Skip to Main Content

History of Medicine, Healthcare, and Disease

Guide to locating research on historical health topics and diseases.

Cited Reference Searching

A number of tools allow researchers track the evolution of an idea or an author's work by examining scholarly citation behavior and locate where an article has been cited. Finding out "who cited whom" allows you to expand on your literature review, find interdisciplinary connections, and more.

Why do cited reference searching?

  • Follow a publication forward in time
  • Track the history of a research idea
  • Explore how a research topic is being used to support other research
  • Locate current research based on earlier research
  • Document the impact of research for faculty tenure/C.V.
  • Serendipitous browsing

Databases with Cited Reference Searching Features

The following databases have the capability of generating lists of articles within the database that cite an article of interest. 


Web of Science

To view a list of articles that cite a given article in Web of Science, look for "Times Cited" - click the number to view a list of those citations.

Example of "Times Cited" (422) link in Web of Science for the search "Constructing an understanding of mind: The development of children's social understanding within social interaction"..


Scopus

Look for the "Cited by" link next to the article's information. 

Example of "Times Cited" (135) link in Scopus for the search "A conceptual framework for achieving performance enhancing drug compliance in sport".


GoogleScholar

In GoogleScholar, look for the "Cited by" link under the article's description. 

Example of "Cited by" (57) Link in GoogleScholar for the search "What consumers don't know about genetically modified food, and how that affects beliefs".


PsycINFO via Ovid

To view citing articles in the PsycINFO via Ovid interface, look for the "Find Citing Articles" link.

Example of "Citing Articles" in PsycINFO via Ovid for the search "The binary bias: A systematic distortion in the integration of information [References]".


PsycNET with PsycINFO

To view citing articles in PsycNET, look for the "Cited By" numbers associated with the article of interest.  

Example of "Cited By" (2628) link in PsycNET for the search of "Beliefs about beliefs: Representation and constraining function of wrong beliefs in young children's understanding of deception".


ScienceDirect

To view cited references in ScienceDirect, look for the "Citing articles" section while viewing an article's record.  

Example of "Cited By" (6) section in ScienceDirect for the search "Teachers' thoughts on integrating STEM into social studies instruction: Beliefs, attitudes, and behavioral decisions".


CINAHL

Selected articles will indicate whether they have been cited in CINAHL. Click the "times cited in this database" to view citing articles.

Example of "Times Cited" (11) link in CINAHL result for the search of "Description of an advanced practice nursing consultative model to reduce restrictive siderail use in nursing homes".


PubMed

Selected records will indicate whether they have been cited in PubMedCentral. Notice the "Cited By"  link to view articles that cite the parent article in PubMedCentral.

Example of 'Cited By' section in PubMed for a search of "Auditory integration training and other sound therapies for autism spectrum disorder (ASD)".


PubMed Central

Selected articles in PubMed Central will indicate whether they have been "Cited by other articles in PMC," in the right menu.

Example of "Cited By" in PubMed Central (PMC) for the search "What About the Girls? Sex-Based Differences in Autistic Traits and Adaptive Skills".


Journal Citation Reports

Journal Citation Reports does not offer "Cited by" information on the article level. But it does aggregate the meaningful connections of citations created by the research community with metrics and analysis of the world’s most impactful journals included in the Science Citation Index Expanded (SCIE) and Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), part of the Web of Science Core Collection. Journals may be searched by title or category, to generate impact factors, metrics, and other indicators.