Sonny Software

Hi all,
I've spent the last hour or so trying to get WoS search to work in bookends. I've searched the forums, but most of the threads about WoS are from 2005 or so. Let's just get the obvious out of the way.

My university doesn't use any specific proxy settings. None at all.

I can go through any browser I know of and go to the webofscience (now web of knowledge) and it'll give me access with no problem. I can even do it in the bookends browser (even using it's own bookmark for WoS), but the search tells me I do not have access to the WOKsearchPremium. I have also tried doing the built in search after I use the bookends browser to go to the website itself!

Now, I looked through the import filter, and I didn't see an option to select which kind of search you could preform. Nor did I see it in preferences anywhere.

Just for reference, other referencing programs had no problem searching WoS/WoK while connected to the same network.

Am I missing something? Is this just going to be another "Go and talk to your IT department?" type thing?

I apologize for asking on the forums instead of e-mailing. I'm not in a rush, so I just figured I'd let is sit out here for a while.

I can't say what's going on. I can search WoS from where I am with no problems. And you should be able to search with Bookends Browser with no problem (it sounds like you got an error message there, too -- it's just WebKit, like Safari). The direct search uses the WoS APIs (I don't know what other apps use).

The restrictions and the error you're seeing are generated by Thomson Reuters, not Bookends. I'd write to their tech support and ask why you're not being allowed access via Bookends queries. I've worked with them in the past, and once you get beyond the first level support they can be helpful.

Jon
Sonny Software

Thank you Jon,
I will contact their support to see what is going on. However, you did have one thing wrong, I can use the bookends browser to search WoS just fine, it's just bookend's built in search feature that does not work and gives me the error.

EDIT: Update, if I try to use the built in search upon starting up bookends, it'll give an error that says something to the effect of "There is no IP authentication or username/password to use." (It's more complicated than that, but that's basically what it says.)

Now, if I use the bookends browser to go to WoS and "start a new session", then try the built in search again, I get the error I presented above "User has no entitlement to this service level - WOKSearchPremium".

Anyway, I've e-mailed their tech support, we'll see what they say. Maybe I'll e-mail the university and ask for the username and password!

Good, that makes sense. The Browser search uses their Web interface. The direct search uses their APIs.

Jon
Sonny Software

Well, I recieved an e-mail back from their tech support. The content is quoted below.

I received your email about problems using Bookends to search Web of Science. I’m sorry for the inconvenience. While XXX University is setup for Web of Science Web Services, Bookends cannot be used to search Web of Science at this time.

The Web of Knowledge Application Programming Interface (API) version that was being used by the Bookends software to search the Web of Science database was retired in September of 2012. At that time, Thomson Reuters was unaware that Sonny Software, the publisher of Bookends, was using this version of the API to search our platform. Thomson Reuters is currently working with Sonny Software to enable the reference management service to search Web of Knowledge content. I apologize for any confusion this may have created.

If what you say is true that you can indeed search WoK, then I'm assuming that means you've updated the API used, which they are unaware of. Either way, it looks like I'm out of luck for now.

You got a bad response -- I did say that once you get past their entry level support they were OK. I saw another user get the exact same email from then in 2012 (after we had installed the new APIs). You're getting some canned response they have stored on their computer. Bookends was updated in 2012 to use the current APIs (and they are aware of it). You should try to get to the next level of support.

Jon
Sonny Software

Jon wrote:You got a bad response -- I did say that once you get past their entry level support they were OK. I saw another user get the exact same email from then in 2012 (after we had installed the new APIs). You're getting some canned response they have stored on their computer. Bookends was updated in 2012 to use the current APIs (and they are aware of it). You should try to get to the next level of support.

Jon
Sonny Software

Will do, I'll keep you updated.

Most recent e-mail.

I'm sorry for the confusion. The most recent update we have on the issue comes from Web of Science and as of March 2013 Bookends does not work searching the database. Bookends used to work, but when Web of Science moved from API version 1.0 this ceased. Bookends web service no longer matched the Web of Science web service. This has not, to the best of my knowledge, changed.

I've directed Christopher (who I am e-mailing with) to this thread.

In the meantime, I'm downloading Sente and Papers to see if their WoS search works. (Not to worry, I still like Bookends better than these programs, this is simply a minor issue.)

EDIT: Sente's WoS search also does not work and gives this error.

"Database unavailable or malformed query. Web of Knowledge reported a problem with the query (The service you are trying to use has been retired. To be authenticated for the new version of the service, please contact a Thomson Reuters representative at ts.customeradvocategroup@thomsonreuters.com.)"

EDIT2: Paper's WoS search works fine, as well as Endnotes (unsurprisingly)

Latest reply from WoS Support is as follows.

The Web of Science (WoS) Web Services group got back to me. What is happening is this:

Bookends uses some version of web services premium (1.0, 2.0, 3.0). But the ### University WoS subscription has only web services light. When you try to use Bookends to search the database the program is looking for, but cannot find, web services premium and throws the appropriate error - "User has no entitlement for this service level - WOKSearchPremium".

It is most definitely a plausible explanation. However unfortunate, it will not dissuade me from using Bookends.

Theoretically, if I had friends in other universities I could ask for access to their VPN and try to search that way, although I don't quite know how... legal... that is.

We chose not to support the WoK web services light. It doesn't give access to, among other things, abstracts and the # of times cited, and we felt that was pretty useless (I asked them to reconsider their position, but you see how far that got). If that's all you're entitled to, you should use Bookends Browser. It gives you access to their site, with whatever privileges you have, and you can import references that have dois (all modern references) using it.

Jon
Sonny Software

Jon,
Thank you for the information. I'm assuming when you say that the light version doesn't have access to abstracts and # of times cited, you mean through the API search, as I can see both through the web interface just fine.

However, I hate to bring this up, but using the web interface through bookends browser is does not allow me to import reference data (from WoS). For example, I'm on this random page on the bookends browser.



and here is what I get when I click the "import reference metadata" button.



Obviously, the two are unrelated. And the title of the "found" referenced data is... absolutely nowhere to be found on the webpage itself. (Or in the webpage source)

I originally thought that WoS had the DOI wrong, and Bookends was just searching for that, but that wasn't the case.

I personally don't mind this that much, as sciencedirect works fine, and usually WoS leads me to sciencedirect, which I can grab both the reference data and PDF from just fine.

Again, I apologize for the multitude of questions I have, many of which have no effect on me using bookends. This, however, I thought was a bug.

Yes, I meant through the API search.

This has gone off topic. Please contact tech support directly to follow up on this (support@sonnysoftware.com).

Jon
Sonny Software

P.S. Realize, too, that the doi you see may not be the doi that Bookends scrapes from the HTML, due to HTML formatting you can't see. That can result in the retrieval of the wrong document. I can't get onto WoS from where I am today to see if that's the case for that web page. But you can save that web pages source and send it to me.

For those following this, the problem was due to changes made in the Web of Science output. This problem will be resolved in the next Bookends update.

Jon
Sonny Software