but now with export to RefWorks (Journal Citation Reports – help choose the most effective title in your area)

Web of Knowledge Three ways to keep up to date: alert – you can specify a search to be repeated and the results ed to you at chosen intervals Saving and rerunning searches – you save a search and run it again in the future Citation Alert – you will receive an every time a particular article is cited in another WoK-indexed article

Bibliographic Databases OVIDSP CAB Abstracts – biogeography Forest Science - biogeography GeoRef – physical geography & geology EconLit – economic geography Zoological Abstracts Archive only ( )

Bibliographic Databases Search :- Ecotouris* 2009 only Scopus = 123 articles W.o.K. = 89 articles Ovid = 86 after de-duplication of 108 articles, etc. C.S.A = 75 articles (70 after de-duplication) EbscoHost = 2 articles RefWorks de-duplication = 271

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