Enter the keywords that must appear in the title, abstract, or body text of the returned results in either the title words field or the keywords field.
You may use AND, OR (using the vertical bar, a.k.a. pipe, symbol "|" has the same effect), and NOT (using a minus symbol "-" has the same effect) operators to create more complex searches.
You may use "quotes" to search for an exact phrase, e.g. expatriate failure would provide results that match these words in any order and in any place in the title, abstract or body text, "expatriate failure" would only provide results in which these words appear together.
Click Search or press the Enter key.
The program will now contact the data source in question to obtain the citations, process the list, and calculate the Citation metrics, which are then displayed in the Results list. The full list of results is also available for inspection or modifications and can be exported in a variety of formats.
Note: different data sources may have different syntax options. For an overview, please refer to the table below.
General/keyword search syntax across databases
Every data source has its own unique syntax that – oftentimes – is not fully documented. Below you will find the most important tips and problems, but to get the best out of the different data sources you need to be prepared to experiment with different search strategies. If you find that some things are not working as you expect, please share your findings by sending me an email, so that, collectively, we can improve these instructions.
Please note: The search syntax below refers to what works best when you search the data source through Publish or Perish. This is not always identical to the most effective search syntax in the web interfaces of the respective databases as these might be structured differently.
Can search for all of the words by using AND [not essential as MA uses an implicit AND]
Can search for any of the words by using OR
Can search for title words only or for matches in the abstract
Words will be matched in any order in the title only, regardless of whether the title field or keywords field is used. However title field requires the complete title, keywords field can process individual words
Cannot restrict search by using NOT, using NOT provides an error message
Cannot do an "exact phrase" search
Cannot handle hyphens e.g. COVID-19; remove the hyphen from your search, e.g. COVID 19
Cannot search for keywords in full-text of articles
Cannot search for keywords in title and abstract combined
Exact match only, expatriate doesn't match expatriates
Can search for all of the words by using AND [not essential as WoS uses an implicit AND]
Can search for any of the words by using OR
Can search for an exact phrase by putting the phrase in "quotes"
Can restrict search by using NOT
Can search for title words only or for matches in title and abstract
Uses stemming, expatriate also matches expatriates
Allows wildcards (e.g. global*) for easier searches
Cannot use NOT as the first operator in the field, e.g. "NOT expatriate" will give an error message, but "language NOT expatriate" is fine.
Cannot search for keywords in full-text of articles
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Anne-Wil Harzing is Emerita Professor of International Management at Middlesex University, London. She is a Fellow of the Academy of International Business, a select group of distinguished AIB members who are recognized for their outstanding contributions to the scholarly development of the field of international business. In addition to her academic duties, she also maintains the Journal Quality List and is the driving force behind the popular Publish or Perish software program.
Anne-Wil Harzing is Emerita Professor of International Management at Middlesex University, London. She is a Fellow of the Academy of International Business, a select group of distinguished AIB members who are recognized for their outstanding contributions to the scholarly development of the field of international business. In addition to her academic duties, she also maintains the Journal Quality List and is the driving force behind the popular Publish or Perish software program.