Search Field Descriptions

Enter author names to search the following fields within a record.

• Author(s)
• Book Author(s)
• Book Group Author(s)
• Group Author(s)

Note: Authors also includes the name of inventors for patent records.

Enter the last name first followed by a space and the author's initials. The system automatically adds the asterisk (*) wildcard when you enter only one initial. So, entering Johnson M is the same as entering Johnson M*. Enter a wildcard after each initial in an author's name. For example, Johnson M*S* is a valid search query.

Important: You must enter at least two characters before a wildcard when searching a last name (e.g., sm*).

See guidelines for searching names.

An author identifier is a Web of Science ResearcherID number or ORCID.

• A-1009-2008 finds records of documents authored by a researcher whose Web of Science ResearcherID number is A-1009-2008.
• 0000-0003-3768-1316 finds records of documents authored by a researcher whose ORCID is 0000-0003-3768-1316.

Important: Do not use a wildcard (* ? $) in your search query as the system may return unpredictable results

A group author is an organization or institution that is credited with authorship of a source publication such as an article, a book, a proceeding, or another type of work.

Type a group author name to search the following fields within a full record: Corporate Author(s)and Book Group Author(s).

Type full names or partial names using wildcards (* $ ?). For example, the search for Worldwide* finds group authors such as:

• Worldwide Network Blood & Marrow T
• Worldwide Wave Investigators
• Worldwide Study Grp

Type a publication name to search this field. The product retrieves both English and title publication names in other languages.

Type a full or partial publication name followed by a wildcard (* ? $). For example: Cell Biology* finds:

• Cell Biology International
• Cell Biology International Reports
• Cell Biology Research Progress

Enclose journal titles in quotation marks ( " " ) to find the exact named journal title. For example, "Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry" only returns records of articles published in Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.

Use the OR Boolean operator to find records of articles published in any of the specified publications. For example, "Forensic Toxicology" OR "Drug Testing and Analysis" finds records of articles published in either Forensic Toxicology or Drug Testing and Analysis.

Auto-Suggest Publication Name

You can quickly find a specific journal (or find similar journal names that may be valuable to your research) if you set Auto-Suggest Publication Names to ON under the Modify Settings section of the search page. The product displays up to 10 suggestions as you type at least 3 characters without beginning spaces. The list automatically updates as you type more than 3 characters.

Type GENE in the Publication Name field to see publications such as:

• gene
• gene amsterdam
• gene expression omnibus

Type GENE THERAPY in the Publication Name field to see:

• gene therapy
• gene therapy and gene delivery systems
• gene therapy and molecular biology

You can temporarily hide auto-suggestion by pressing the ESC key as you type characters in the Publication Name field.

Search suggestions are based on your organization's subscription. The selected journal name does not always guarantee that the system finds records because the search timespan you select may filter out qualified articles.

Modify Settings: Auto-Suggest Publication Names (Caution)

Selecting the Chinese language as the search language in All Databases or the Chinese Science Citation Database automatically turns off auto suggestion in all silo product databases in Web of Science. The OFF option will actually appear in the Auto-Suggest Publication Names box in all product.

To turn back on the auto suggestion feature, you must first select English or Auto Select as the search language in Modify Settings. Next, you must set the Auto-Suggest feature to ON. Once this happens, the ON option will appear in the Auto-Suggest box in all product databases.

You can go to Web of Science Core Collection and other product databases and manually turn on Auto-Suggestions.

Booleans in Source Titles

Searching for journal titles that contain the OR Boolean is acceptable with Auto-Suggest Publication Name turned ON or OFF.

Ampersands

Many journal names contain an ampersand (&) in the title. The product returns the same number of records whether you enter the ampersand or not. For example: Entering Past Present is the same as entering Past & Present and returns the same number of records.

Entering Language History is the same as entering Language & History and returns the same number of records.

Entering Science Education is the same as entering Science & Education and returns the same number of records.

However, journal titles in the Publication Name Index do not contain the ampersand. For example, the journal called Science & Education appears in the Index as Science Education.

Some publication examples include:

• Type the name of an editor to search this field (a corporate author can also be an editor).
• Enter full names or partial names using wildcards (* $ ?).
• Join multiple names with the Boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT).
• Editor names appear on search results and full record pages as last name followed by a first name and/or initials.

See guidelines for searching names.

Search the Address fields by entering the full or partial name of an institution and/or location from an author's address. For example, Univ and University finds institutions in which the term "Univ" appears in the Addresses field within a record.

When typing full names, do not use articles (a, an, the) and prepositions (of, in, for) in the name. For example, entering UNIV Pennsyvania is OK but entering University of Pennsylvania results in an error message.

Note: common address terms may be abbreviated in the product database. For example, the word Department may be abbreviated as Dept or Dep.

We recommend you combine an Address search with an Author search to broaden or narrow your search results.

Address Examples

The system maps abbreviated address terms to known full address terms and vice-versa. For example:

• Ave maps to Avenue and Avenue maps to Ave
• Med maps to Medicine, Medical, and Medicinal and these three terms map to Med and to each other
• Pkwy maps to Parkway and Parkway maps to Pkwy
• Univ maps to University and University maps to Univ

SAME Operator

Use the SAME operator because it specifies that terms joined by the operator be in the same address. Using the SAME operator restricts your search.

For example, the search query IBM SAME NYretrieves records that contain these two terms in the Addresses field of a Full Record. For instance:

IBM Res Corp, Yorktown Heights, NY 10598 USA

AND Operator

Use the AND operator to broaden your search across all addresses within a record.

The search IBM AND NY retrieves all of the records that IBM SAME NY retrieves. In addition, it will retrieve records in which IBM and NY are in the Address field but they are in different addresses.

For example, IBM AND NY retrieves a record that contains these two addresses.

1. Cornell Univ, Dept Mat Sci & Engn, Ithaca,NY14853 USA
2. IBM Corp, Almaden Res Ctr, Div Res, San Jose, CA 95120 USA

As you can see, the product returned a record in which NY appears in one address and IBM appears in a different address.

Enter a four-digit year or a range of years. For example:

• 2015
• 2010-2015

You should always combine a search by Year Published with a search by another field such as Topic, Author or Publication Name.

If your search by Year Published retrieves no results, check the timespan setting. The timespan setting may exclude records in the year range you specify.

The Taxonomic Data table in records is divided into the following categories:

Super Taxa

Taxonomic terms that classify organisms, including microorganisms, above the genus/species level. Taxa are presented in order from lowest to highest. To see a list of Super Taxa terms, click this link.

Taxa Notes

Common names of broad groups of organisms and microorganisms discussed in the source document.

Organism Classifier [Biosystematic Code]

Controlled term for the taxonomic rank of family. Each organism classifier is accompanied by a Biosystematic Code, which positions the classifier in the taxonomic hierarchy. Biosystematic codes are assigned to all controlled taxonomic terms--super taxa as well as organism classifiers. You can access a hierarchical list of taxonomic terms and their biosystematic codes by selecting Taxonomic Data on the Basic Search page and then clicking the Select from List link. The code may be followed by an asterisk (*), which indicates the reporting of a new taxon. In some instances, the asterisk may be replaced with -NEW.

Organism Name

The formal scientific name (genus and species) or informal common name of an organism. This field may also include names of cell lines mentioned in the source document. Organism names are available in records from 1925 to 1968 and from 1993 to the present. In records between 1969 and 1992, organism names may be found in the Miscellaneous Descriptors field.

Variant

A variant name for the organism. The variant may be a corrected spelling (from the author) or another common or species name. This field is available in records from 1993 to the present.

Details

Other information such as gender of the organism, its developmental stage, and its role. It may also contain a fossil indicator and whether the organism is a new taxon and its type. This field is available in records from 1993 to the present.

Note: All taxonomic data fields are searched when you perform a Topic search.

Major Concepts are broad subject areas covered in the source document. There are 168 Major Concepts terms, which are arranged in a hierarchical tree structure. A search for a high-level Major Concepts term automatically retrieves items indexed with any term subordinate to it. For example, a search for Agriculture as a Major Concepts term retrieves records that contain Agronomy, Animal Husbandry or Horticulture in the Major Concepts field, along with records that contain Agriculture in the Major Concepts field.

Concept codes are five-digit codes representing broad subject areas in the life sciences as discussed in the source document, such as phylum, class, or family. A code is assigned for each organism type. A definition (concept heading) of the code follows the numeric code. For example:

You can search this field by code or heading.

Groups of related concept codes are arranged under broad concept heading. For example, he concept heading for Toxicology is comprised of Concept Codes 22501-22508 and can be search with a wildcard. For example: 225*

Use the following fields in the Chemical Data table to search for records published from 1993 to the present:

• Chemical Name
• Variant
• CAS Registry No.
• Drug Modifier
• Details

Use the following fields in the Gene Name Data table to search for records published from 2001 to the present:

• Term
• Variant
• Details

Use the following fields in the Sequence Data table to search for records published 1989 to the present:

• Accession No.
• Data Bank
• CAS Number
• Details

Enter Identifying Codes to search the following fields within a record.

• Accession Number
• ISSN
• ISBN
• Patent Number (for records added to database from 1986 to present)
• Patent Class (for records added to database from 1986 to present)
• Patent Date Granted

The following list represents the common names of broad groups of organisms and microorganisms mentioned in the source article of product records. You may limit your search by selecting a single organism or multiple organisms. The default selection is All Taxa Notes.

The accession number is a unique identifying number associated with each record in the product. It consists of an accession number (a product identification code) and a sequence number.

Always join multiple numbers by the OR Boolean operator. Do not use AND, NOT, NEAR, and SAME when searching for accession numbers: the product will return an error message.

Enter a unique accession number to find a specific record. For example, BACD201000040692 finds the record that is associated with this unique accession number.

Enter a partial accession number and include an asterisk (*) wildcard at the end. For example, BACD200900153* finds all records that begin with this accession number, such as:

• BIOAB:BACD200900153450
• BIOAB:BACD200900153451
• BIOAB:BACD200900153452

Enter a partial accession number and include both left-hand and right-hand truncation. For example, *04000469* finds all records that contains these numbers in the accession number.