Current Awareness Tools: Home

Current awareness tools, including email alerts, RSS feeds, and academic social networking sites, can help you stay up-to-date on new research.

Email Alerts

After you create an alert, you will be notified by email when new articles meeting your search criteria are available. This guide will walk you through how to create the following alerts:

• Search alert - A database will automatically run your saved search and deliver the latest results to your email.
• Journal issue or Table of contents (TOC) alert - A journal (or database) will deliver the latest articles published in the journal to your email. 
• Citation alert - A database will send you new articles that cite a specific article or author.

RSS Feeds

RSS Feeds, short for "Really Simple Syndication" feeds, are offered by databases and journals as an alternative to sending email alerts about new articles and tables of contents. Feeds may be more convenient than alert emails because they allow you to receive multiple updates in one place, but require "feed reader" software.

Academic Social Networking (ASN) Sites

ASN sites are similar to other social networking sites, but designed for the academic community. These online platforms allow you to develop a profile and connect with other researchers, while also allowing you to share and view academic content. These tools are typically free to use.

Other Resources

This page contains information on sites/tools (including Lean Library Workspace (Sciwheel), EvidenceAlerts, and 2 Minute Medicine) that can also assist with article discovery.