Publication/Journal search
How to perform journal searches with Publish or Perish
For important background information, see:
Tip: For many additional use cases relating to author searches see the Publish or Perish Tutorial.
How to perform a Publication/Journal search
To perform a basic Publication/Journal search:
- Enter the publication/journal's name in the Publication name field;
- 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.
Publication/Journal 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.
| Data source | Preferred search syntax | Most common problems |
|---|---|---|
| Crossref |
1. ISSN 2. Full journal title ==> sort by rank, uncheck all results (right-click Uncheck All or Ctrl+U), find last consecutive relevant result, select all results before that and check these results (right-click Check Selection or Num +) |
1. None, CrossRef provides excellent results for ISSN searches 2. CrossRef implements an OR search (e.g. Management OR International OR Review) and thus reports many irrelevant results. 3. Cannot search for multiple journals |
| Google Scholar (GS) |
1. Full journal title in quotes (e.g. “Management International Review”). 2. As #1, but add ISSN, especially useful for journals with a common name such as e.g. “Journal of Management” for which a search will report many partial namesakes. 3. Can search for multiple journals by including OR between quoted journal titles. |
1. For common journal titles may report many irrelevant results. Can also search for partial title, but this will report even more irrelevant results. 2. A search by ISSN alone isn’t usually very effective as GS matches ISSN everywhere in the text and thus reports many irrelevant results. 3. Size of combined search fields limited to 256 characters. |
| Google Scholar Profile (GSP) | N/A only author searches | N/A only author searches |
| Microsoft Academic (MA) |
1. Full journal title only 2. ISSN 3. Can search for multiple journals by including OR between journal titles |
1. MA provides excellent results, even for journals with common names, but only if you include the full and exact journal title. However, MA does seem to “interpret” abbreviations (e.g. JASIST) and separators like &. 2. None. MA provides excellent results for ISSN searches. |
| OpenAlex | 1. ISSN |
1. None. OpenAlex provides excellent results for ISSN searches. 2. OpenAlex doesn't allow searching by journal name. 3. OpenAlex matches year of online first rather than print publication. |
| PubMed |
1. Full journal title only 2. ISSN 3. Can search for multiple journals by including OR between journal titles |
1. PubMed provides excellent results, even for journals with common names, but only if you include the full and exact journal title. 2. None. PubMed provides excellent results for ISSN searches. |
| Scopus |
1. Full journal title 2. ISSN 3. Can search for multiple journals in ISSN field by including OR between ISSNs |
1a. Good results. 1b. For common journal titles can give many irrelevant results. Can also search for partial title, but this will give even more irrelevant results. 2. None. Scopus provides excellent results for ISSN searches. |
| Web of Science |
1. Full journal title 2. ISSN 3. Can search for partial journal titles with wildcards (e.g. Journal of International Ma* will report Journal of International Management and Journal of International Marketing) 4. Can search for multiple journals in both publication/journal field and ISSN field by including OR between search terms. |
1. WoS provides excellent results, even for journals with common names, but only if you include the full and exact journal title. 2. None. WoS provides excellent results for ISSN searches. |
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Copyright © 2023 Anne-Wil Harzing. All rights reserved. Page last modified on Tue 8 Aug 2023 07:51
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.
