Psychology: Monitoring the Literature

Consider a combination of approaches to stay on top of the literature in your field.

• Targeted Literature Searches:
  • Set up automated ongoing searches using key words or author names in databases such as PubMed, PsycInfo, Web of Science, and/or Google Scholar.
  • You'll need to create a free account (MyNCBI for PubMed, EBSCOhost for PsycInfo, Clarivate for Web of Science, Google for Google Scholar) so you can save searches and receive regular updates of new articles by email or RSS feed.
  • PubMed directions, PscyInfo/EBSCOhost directions, Google Scholar directions, Web of Science directions (video).
• Cited Reference Searches:
  • Set up automated ongoing searches to track new articles that cite an article of interest. 
  • Best databases: Web of Science or Google Scholar.
  • View quick tips on cited reference searching.
• Journal Tables of Contents
  • Look for an option such as "Alerts and Feeds" on journal publisher websites to receive the table of contents of each new issue by email or by RSS feed. (Example below.)
  • Consider using the Read by QxMD app (using your UW NetID for access to UW Libraries subscriptions).
• Article Attention / Altmetrics:
  • Using the free Altmetric bookmarklet, you can be alerted when an article is tweeted, discussed in the news, or cited in a policy document.
• Awarded Grants, Reports, and Social Media:
  • NIH RePORTER can be used to track newly-awarded grants and associated publications
  • Consider blogs/newsletters (e.g., Pew Research newsletters)
  • Follow other researchers, organizations, or hashtags on Twitter (e.g., #AcademicTwitter or @nctsn (National Child Traumatic Stress Network).

[If using RSS feeds, consider Feedly to manage them.]

Please contact your librarian - for assistance.