A citation search can go forward or backward in time. If you go forward in time, you look for the sources that cited your original article. If you go back in time, you look for the sources cited by your original article (also called "snowball search").

Benefits

Citation searches can help you

• find more relevant sources;
• understand how an idea or theory evolved in your field of research;
• build up your bibliography and/or recommended reading list;
• and more!

How do you do a citation search?

If you go backwards in time, you simply look at the bibliography or the recommended reading list of the source.

If you go forwards in time, your method depends on which database you want to use. You can find some examples below.

Web of Science

1. Decide which article you will start from.
2. Open Web of Science via Athena or with a VPN connection.
3. Search for your article and click "Citations" to the right of the article's title.
4. Now you have an overview of the sources citing this article.

OR

1. Decide which article you will start from.
2. Open Web of Science via Athena or with a VPN connection.
3. Instead of a "Documents", you opt for "Cited References."
4. Enter the search query for the article you want to start from.
5. You might have to choose the correct source and click "See results."
6. Now you have an overview of the sources citing this article.

Scopus

1. Decide which article you will start from.
2. Open Scopus via Athena or with a VPN-connection.
3. Search for your article and click the title.
4. In the right hand column you can find the heading "Cited by x documents".
5. This is your overview.

Google Scholar

1. Decide which article you will start from.
2. Open Google Scholar via Athena or with a VPN-connection.
3. Search for your article.
4. Under the article's blurb, next to the citation mark, you can find a link saying "Cited by x". Click that link.
5. This is your overview. You can continue clicking to go forward in time more and more.