Oxford Academic Searching and Features

Full Text

• Searches all fields in the record.

Title

• Searches the title of journal, article, book, or chapter.

Abstract

• Searches the abstract field only.

Keywords

• Searches the assigned keywords (not the same as the full text modifier). Not all articles have keywords assigned.

Author/Editor/ORCID iD

• Searches the author/editor fields. Also searches the ORCID iD (pronounced like the flower) field.  
• ORCID iD is an alphanumeric code used to uniquely identify authors and contributors of scholarly communication.    

References/Bibliography

• Searches the references and bibliography fields.

Availability 

• We do not have access to everything, so it would be advantageous to select “All content I have access to” to avoid having to navigate through many book chapters that we cannot access. 

Book editions 

• Allows you to indicate you only want to see the latest editions of books in your search, if more than one edition exists. 

Format 

• Format of the record. Another limiter is Type, which allows you to indicate another layer to format. For instance, you could select Journal here and then have many options under Type, such as Research Article, Abstract, Letter, etc. 

Subject 

• Assigned subjects. This is “controlled vocabulary” - standardized terms assigned to all articles that are about that topic (rather than just mentioning the topic). 

Type

• See the "Type" Limiter tab for more information on this useful limiter.

Collection 

• Subsets of the database, such as groups of journals in a specific topic area. 

Journal 

• Titles of journals that appear in your search results. 

Series 

• Book Series that appear in your search results. 

Publication Date 

• Limit by a single date or a date range. 

There are many different types of entries to choose from in Oxford Academic. Here are a few that could be useful in research and how they are defined in Oxford Academic.

Research Article  

• Scholarly publication that presents the results of original research conducted by the authors.  

Book Review  

• A critical and scholarly evaluation of a book.  

Abstract  

• A brief overview of original research that is in progress and not yet published or descriptions of presentations at conferences or meetings. Used to describe content and purpose.   

Review Article  

• A scholarly publication that gathers and reviews existing research on a topic and does not present original findings.  

Editorial  

• An article that shares the author’s opinion on a specific topic.  

Case Report  

• Detailed descriptions of individual patient cases that often highlight unusual or novel occurrences in medicine.  

Brief Report  

• A shorter version of an original research article designed for presenting preliminary or pilot research findings.  

Meeting Report  

• Scholarly publication that summarizes key findings, discussions, and developments presented at an academic conference or meeting.  

Correction  

• A formal amendment or clarification to a published work to rectify errors or inaccuracies.  

Retraction  

• A statement on the retraction of an article and the reason why it was retracted. A retraction is when a journal or publisher removes a published article from the scientific record due to errors or other irregularities. 

Rapid Communication  

• A scientific paper that is published more quickly and is usually shorter than an original research article. Used when findings need to be shared immediately with the academic community.  

Discussion  

• Various types of discussions of research and topics, such as forums, symposiums, etc.  

Article Commentary   

• Scholarly analysis of an article with description, explanation, and interpretation.