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 Core Collection is a multidisciplinary citation index that includes scholarly articles, conference proceedings, and books in the biomedical, psychosocial, and arts and humanities. The collections contain Science Citation, Social Sciences Citation Index, Arts and Humanities Citation Index , Conference Proceedings Citation Index, Book Citation Index, Emerging Sources Citation Index and Current Chemical Reactions index.
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.
Google Scholar is a central search for scholarly literature. It covers disciplines and sources, peer-reviewed papers, theses, books, abstracts and articles, from academic publishers, professional societies, preprint repositories, universities and other scholarly organizations.
In GoogleScholar, look for the "Cited by" link under the article's description.
PsycINFO via Ovid indexes core academic and professional literature in the psychological and behavioral sciences and their related disciplines. Coverage is from 1806 to the present. **Note that the database PsycINFO is also searchable on APA PsycNET platform.
To view citing articles in the PsycINFO via Ovid interface, look for the "Find Citing Articles" link.
APA PsycNET is an integrated collection of databases from the American Psychological Association (APA), including the following: PsycINFO, PsycBOOKS, PsycTESTS, PsycTHERAPY, PsycARTICLES, and PsycEXTRA.
To search only a specific database (e.g., PsycINFO) within the PsycNET interface, use the "Select Databases" features at the top of the PsycNET landing page and check (or uncheck) the database(s) that apply. To access PsycTHERAPY, click on its hyperlinked title.
To view citing articles in PsycNET, look for the "Cited By" numbers associated with the article of interest.
CINAHL indexes over 3,800 journals from the fields of nursing and allied health, with indexing for selected journals back to 1937. Topics covered are related to nursing, physical therapy, health education, social service/healthcare, occupational therapy, and related disciplines. CINAHL also provides access to healthcare books, nursing dissertations, selected conference proceedings, standards of professional practice, educational software and audiovisual materials in nursing. Dates of coverage: 1937 to present.
Selected articles will indicate whether they have been cited in CINAHL. Click the "times cited in this database" to view citing articles.
PubMed comprises over 30 million citations for biomedical literature from MEDLINE, life science journals, and online books. PubMed citations and abstracts include the fields of biomedicine and health, covering portions of the life sciences, behavioral sciences, chemical sciences, and bioengineering. PubMed also provides access to additional relevant web sites and links to the other NCBI molecular biology resources.
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.
Includes publication and citation metrics (such as Impact Factor) for journals in the social sciences and sciences.
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.
