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Guide to using Medline Complete

Creating Search & Journal Alerts

Search alerts can be set up to automatically notify you when new content is added that matches your search criteria — saving you time and keeping your research current.  To set up a search alert:

1. Make sure you are signed into your personal MyEBSCO account.

2. Run your search, click the menu icon on the right and select Create alert.

Image of search criteria3. Fill in the Alert form. Choose how often you want the alert to run and how you want to be notified and click Create alert.

Image of Alert creation form.

4. A pop-up message will confirm your alert has been created. Click Close to return to your search results page.

Image of Search Alert Creation Confirmation message

5. You can find your saved search alerts by clicking Alerts in the My dashboard menu, then clicking Search Alerts.

Image of Search Alerts navigation on My Dashboard

6. Click the three dots to the right to edit or delete your search alert or to view results. Click the alert title to re-run the alert manually.

  • The result set displayed by clicking the View all results button expires after five alert runs. For example, if your alert was set up to run weekly, it will expire after five weeks. If it was set up to run daily, it will expire after five days.

Image of saved search alert options menu

7. You can also extend or renew your alert by editing it, then checking the box under Extend or renew alert. After saving your changes, the alert is extended to run for a year from the date of your edits. 

Image of search alert form with extend option ticked

Journal alerts are useful because they notify you whenever a new issue of a specific journal is published. This can be valuable if you're closely following key publications in your field. To create a journal alert:

1. Make sure you are signed into your MyEBSCO account.

2. Go to the Advanced Search page and click the Publications tab below the search boxes.

Image of publications tab

3. Search for the journal.

Image of journal search

4.  Click the journal's title to select it and open the journal's publication details page.

Image of journal search results page

5. Click the three dots to the right, then click Create alert.

Image of create alert button

6. Fill in the Create Journal alert form and click Create alert.

  • Under Preferences, you can choose to receive an alert notification only when full text is available for the title.

Image of journal alert creation form

7. A pop-up message will confirm your alert has been saved. Click Close to return to your search results screen.

Image of alert creation confirmation message

8. You can edit or delete your Journal Alert and view alert results by clicking the Alerts link under My dashboard and click the alert name on the Journal alerts tab.

Image of Journal alertsnavigation on My Dashboard

Creating Search Alerts Tutorial

Creating Journal Alerts Tutorial