Using Dimensions: Home

Dimensions is a large online bibliometric database of items spanning the full research lifecycle. Dimensions sources include:

• Grants
• Datasets
• Publications
• News articles
• Citations
• Clinical trials
• Patents
• Policy documents

Dimensions allows users to:

• Search for a wide variety of content types, ranging from grants to policy documents
• Identify connections between content types, such as connections between grants and publications or policy documents
• Look for potential research funding sources
• Evaluate the research impact of publications, individuals, research groups, departments and universities
• View metrics for publications, including field citation ratio, relative citation ratio, and Altmetric Attention Score

Everyone at UNC has access to the subscription version of Dimensions. To access the subscription version:

1. Go to the Dimensions website
2. Select 'Register for free'
3. Use your UNC email address to register
4. Sign in with your ONYEN

Dimensions defaults to searching keywords in full text. When you select the search bar at the top of the page, two basic search options are available: Keyword Search and Similar Documents.

Keyword Search: you can input keywords and Dimensions will search for the keywords in the full text or title and abstract of the database items. You can also search for specific articles with their DOI.

Similar Documents: you can copy and paste a full abstract, and Dimensions will use the abstract to find similar items.

You can use filters to build or narrow a search. 

Filters can be found on the left side of the search page. Each filter category (e.g. researcher, funder, document type) is referred to as an 'entity'.

You can limit your search by selecting your desired filter under entities. If the filter you want is not shown under the entity, you can select "More" to search for the filter you want. For example, to limit results to those affiliated with UNC Chapel Hill, select "More" under "Research Organization" and search for UNC Chapel Hill.

When you select multiple filters within the same entity, Dimensions connects the filters with OR. For example, if you select both UNC-Chapel Hill and UNC-Greensboro in the Research Organization entity, Dimensions will search for all items affiliated with UNC-Chapel Hill or UNC-Greensboro.

If you want to connect two filters from the same entity with an AND relationship, click 'Limit to' next to the entity, rather the the one at the bottom of the screen. For example, to search for all research affiliated with both UNC-Chapel Hill and UNC-Greensboro, select 'Limit to' next to UNC-Chapel Hill and then select 'Limit to' next to UNC-Greensboro.

When you select multiple filters from different entities, Dimensions connects the filters from different entities with AND. For example, if you select UNC-Chapel Hill in the Research Organization entity, and National Cancer Institute under the Funder entity, Dimensions will search for all items affiliated with UNC-Chapel Hill that were funded by the National Cancer Institute.

After clicking on the search box at the top of the screen, you can also select "Advanced" for additional search options.

The Advanced Search allows you to build a larger search with Boolean logic. Here are some tips for using the advanced search:

• AND, OR, and NOT need to be capitalized
• Parenthesis can be used to control the order of the search, with the innermost parenthesis done first
• Use ? as single character wildcard
• Use * as a multi-character wildcard
• Use " "~n for proximity searching

Search terms can be entered as free text or added from the "Search Fields" menu with the assistance of a drop-down menu. Provided a list of DOIs, ISBNs, PubMed IDs, arXiv IDs, PMC IDs, or Dimensions publication IDs, the "ID Search" menu can search for up to 25,000 documents simultaneously.

Save your searches by selecting "Save/Export" near the search bar, then selecting "Save as favorite".

When saving a search, you will be prompted to give it a name, and can choose to get email updates if new results appear in the database.

Saved searches can be accessed at any time in the "Favorites" tab next to search filters.

To share a search with another user, select the search from the favorites tab and copy the URL. The URL link will direct people to the same search, and will allow them to save the same search themselves.

You can export your searches by selecting "Save/Export" on the top of the screen and selecting "Export results".

To export to a citation manager, select "Export for reference manager" and choose the file type (BibTeX or RIS). You can choose to receive an email when the export is ready.

To export for bibliographic mapping, select "Export for bibliographic mapping". You can choose to receive an email when the export is ready.

You can view and download files for export in the Export Center. The Export Center is accessible by selecting your account name in the upper right corner, then selecting "Export Center". Your exports will be available for 30 days after exporting.