Main Search Strategies

What you know How to find the article(s) Author(s) Author names can be entered in any text box field and select "Author" from drop list. The last name is the main identifier; search is only on the last name. Use *(star) operator for a like search. Multiple author names should be separated by a . Boolean operators. Title Words in an article's title can be searched by using the "Title" field on the Search page. If you enter the full title, put them within double quotes (" ") so that the exact phrase is searched. Topic Topic search is executed on three fields "Title, Abstract and Keywords". If you enter a text and the search field is "Topic" then Indian Citation Index will return all the articles that match in any of the three fields i.e. "Title, Abstract and Keyword". Note: The "Title" search executed only on one title field. Document Type Each article is categorized to a document type. There are different "Document Type" is like RESEARCH ARTICLE, PROCEEDINGS PAPER etc. these types are defined for each article. The search on "Document Type" allows the user to select a specific document type from a predefined list. Once a document type is selected, article will be fetched based on the defined category. The search for a Document Type can be combined with other search fields like "Title, Author and Publication" using the Boolean operator (AND, OR & NOT). Publication Like Institution, Publication drop down is an incremental search. As you keep typing matching patterns are displayed and a filtration process starts to help the user to narrow down search results from the list. Example: Case 1 exact match: Type INDIAN JOURNAL OF DENTAL RESEARCH, as you start typing matching records will keep appearing on the drop list. This is an exact search, if no wild card character is used. Case 2 use of wild card character in the end: Type Indian journal of de* as you begin typing matching publication name will keep appearing in the drop list. Once the wild card "*" is added at the end of the publication then this search would fetch all articles for these publications INDIAN JOURNAL OF DENTAL RESEARCH, INDIAN JOURNAL OF DERMATOLOGY, INDIAN JOURNAL OF DERMATOLOGY, VENEREOLOGY & LEPROLOGY etc. Case 3 use of wild card character at both ends of the string: When wild card character is added at both ends of the string, then the records fetched would match the entered string and but can have any a combination at the start and/or end of the string. So *Journal of* would be Indian Journal of .... or International journal of .... or Journal of Pediatrics etc. Institution Like Publication, Institution drop down is an incremental search. As you keep typing the matching pattern displayed starts a filtration process to help user to narrow down search result from the list. Case 1 exact match: Type or enter All India Institute of Medical Sciences, as you begin typing matching records will keep appearing on the drop list. If no wild card is used this would fetch the exact match. Case 2 use of wild card character in the end: Type for Delhi College of* as you begin typing the matching records will keep appearing in the drop. Once the wild card "*" is added at the end of the institution then this search would fetch all articles for these institutions Delhi College of Engineering, Delhi College of Arts & Commerce, Delhi College of Engineering etc. Case 3 use of wild card character at both ends of the string: Type for University and add wild card at both ends of the string, would fetchPunjab Agricultural University, GB Pant University of Agriculture, Maharana Pratap University of Agriculture and Technology etc. City\State\ Country This search works in a similar way as Publication search. Example, New Delhi - will search for exact phrase. New* - will search for articles belonging to institutes situated in place starting from New. This type of search will be slower as compared to exact match.

Stemming

TThe search mechanism uses a "stemming" mechanism to find words which are similar to the words you enter. For example, a search on

transcription

may turn up articles containing similar words such as transcript and transcribed. These additional words may not always be highlighted in the text.

Using "Wildcards"

The wildcard character (*) can be used to search the fragments of words, forcing a match with any word containing a given root. Although this function is somewhat duplicated with the Stemming feature, proper use of a wildcard can return a range of potentially interesting documents. For example, a search for

child*

will return articles containing child, childcare, and children; likewise, a search for

phospha*

will return articles containing phosphatase and phosphate.

Boolean Logic

The Boolean logic terms (operators) AND, OR, NOT are available for searching in the Key words and Title fields. One or more Boolean operators can be used in a search query.

The AND connector limits the search results to articles that contain all of the terms that are connected by AND. For example, a search for

human AND diseases

will return all articles that contain both the term human as well as the term diseases. This same search may also be entered as human diseases.

Using the OR operator (human OR diseases) would expand your search results to include articles containing either the term human or the term diseases. In practice, this will retrieve articles as diverse as human evolution and avian diseases.

The NOT operator limits your search to articles containing the first term but not the second term. For example, a search on

human NOT diseases

returns articles containing the term human but excludes articles also containing the word diseases. Be careful when using the NOT function for it can easily eliminate articles that may be useful.

Search Term Highlighting

Search terms are highlighted in red text in the title display of the search result. the search result. Search terms are also highlighted in light green text in the title. A search on the phrase

plant nutrients

will highlight instances of the phrase " plant nutrients", as well as any uses of the words plant or nutrients.

Search Errors

There are two reasons that you may not get any articles back from your search:

• there may not be any articles matching the search criteria, or

• an error occurred with the search engine program itself.

If your search was executed properly but did not return any articles, the message

"Your search criteria matched zero articles."

will be displayed at the top of the screen, along with some suggestions for modifying your search. In this case, the search can be broadened as described above to redefine the search. Appropriate use of wildcards with search terms, or author names for which you are not sure of the exact spelling, can help. There is also the possibility that no articles matching your interests are in the journal's collection.

When a true search error occurs, the message

"There was a problem with our search system."

will appear at the top of the screen. If you are unable to resolve the error, please follow the Contact Us link and submit a message via the form describing the problem.