wos-search

Original：🇺🇸 English
Translated

Search Web of Science by topic, author, title, DOI, or advanced query. Supports edition/database filtering and sort.

2installs
Sourcecookjohn/wos-skills
Added on

NPX Install

npx skill4agent add cookjohn/wos-skills wos-search

Tags

Translated version includes tags in frontmatter
web-of-sciencewos-searchapi-integrationacademic-researchdata-retrieval

SKILL.md Content

View Translation Comparison →

WoS Search

Search Web of Science via internal API. Supports edition filtering, sorting, and multiple databases — all in a single 
evaluate_script
call.

Important: Browser Prerequisite

The browser must be on any 
webofscience.com
page (logged in). The skill calls the WoS internal API directly via 
fetch
, so no page navigation is needed.

Language Guidance

WoS databases (especially SCI/SSCI) primarily index English-language literature. If the user provides Chinese keywords, translate to English (e.g., "价值共创" → "value co-creation"). Inform the user about the translation.

Parameter Reference

Database (
product
)

User saysproductDescription
"core collection" / default
WOSCC
WoS Core Collection
"all databases"
ALLDB
All databases combined
"medline"
MEDLINE
Biomedical literature
"preprint"
PPRN
Preprint Citation Index
"scielo"
SCIELO
SciELO Citation Index

Edition filtering (Core Collection only)

User sayseditions value
"SCI" / "science"
WOS.SCI
"SSCI" / "social science"
WOS.SSCI
"CPCI" / "conference"
WOS.CPCI-S
, 
WOS.CPCI-SSH
"all" / defaultomit 
editions
field (or include all)
Multiple editions can be combined: 
["WOS.SCI", "WOS.SSCI"]

Sort options

User sayssort value
"citations" / "most cited"
times-cited-descending
"newest" / "latest"
date-descending
"oldest"
date-ascending
"relevance" / default
relevance
"usage"
usage-count-last-180-days-descending

Field mapping (for query rows)

User saysrowField
topic / keyword / aboutTS
titleTI
authorAU
DOIDO
journal / sourceSO
yearPY
affiliation / institutionOG
abstractAB
fundingFO
countryCU

Steps

Step 1: Build API Request Body

json
{
  "product": "WOSCC",
  "searchMode": "general",
  "viewType": "search",
  "serviceMode": "summary",
  "search": {
    "mode": "general",
    "database": "WOSCC",
    "query": [
      {"rowField": "TS", "rowText": "USER_QUERY"}
    ],
    "editions": ["WOS.SSCI"]
  },
  "retrieve": {
    "count": 10,
    "history": true,
    "jcr": true,
    "sort": "times-cited-descending",
    "analyzes": [],
    "locale": "en"
  },
  "eventMode": null
}
  • query
    : array of 
    {rowField, rowText}
    objects. For multiple conditions, add 
    rowBoolean
    (
    AND
    /
    OR
    /
    NOT
    ) to subsequent rows.
  • editions
    : optional, omit for all editions.
  • count
    : number of records to retrieve (default 10, max 50).
  • sort
    : default 
    relevance
    .

Step 2: Execute API Call via evaluate_script

This is the only tool call needed — 1 call total.
If the browser was previously on a non-WoS page (e.g., after following a publisher link), SID will be lost. In that case, first navigate back to any WoS page (
navigate_page
to 
https://www.webofscience.com/wos/woscc/basic-search
) to re-establish the session, then run the API call. This adds 1 extra tool call (2 total).
Alternatively, use the URL-based fallback (Step 2B below) which always works regardless of SID state.
javascript
async () => {
  // Extract SID from network history
  const sid = performance.getEntriesByType('resource')
    .filter(r => r.name.includes('SID='))
    .map(r => r.name.match(/SID=([^&]+)/)?.[1])
    .filter(Boolean)[0] || '';

  if (!sid) return { status: 'no_session', message: 'SID lost (likely navigated to external site). Use Step 2B or navigate to any WoS page first.' };

  const response = await fetch(`/api/wosnx/core/runQuerySearch?SID=${sid}`, {
    method: 'POST',
    headers: { 'Content-Type': 'text/plain;charset=UTF-8', 'Accept': 'application/x-ndjson' },
    body: JSON.stringify({
      "product": "{PRODUCT}",
      "searchMode": "general",
      "viewType": "search",
      "serviceMode": "summary",
      "search": {
        "mode": "general",
        "database": "{PRODUCT}",
        "query": [{QUERY_ROWS}],
        "editions": [{EDITIONS}]
      },
      "retrieve": {
        "count": {COUNT},
        "history": true,
        "jcr": true,
        "sort": "{SORT}",
        "analyzes": [],
        "locale": "en"
      },
      "eventMode": null
    })
  });

  const text = await response.text();
  const lines = text.trim().split('\n').map(line => {
    try { return JSON.parse(line); } catch(e) { return null; }
  }).filter(Boolean);

  const searchInfo = lines.find(l => l.key === 'searchInfo')?.payload;
  const recordsData = lines.find(l => l.key === 'records')?.payload;

  let records = [];
  if (recordsData) {
    records = Object.entries(recordsData).map(([idx, rec]) => ({
      idx: parseInt(idx),
      wosId: rec.colluid,
      title: rec.titles?.item?.en?.[0]?.title || '',
      authors: rec.names?.author?.en?.filter(Boolean).map(a => a.wos_standard).join('; ') || '',
      source: rec.titles?.source?.en?.[0]?.title || '',
      year: rec.pub_info?.pubyear || '',
      vol: rec.pub_info?.vol || '',
      issue: rec.pub_info?.issue || '',
      pages: rec.pub_info?.page_no || '',
      doi: rec.doi || '',
      citations: rec.citation_related?.counts?.WOSCC || 0,
      citationsAll: rec.citation_related?.counts?.ALLDB || 0,
      refCount: rec.ref_count || 0,
      abstract: rec.abstract?.basic?.en?.abstract?.replace(/<[^>]*>/g, '')?.substring(0, 300) || '',
      docType: rec.doctypes?.[0] || '',
      oa: rec.oa || false
    }));
  }

  return {
    status: 'ok',
    totalResults: searchInfo?.RecordsFound || 0,
    recordsSearched: searchInfo?.RecordsSearched || 0,
    queryId: searchInfo?.QueryID || '',
    records
  };
}

Step 3: Present Results

Display as a table:
Found **{totalResults}** results in {database} ({edition}).
Sorted by: {sort}.

| # | Title | Authors | Source | Year | Cited | WoS ID |
|---|-------|---------|--------|------|-------|--------|
| 1 | {title} | {authors} | {source} | {year} | {citations} | {wosId} |
| ... |
Offer next actions:
  • "Use 
    /wos-paper-detail {WoS ID}
    for detailed information"
  • "Use 
    /wos-export
    to export results"
  • To see more results, re-run with higher 
    count
    or use 
    /wos-navigate-pages

Step 2B: URL-based Fallback (when SID is lost)

If API returns 
no_session
(e.g., after navigating to an external publisher site), fall back to URL navigation:
navigate_page({
  url: "https://www.webofscience.com/wos/{db}/general-summary?queryJson={ENCODED_QUERY_JSON}",
  initScript: "Object.defineProperty(navigator, 'webdriver', {get: () => undefined})"
})
Then extract results via 
evaluate_script
with DOM selectors (see 
wos-parse-results
Mode B), or re-attempt the API call (SID will be re-established after the navigation).
When to use: After the browser visited an external site (publisher, DOI link, etc.) and 
performance.getEntriesByType('resource')
no longer contains WoS SID entries.

Notes

  • 1 tool call (API) or 2 tool calls (navigate + API/DOM) if SID is lost
  • API returns NDJSON (newline-delimited JSON); parse line by line
  • SID is extracted from browser's performance resource entries
  • SID loss: Navigating to external sites clears performance entries. Recover by navigating to any WoS page first, or use URL-based fallback (Step 2B)
  • editions
    field uses format 
    WOS.SCI
    , 
    WOS.SSCI
    , 
    WOS.CPCI-S
    , etc.
  • For Chinese keywords in SCI/SSCI, translate to English first
  • Max 50 records per request; use 
    retrieve.count
    to control
  • history: true
    saves the search to WoS session history