#Finding scientific information: Citation pearl growing strategy

With a citation pearl growing strategy, the starting point is one relevant document, because the idea of this search is to find more similar documents similar to the one already found. The authors, title, abstract, and picture captions of the document, along with the descriptors used in describing its contents, are examined, and then those terms that best describe the contents are chosen as search terms in further searches. It is also a good idea to study the reference list of the core document, because useful references can be found there.

• New searches can be made with new search terms found in the core document or with the authors' names. When looking for new search terms in the core document, it is worth taking a careful look particularly at the title, abstract and the key words used there.

• Literature published prior to the core document can be found by studying the reference list of the article.

• More recent literature than the core article can be found by searching the database for those documents that refer to the core document.

• From some databases you can obtain articles related to the core document, suggested by the database, which may be either newer or older than the core document itself. The suggestions given by the databases are normally based on the common descriptors shared by various articles/documents and on the shared source materials used.

It is easy to view references and articles that refer to the core document (Cited by) in the Scopus database. Image source: Scopus <http://www.scopus.com> 25.8.2014.

Related documents - tool in Scopus gives you references with similar references, authors or keywords. Image source: Scopus <http://www.scopus.com> 25.8.2014.

Medline offers an opportunity to continue the search automatically using the subject headings of the core document. Source: Medline database, Ovid Technologies <http://ovidsp.uk.ovid.com/spa/ovidweb.cgi?> 28 June 2011.