Many of the social science and science databases have options to help you keep up with the current literature. By setting up alerts, you may receive via email or RSS feed any new articles by a particular author or those on a subject of interest to you. This is accomplished by setting up an account which you can use to save searches and then set up an alert based on the search.
Medline
PsycINFO
Since these two databases are supplied by one vendor, Ovid, “Your Workspace” is available to you in either one of them. To create your account, click on “My Account” in the upper right corner of the search screen.
To save a search, move your mouse to “More >>” under Actions in the Search History to display the pull down menu with save, auto-alert, and RSS. If you have yet to log into your account, you will be directed to do so first.
Ovid offers an additional option, “My Projects,” to account holders to create folders for organizing search results and journal articles. You’ll notice the button on the lower right of the citation box along with Annotate for your notes.
Help
pages for the various aspects of “My Workspace” follow.
Quick Reference Card to My Projects
OvidSP Quick Reference Guide (information about saved searches and auto-alerts begins on page 8)
Google Scholar
Google Scholar provides a means for you to create alerts which does not require an account. When you enter your search terms and receive the results, the green line which has Scholar on the left and the number of results on the right will include an envelope symbol and a link to “Create an alert.” The next screen will cue you for the email address where you wish to receive the alerts. A confirmation email will be sent to the address you entered. The message will contain a check box for you to mark so the alerts process will take place. The following excerpt from the Google Scholar Help section has more details.
Get email alerts for new publications
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