Ten times more space for your attachments

Up to now, your account had a maximum of 10 MB for uploading attachments. As of today this has been raised to 100 MB. The maximum size for a single attachment is 5 MB. This enlarged attachment upload space is still not very suitable for uploading full text PDFs of all articles in your database if you are a big user. However it is nice for those documents that were hard to find or for which you have access only during a limited period and of course also for attaching tables or graphs. For large numbers of PDF-files it still seems better to either rely on the UBUlink service to full text access or to add links to local files on your own hardrive.

It is possible to request for an upgrade to 200 MB. To do so, send a message to j.bosman [at] uu.nl.

RefWorks unavailable...

.....for maintenance on March 22, 7:00am until 11:00am (GMT+1)

Using Write-n-Cite off campus without using the group code

Just got a question from a student in a RefWorks class held last week on how to access the Write-n-Cite utility at home without using the group code.

On many UU-computers the Write-n-Cite utility that lets Refworks communicate with Word is already installed. When working off-campus you have to install this tiny program first from the RefWorks site at:

http://www.refworks.com/Refworks/WNCDownload.asp

But you're not fully there yet. After installing go to start|programs|refworks and start the WNC Proxy Configuration Utility and enter this URL:

http://131.211.208.19/login?url=https://www.refworks.com/Refworks/?WNC=true

Now, when starting Write-n-Cite (the red icon in your Refworks prgram group under start|programs) you will be promted first to log in with your Solis-ID/studentnumber and then with your RefWorks username and password.

Linking to local files

As the space to upload files to your RefWorks account is limited, people sometimes ask how to link to local files. Especially, the hardcore Endnote users have grown accustomed to collecting large numbers of article PDF's on their hard drives. With RefWorks being a fully webbased service and with RefWorks supporting the UBUlink, linking to local files might seem odd or unneccessary. On the other hand if you work at the same location most of the time links to local files are safe, fast and easy to use. And in some cases local files may be the only thing you have (e.g. your own unpublished papers).

Anyway, it is good to know that linking to local files is possible in RefWorks. But bear in mind that in many cases, because of safety measures built into Windows it is not possible to open files on your C:\ drive from a webpage. So you have to put your files somewhere else. You can use other drives or partitions (H:\ or U:\ or whatever letter the partition has been assigned). If your harddrive only has one partition, it may not be possible to link to local files from RefWorks.

The link you add to your records consists of a standard prefix, the path and the filename, like this:

file://H:\MYFILES\ARTICLES\Einstein-1905.pdf

The file:// bit is the standard prefix and necassary for the link to work.

Further I think this works easiest if you:

1) Use a user field (which can be renamed to "local file" or something like that) for storing the link to your file. Of course you can also use the link-field or URL-field, but this way you prevent your local links from showing up in bibliographic output with some output styles. The link to the file then shows in full view.

2) Use a global edit on all references to fill that user field with a standerd path to the files (e.g. file:\\/H:MYFILES/ARTICLES) on a 'non-C' harddrive/partition. That way you only have to copy/paste the filename and append it to the field. Of course for new records, you still have to add file:\\/H:MYFILES/LITERATURE part manually.

3) Avid RefWorks users might want to force RefWorks to show the links in the reference lists within your Refworks folder, to avoid having to open the full record view. To do this you can adapt an output style solely for this purpose by adding that user field and use the customize page to make that style one that you can use for presentation within Refworks.

This might all seem complicated, but for some it is certainly worth the effort.

Change habits and enjoy the greatly improved import off-campus

As of today the library offers a new way a accessing licensed journals and databases off-campus. We no longer use MyUU, but instead advise students and researchers to use the library website. When using the journal listing in Omega or the list of databases you will be routed via a new proxy server. Because Refworks also operates under this system there is now a far greater number of databases from which there is a simple 2-4 click direct import when working off-campus.

This improved way of working at home with Refworks was already available for Scopus and Omega, but now you get the same seamless experience using e.g. Ebsco, PsycInfo, GeoRef, Highwire, JSTOR, Science Direct and many others. The most important ones are listed is on the RefWork support page (in Dutch, in English) made by the library.
The same list shows that there are some exceptions where accessing RefWorks using the group code is better: Google Scholar and Worldcat. Please read the notes on the support page.

But the message is: when accessing your RefWorks database do not use http://www.refworks.com but
http://131.211.208.19/login?url=http://www.refworks.com/

You will be prompted to login with your Studentnumber or SolisID if you are off campus and then sent on to RefWorks where you can login to your RefWorks account.

Alternatively, click Refworks in the list of databases on the library website.

New output styles added Februrary 2008

RefWorks continuously adds output styles to format your citations and bibliography for certain specific journals. Below is the list of styles added during February to the already large list of styles. If you still miss the style for a journal, please send your request for that to RefWorks using the RefWorks menu (help|request|output style).

These output styles were added:

- Chemistry and Biology
- EMBO Reports
- International Journal of Radiation Oncology, Biology and Physics
- Limnology and Oceanography
- Natural Hazards Review
- Oncology Nursing Forum
- Adolescent Medicine Clinics
- Anesthesiology Clinics of North America
- Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences - Base Style (superscript
numeric)
- Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences - Math/Physics Style
(bracketed numeric)
- Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences - Psychology Style
(author-date format)
- Atlas of the Hand Clinics
- Atlas of the Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery Clinics
- Atlas of the Urologic Clinics
- Cardiology Clinics
- Chest Surgery Clinics of North America
- Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Clinics of North America
- Clinics in Chest Medicine
- Clinics in Family Practice
- Clinics in Geriatric Medicine
- Clinics in Laboratory Medicine
- Clinics in Liver Disease
- Clinics in Occupational and Environmental Medicine
- Clinics in Perinatology
- Clinics in Plastic Surgery
- Clinics in Podiatric Medicine and Surgery
- Clinics in Sports Medicine
- Critical Care Clinics
- Critical Care Nursing Clinics of North America
- Dental Clinics of North America
- Dermatologic Clinics
- Emergency Medicine Clinics of North America
- Endocrinology and Metabolism Clinics of North America
- Facial Plastic Surgery Clinics of North America
- Foot and Ankle Clinics
- Gastroenterology Clinics of North America
- Gastrointestinal Endoscopy Clinics of North America
- Hand Clinics
- Heart Failure Clinics of North America
- Hematology/Oncology Clinics of North America
- Immunology and Allergy Clinics of North America
- Infectious Disease Clinics of North America
- Magnetic Resonance Imaging Clinics of North America
- Medical Clinics of North America
- Neuroimaging Clinics of North America
- Neurologic Clinics
- Neurosurgery Clinics of North America
- Nursing Clinics of North America
- Obstetrics and Gynecology Clinics of North America
- Ophthalmology Clinics
- Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Clinics of North America
- Orthopedic Clinics of North America
- Otolaryngologic Clinics of North America
- Pediatric Clinics of North America
- Perioperative Nursing Clinics
- PET Clinics
- Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation Clinics of North America
- Primary Care: Clinics in Office Practice
- Psychiatric Clinics in North America
- Radiologic Clinics of North America
- Respiratory Care Clinics
- Rheumatic Disease Clinics of North America
- Sleep Medicine Clinics
- Surgical Clinics of North America
- Surgical Oncology Clinics of North America
- Thoracic Surgery Clinics
- Ultrasound Clinics
- Urologic Clinics of North America
- Vaccine
- Veterinary Clinics of North America: Equine Practice
- Veterinary Clinics of North America: Exotic Animal Practice
- Veterinary Clinics of North America: Food Animal Practice
- Veterinary Clinics of North America: Small Animal Practice

Recently added and updated filters and output styles

Refworks recently updated these filters:
* ISI (Institute for Scientific Information): Corrected parsing issues for Thomson Scientific Alerts
* OVID: Corrected database recognition issue. Resolved tags going to correct RefWorks fields.
* RIS Format: Added Scientific Commons. Added tags and source lines to correct parsing issues.

Refworks added these output styles:
- Art Bulletin
- DIN 1505 Teil 2
- Ecology Letters
- Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice
- Forest Ecology and Management
- Fuel Processing Technology
- Journal of Biomedical Materials Research
- Journal of Cellular Physiology
- Medicine
- Politische Vierteljahresschrift
- Progress in Oceanography
- Transportation Research Records: Journal of the Transportation Research Board
- Urology

Welcome to the RefWorks blog: join in!

Managing references. Everyone does it. Whether you are in humanities, social sciences, life sciences or physical sciences, you are making references to your sources. And everybody wants to make it easier: a simple click to store, a simple click to cite, a simple click create a reference list in the style of your choice. We are not there yet, alas. But new and easier databases, new software and sites for reference management, better ways of access off-campus and other improvements do make academic life easier for students and researchers alike. The library thinks the introduction of Refworks is certainly a step forward.

With some 1700 Refworks accounts made by UU students and staff, containing a staggering cumulative amount of over 270,000 references, it is clear by now that many of you out there are seriously looking at ways to handle the information flow. But at the same time it is clear that there are many questions surroundig the best ways to organize your references, many things to learn and good ideas to share. That's why we started this blog.

By reading this blog regularly, or, better still, by subscribing to the feed, you will be kept up to date on improvements in the Refworks service and on changes in the way Refworks communicates with major databases (Scopus, Google Scholar, Omega, Web of Science, Picarta and the like).

But I would like it to be a lively and open blog, so please comment, share your great ideas and frustrations in working with references. Together we can do better than the tax man by making working with references not only easier but also nicer!

Anyone can comment on posts in this blog. If you also want to post, please send an email to j.bosman [at] uu.nl. The only restriction here is that you are member of the Utrecht University community.

Jeroen Bosman