index

index

Author Search

Author Search provides an easy way to identify and retrieve all the works by a particular author. By focusing on what you know about the author, Author Search helps to separate works by different authors who have the same name.

Author names are in the form: last name followed by up to four initials. A last name can contain a hyphen, a space, or an apostrophe. For example:

  • Wilson SE
  • O'Grady AP
  • Ruiz-Gomez M
  • De La Rosa JM
  • Van der Waals JE

index

Search for an Author Name

  1. Enter the last name of the author in the Last Name / Family Name field.

  2. Enter up to four initials in the Initials field.

    Click the Add Author Name Variant link to display another row of the Last Name and Initials fields. This feature allows you to search for multiple author name variants. You can search for up to five author name variants.

    For example: Row 1 = De La Rosa JM and Row 2=DeLaRosa JM. The system finds all records in which the author may have published articles under these two variants.

  3. Select the Exact Matches Only check box. This step is optional. This feature restricts the search to author names that match exactly what you typed.

  4. Click Select Research Domains to go to the Research Domains page. This step is optional.

  5. From the Research Domains page, click Select Organizations to go to the Select Organization page. This step is optional.

  6. Click Finish Search to go directly to the Results page.

index

Exact Matches Only Check Box

Some authors publish their works under one name while others publish their works under multiple names.

When you clear the Exact Matches check box, the system turns on auto truncation. When you select the check box, auto truncation is disabled. For example:

  • A search for Johnson TB with the Exact Matches check box selected finds papers and record sets that have Johnson TB as the author.

    For record sets, there may be other names in the name column of the Article Groups table such as Johnson, Timothy, but Johnson TB must be one of the names listed in the table.

  • A search for Johnson TB with the Exact Matches check box cleared finds papers and record sets described above, as well as papers and record sets with authors that have more initials or characters in their first name. It is similar to searching for Johnson TB* (notice the wildcard) and finding Johnson TB and Johnson Timothy B.

    For record sets, there may be other names in the name column of the sets table, but Johnson TB* must match one of them.

Hint: When viewing the results of a search from the Article Groups table, look for the Also published as tag to see if the author may have published his or her works under different names.

index

Database, Timespan, and Settings

When you perform an Author Search, the product searches all editions and all years in your subscription package.

index

Research Domains / Research Areas

Select the research domains and research areas associated with the author. At the top of the page, the name of the author appears in the Current Selection(s) field along with the total record count. For example:

Current selection(s): De La Rosa JM* OR DeLaRosa JM* (118)

There are five research domains. They include:

  • Arts Humanities
  • Life Sciences Biomedicine
  • Physical Sciences
  • Social Sciences
  • Technology

You can expand each research domain to view the associated research areas that fall under each domain. You can select specific research areas or you can select specific research domains (or All Research Domains).

The record count shows the total number of articles published by the author in each research domain. If you included multiple name variants in your search, the system combines all names and the record count will include the published works by all author variants.

Keep in mind that some published works may be assigned to more than one research domain or research area. In this instance, the total record count may be less than the combined record count of all research domains.

index

Organization Name Table

Select the organization names associated with the published works of the author.

The Record Count column shows the total number of records associated with a particular organization. The record count includes all published works by the author in one of the research domains and research areas selected from the Research Domains page. Keep in mind that some published works may be associated with more than one organization.

  • Move To Link: Click a letter (A-Z) or a number (0-9) to go directly to the first organization name in the list that begins with the selected alphabetic character or number.

  • Sort Options: By default, the system sorts organization names alphabetically by their abbreviated title. You can, however, sort organization names numerically by record count (highest to lowest) by clicking the Record Count link.

Include records that do not contain organization information

Organization names are pulled from the Address(es) field of the Full Record for all the records found in the search. By selecting this check box, you are telling the system to include all records in the final results that do not contain organization information in the Address(es) field of a Full Record

index

Search Rules
  • Enter the complete last name in the Last Name / Family Name field. Do not enter partial last names with wildcards (* ? $) since the search engine may return unpredictable results.

index

  • Enter up to four initials in the Initials field. Do not use wildcards.

    Entering Smith A will find Smith A, Smith AL, Smith Alexandra, Smith Aaron, and so on.

    Entering Smith AC will find Smith AC, Smith ACB, Smith Aaron C, Smith Alison Campbell, and so on.

index

  • Last names containing a space can be searched with and without the space. For example, De La Rosa J finds De La Rosa J and DeLaRosa J. However, it is always best to search for multiple author name variants.

index

  • Some last names that contain spaces cannot be searched as one word. For example, Fuchs Charles S returns a list of records, but FuchsCharles S does not.

index

Important Notes:

The system returns an error message if you enter a Boolean in the Last Name / First Name field without using quotation marks. For example, "OR" returns results but OR returns an error message.

This rules only applies to the Last Name / First Name field -- it does not apply to the Initials field. For example, entering Smith (last name) and OR (initials) is a valid search query.

index

About Author Names

Different authors may be represented by the same name in the product database. For example, Richard J. Johnson and Robert J. Johnson may appear as Johnson RJ.

Conversely, the same author may be represented by different names, particularly if he or she has a long publication history. For example, Barbara Demmig-Adams is indexed as:

Demmig-Adams, B
DemmigAdams, B
Demmig-Adams, Barbara