…find out if an article has been cited?

Answer

Use the Cited Reference Search feature in Web of Science (WOS).

Introduction

Containing Science Citation Index, Social Sciences Citation Index, and Arts & Humanities Citation Index, Web of Science (WOS) provides citation information for articles from over 6,650 science and engineering journals, 1,950 social sciences journals, and 1,160 arts and humanities journals. The Cited Reference Search feature can be used to find citations to a specific article or a number of works by an author.

Step-By-Step

  1. On the Library's Home page, locate the Core Resources heading in the middle of the page, then select Web of Science.
  2. Select Cited Reference Search.
  3. To find citations to an author's work, enter the author's name, the cited work (abbreviated journal/book title), and/or publication year
    4. Tips for an effective search
    • Even when the complete citation is known, begin a search by entering only the cited author's name and cited work on this screen. 
    • Search using the first author's name of a multi-authored work.
    • Always search using the ISI abbreviation for the cited work from the journal abbreviation list link below the Cited Work search box.
      Cite1Circle
  4. Click Search. The Cited Reference Index page will display the results. Find the paper of interest and look at the Citing Articles column to determine how many times the paper was cited.

    Important: Look for variants because articles are sometimes cited incorrectly. In the example below, A.J. Stunkard's 1981 paper in Am J Clin Nutr, volume 34, page 1593 has been cited 366 times. But look carefully at the other references on this page. Some are very close matches to the citation, listing a similar page number (e.g. 1591, 1598, or 1953) or year (1982). These most likely are all citing the same article, so you will want to count all the variants that seem to refer to the same article. In this case the 1981 paper was really probably cited 374 total times.

     Cite2Circle
     
  5. To see full article titles and journal titles on this page, Click Show Expanded Titles.  Click View record to go to the full record of a cited item.
  6. Additional Information

    If a reference cannot be expanded and has no View record link:

    • The item is a reference to an article published before 1970 (the UVa Library subscription to WOS covers 1970 - present).  
    • The source publication (journal, book, thesis, etc)  may not be covered by WOS
    • The item contains incorrect or missing information.  Typically, these are varations of the correct citation, that is linked to the WOS record.
    Ellipses (...) before an author's name signify the author is not the first author of the cited article.  Searching by first author will show the original record as well as citation variations.

Resources

Help

For additional information about searching cited references in Web of Science, contact the Reference Desk at 924-5591 or cmhslref@gmail.com.