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Keeping up-to-date

Learning objectives

By the end of this module, you will be able to:

  • describe the purpose of an alert service
  • describe the sorts of alerts
  • recognise a RSS alert feed.

What is an alert service?

Many journal databases and book publishers offer free alert services. These are an effective means of keeping track of the latest research.

Alert services come in different forms. The most common include:

  • a search alert. This is a saved search which alerts you when a book or article that matches your search terms is published.
  • a TOC (Table of Contents) alert. Such an alert notifies you when a new issue of a journal is published, and provides you with the issue's table of contents.
  • a citation alert. This advises you when a new article cites a particular work.

Most alert services are email-based. An increasing number are now offered as an RSS feed. If you are just beginning, you might like to try email alerts first. These are generally easier to create.

How to set up alerts

To create an alert, you generally need to register with each journal index. Below is a list of some of the main journal databases that offer alert services. Not all of these are appropriate for your research. Browse the journal database first to check that it is relevant.

American Chemical Society
American Mathematical Society
AustLit
BioMed Central
BioOne
Cambridge University Press
CSIRO Journals
Duke University Journals
Emerald FullText
HighWire
IngentaConnect
Institute of Physics
Nature Publishing Group
PNAS
PubMed
Royal Society of Chemistry
Sage Publications
Science Direct
SpringerLink
Taylor and Francis
Web of Science
Wiley InterScience

Book publishers

Many publishers now offer alert service to readers. These can be a useful means of tracking non-journal research.

Blackwell Publishers
Brill
Cambridge University Press
DA Books Alert
Jossey-Bass
Lippincott, Williams & Wilkins
MIT Press
Prentice Hall
Taylor & Francis
Wiley
University of Chicago Press
Springer

Google Alerts

Google Alerts allow you to set up a search on Google which sends you an email message when Google finds new relevant content.

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Create a Google Alert

Why not create an alert now. It only takes a few seconds. Follow these steps:

  • Go to Google Alerts 
  • Enter your keywords (eg "bush tucker")
  • Enter the frequency with which you wish your search to be run
  • Enter your email address
  • Click on the Create Alert button.

Web Feeds

Many academic publishers now send out alerts via RSS or Web feeds. RSS is a popular alternative to email alerts. To get started you need to set up an account with an online RSS feeder.

There is also a range of free RSS feeders that you can install on your machine. These will deliver new RSS alerts to you automatically.

The next step is to subscribe to the RSS feed. Check the journal site for "Subscribe" links, or icons indicating the presence of an RSS alert service. Some common icons examples are below:

collection of RSS icons

Once you find an RSS feed of interest, follow your feed reader's instructions for subscribing.

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Getting started

The University of Saskatchewan maintains a list of academic journals which post their table of contents by RSS feed. Go to this site and sign up to a number of journals relevant to your research.

Once you have subscribed to web feeds, simply check your feed reader periodically to keep up with current content.

Summary

This module dealt with

  • the different sorts of alert services that exist
  • the range of alerts available from academic publishers
  • RSS alert feeds.
Link to page with self-test questionsSelf-test

Try these quick self-test questions to assess what you have learnt from this module.