We have a piece of software which links our databases to elecronic journal sites. Where full text is available, the software will link you to it; if not it will point you to the relevant link on the Catalogue to check print holdings. When you next use your favourite database - Geobase, Web of Science, Assia or whatever - you should see the button which will link you to the appropriate information.

Please note:
At the moment, this service is still in it's infancy. Many journal providers and databases are still developing this service and so, the number of available databases will continue to increase. At the moment, we aim to provide an improvement to the services we already have, and will continue to develop ways to make research more effective.

What does it all mean?

Basically. When you are within an abstracts and indexing service (these are databases which are full of article references....but they don't contain the whole full text of the articles, examples are: Medline, Geobase, ASSIA). Within the search results, you may notice the button. In some databases, this button is located in the search results screen, in others the button is located in the article details screen.

What does the button do?

The Locate Full Text button searches the University's list of Journals and the Journal Issues that are available and locates results where you are entitled to access the full text of the article, electronically, and for free. It then opens another browser window and displays the results of the search in this window. (If the window doesn't open, it may be 'behind' your current browser window, check your other browser windows in the location bar at the bottom of the screen)

The new page that opens is called the results screen. An example can be seen in the image below.
At the top part of the screen, details of the article you have searched for are displayed (eg Article Title, Author, Journal Title).
Below this is the area where you will see if any electronic full text have been located....

• The 'Dates of Coverage' means the date range which we hold electronic copies of the journal.
• The 'Links to Content' part displays links which will take you directly to the Article, or, if this is not available, you can go direct to the Journal Page (you will need to note the volume, issue, and page number to navigate to the full text within the journal).
• The Database link will take you to the home page of the publisher who provides the journal. In some cases, this is the only link available. You will then have to navigate the site to find the Journal and Article.Below this area is the section that explores alternative ways to find the full text of the article.

• The 'Search by Journal Title in the Library Catalogue' link triggers a search in the Catalogue.
  This searches on the title field, and so, other items with similar titles may appear in the results.
  The aim of this function is to allow you to see if the Library holds any hard copies of the journal, which will be located on the shelves.
• The 'Request an Interlibrary Loan' link will generate you an Interlibrary Loan form with the article information already inserted into the form.
  You then need to enter your details, print the form out and get a signature from your tutor or supervisor.
  Note: An InterLibrary Loan request depends on available funds.
  You must get permission from your tutor or supervisor.

---

Here are some live examples of the Article Linker results screens...

Article Level Link

Journal Level Link

Databases Level Link

A Choice of Links

No Electronic Text found

Problems

If you are experiencing problems with this service, contact the Electronic Resources Helpdesk in the first instance. (elibrary@port.ac.uk).

Off Campus users

Off-campus users should be able to use this service. However, when you try to link to the full text, you will have to enter the appropriate password.

Databases that have been enabled

We have set up the following databases to be used with the Link Finder software.

• Ovid / SilverPlatter / WebSpirs
• Cambridge Scientific Abstracts
• Web of Knowledge#
• ELSC - Caredata

We will be extending this guide to include some tips for these individual databases in the near future.

A-Z list of Journal Titles

This is an additional service which lists all of the Electronic Journals that we have full text access to.