Zetoc Quick Guide

The Zetoc service provides access to the British Library's Electronic Table of Contents (ETOC). The database contains details of approximately 20,000 current journals and 16,000 conference proceedings published per year. Subject coverage includes: science, technology, medicine, engineering, business, law, finance and the humanities. The database covers the years from 1993 to date and is updated daily.

How to Access Zetoc on campus

  • Open the Library and Learning Services website at
  • Select Databases & E-Journals
  • Select Z and then Zetoc from the Database A-Z list
  • Select On-Campus or Off-Campus access

Off campus access: ATHENS account needed to access the database off campus

Searching Zetoc

Click on Zetoc Search screen

You can choose to do a General Search, Conference Search or Journal Search. Each of these options uses the same search fields. The Conference Search and Journal Search screens limit your search to those publication types. A searchable list of journals covered by Zetoc is available in Zetoc Help (see Help, at the end of this guide)

Once you are in the database, you will automatically be taken toZetoc Search

Click on the appropriate search

Enter your search term(s) in the appropriate box(es) using the example formats shown alongside each box. Use quotation marks around multiple search terms to indicate a phrase e.g. “effective learning”

Click on the Search button

Combining search terms

The Zetoc database automatically combines multiple terms in a search box using AND,

finding references which contain both or all of the terms entered

It is not possible to use other Boolean operators (i.e. OR or NOT)

Truncation

Use an asterisk to search for a truncated term. So for example, comput* will find computer, computerised, computerized etc.

Displaying results

Having entered your search you will get a results list of Brief Records. Search results are displayed in sets of twenty-five records

To view the next set of records, click the Next button at the top or bottom of the page

Editing a search

If a search has not produced good results, it can be edited to try to improve it

(See under Editing a search)

Viewing a reference

To view a record in more detail (Full Record) click on the number button next to the record

You can go back to the results list by clicking on the Brief Records button at the top or bottom of the page

To view the previous or next Full Record press Previous or Next at the top or bottom of the page

Marking records

You can mark individual records of interest by clicking in thecheckboxbox next to the record (so that a tick appears in the box). Once marked, you can choose to save or email the records

Printing, saving or emailing your results

To print individual records, view the Full Record and click on File (on your browser's toolbar menu) and then Print. To print a list of records, either save or email the reference list (as outlined below) and then print it out

You can save a reference by clicking on the Download button, so that the Download Records screen displays. Alter the Format options as appropriate. Click on the Send file button. When the File Download box displays, click onSave. A new box will display on top of the current screen, and you need to choose where to save the records, before clicking on Save again

To email a list of records, click on the Email Records button, type your full email address in the Your email: box, and click on the Send email button. Amend the Subject to identify your search if you wish

Editing a search

Select History at the top of the screen, then Edit from the Options at the right of the

screen alongside the search results

Amend the search terms, enter new search terms or change the field in which the termsare entered to find more or less relevant hits. For example, entering search terms in theTitlebox, or with punctuation marks to indicate a phrase, will result in fewer hits thanentering terms in theAll fields box

Beginning a new search

Click on the New Search button at the topof the page and select the search type required

Zetoc Alert

This is a current awareness service that emails to you the Table of Contents of pre-selected journals, or the details of articles that match pre-defined search terms. These alerts are sent on the day the new data is loaded into the database

There are instructions describing how to set up Zetoc Alert, on the front page of the Zetoc database

Help

Details about Zetoc searching are available by clicking on Help on eachpage,and then the relevant section listed.

July2014