Searching Subscription Databases

Many bibliographic databases are restricted to subscribers. Colleges, universities, companies and other organizations buy subscriptions to provide their users access to subscription databases. User authentication is used to verify that you are entitled to access.

Finding Subscribed Databases

If you're connected to a corporate or university network, Citavi can automatically detect many subscription databases your organization has subscribed to. If you're away from the campus network, you can often connect to the network remotely using a Virtual Private Network (VPN). Ask your network administrator if VPN access is available.

1. In the Reference Editor on the toolbar, click Online search.
2. Click Autodetect subscribed databases.
3. Citavi checks to see which of the databases from major information providers are available in your network.

Searching a Subscription Database

1. In the Reference Editor, on the toolbar, click Online search.
2. Add additional catalogs or databases.
3. Select a subscription database (for example, PsycINFO) and enter your search query.
4. The first time you search a subscription database, you will be asked to authenticate yourself:

• IP address: If you are a member of an organization that has subscribed to the database you are accessing, and you are connected to the organization's network, first see if you can authenticate by IP address. Click Test to try.
• Username and password: In other cases, a database requires a username and password (and sometimes organization) login to authenticate. Ask the appropriate person — typically a librarian — at your organization for the login information and enter it here or ask if they can create a Settings File with encrypted logins and passwords for subscription databases.

5. Citavi for Windows users can save their entries by selecting the Remember checkbox. For technical reasons, Citavi Free users need to repeat this authorization process each time.

Note:

Web searches of bibliographic databases are generally limited to IP address authentication. Citavi uses an alternative method, the Z39.50 protocol. The Z39.50 protocol supports two authentication methods: IP address verification and username and password authentication. Some providers only use IP address verification, others use a password, and still others combine both IP address and username and password.

Removing Saved Login Credentials

If you made a typo in a username or password, you can enter the credentials again or delete them:

1. In the Reference Editor on the Tools menu, click Options.
2. On the Search tab, click Edit credentials for subscription databases.
3. Select the database credentials you want to remove.
4. Click Remove.