Wos Document Search

Web of Science Document Search

Purpose and access

Use this skill for read-only document and citation lookup in the user's existing Codex in-app browser. Preserve the current tab and session. Do not open a temporary tab, switch browsers, use an API/CLI, or bypass authentication. Read document-search, the site map, and the interaction rules when the route or field meaning is unclear.

The current public variant exposed Smart Search and Documents. Availability can differ by database, account, subscription, and session; verify the visible UI before acting.

Choose the entry point

• Natural-language or broad topic request → Smart Search at /wos/woscc/smart-search or /wos/alldb/smart-search.
• Explicit fields, operators, or date range → Documents → FIELDED SEARCH at /wos/woscc/basic-search.
• Cited author, cited work, or cited years → Documents → CITED REFERENCES at /wos/woscc/cited-reference-search.
• Query Builder request → open QUERY BUILDER at /wos/woscc/advanced-search, then re-inspect its current controls because its distinct behavior was not fully confirmed in the public pass.
• DOI, WOS accession, source, citation, or detailed metadata request → open a visible same-site result title and verify its Full Record.

Smart Search procedure

1. Inspect the current tab visually. Confirm the Web of Science header, current route, database scope, and whether Sign In/Register or an authenticated account variant is visible.
2. If needed, use a visible first-party Smart Search link in the same tab. Do not navigate to a guessed session URL.
3. Select All Databases or Web of Science Core Collection as requested. If the user does not specify a scope, preserve the visible selection and report it.
4. Fill Search documents, researchers, affiliations, and more with the user's query and submit. Wait for loading to finish.
5. Verify the result heading, query text, database scope, and at least one result control or same-site record link. Result routes contain dynamic query identifiers; do not persist them.
6. Expand See how we processed your query when the query interpretation matters. Treat the displayed interpretation, for example TS=(...), as task-time evidence.
7. Use Refine results, sorting, or Analyze Results only when requested. Re-fetch and verify the result state after each change.

The result page may expose Create Alert, Add To Marked List, Export, or account-specific controls. Inspect them read-only; stop before executing any alert, export, save, share, or marked-list action unless the user explicitly requests it and the action boundary is clear.

Fielded Search procedure

1. Open Advanced Search → DOCUMENTS → FIELDED SEARCH and verify the database and edition selectors.
2. Configure visible rows and operators. The observed field picker included All Fields, Topic, Title, Author, Publication Titles, Year Published, Affiliation, Funding Agency, Publisher, and Publication Date.
3. Treat the UI's Topic definition as authoritative: it searches title, abstract, keyword plus, and author keywords.
4. Inspect the current publication-date picker before selecting a range. Observed choices included All years, Last 5 years, Custom, Current week, Last 2 weeks, Last 4 weeks, and Year to date; the available list may drift.
5. Use Add row only as needed, fill the requested values, submit Search, and verify the result heading or explicit validation/error state.

Cited References procedure

1. Open Advanced Search → DOCUMENTS → CITED REFERENCES.
2. Use the visible Cited Author, Cited Work, and Cited Year(s) rows, with And operators and any current index/search-aid control.
3. Use Add row or Add date range only when the request needs them. Submit Search and verify the resulting route, heading, and result state.

Refinement, sorting, and analysis

• Refine results is a read-only panel. Re-fetch current quick filters, database facets, and publication-year facets; counts are live.
• The sort menu may include relevance, date, citations, usage, recently added, conference title, first-author name, publication title, and document title. Select only the requested order and verify the selected label.
• Analyze Results can expose a field selector, sort/show/minimum-count controls, selected-row actions, and download controls. Do not claim an analysis succeeded until the table or chart has loaded; disabled controls may reflect the current selection or account.

Full Record procedure

1. From a verified result set or Author Profile, choose a visible same-site publication title. Do not follow a publisher or full-text link.
2. Verify the breadcrumb, title, author line, source, volume/issue/pages where present, DOI or WOS accession, published/indexed dates, document type, and the Citation Network / Use in Web of Science sections.
3. When requested, read abstract, keywords, affiliations, research areas/categories, funding, or See more data fields; verify each field on the current page.
4. Report the query, selected scope/fields, record verification signals, and retrieval time. Keep live counts and result rows as task output only, not durable guidance.

Safety and privacy

• Use only the current Codex in-app browser tab. Never inspect cookies, local storage, passwords, session stores, or hidden account data.
• Do not enter credentials or continue into protected profile/settings work when authentication is not visibly confirmed. Ask the user to sign in manually in the same tab if protected work is requested.
• Stop before Create Alert, Add To Marked List, Export, Save, Share, Submit a correction, Claim my record, any edit/upload/add control, or any external publisher/product/full-text navigation unless explicitly requested.
• Never store passwords, session URLs, query identifiers, account names/emails, user identifiers, live counts, citation values, or one-off result rows in skills or references.

Drift maintenance

Before acting, compare the current visible UI, route, labels, fields, defaults, permissions, and first-party explanations with this procedure. If they differ, use the current UI as the source of truth, make the smallest safe adaptation, and record the public/authenticated variant, route, old and observed behavior, evidence source, and date. Patch the owning site reference only when the difference is stable and directly supported. Re-run the affected safe workflow and the skill validator after editing; report broad or ambiguous changes rather than guessing.

References

• Document-search workflows
• Site map
• Data model
• Interaction rules
• Exploration checklist