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Searching for Journals

Wispar makes it easy to discover new journals or find your favorites. To begin, navigate to the Search screen and ensure the Journals toggle is selected at the top.

You can find journals using three different methods:

1. Search by Topics​

This is the default mode and the best way to discover journals in your field. Wispar uses a hierarchical classification system to help you narrow down your interests.

  • How it works: Tap a broad Field (e.g., Physical Sciences) to reveal its Subfields. Continue tapping to drill down through up to four levels of specificity.
  • Flexible Search: You don't have to reach the bottom level! You can launch a search at any level as long as at least the first Field is selected.
  • Goal: This is perfect for exploring a new research area or seeing what journals are available in a broad discipline.
Search Methodology

Wispar identifies journals by analyzing articles tagged with your selected topic via the OpenAlex API. These articles are grouped by their source (ISSN) to find relevant journals. Because this relies on article-level classification, you may occasionally see a journal that seems slightly outside your specified topic.

2. Search by Title​

If you already know the name of the journal you are looking for, use this mode.

  • How it works: Simply enter keywords or the full name of a journal.
  • Results: Wispar will return all journals that include those words in their title.

3. Search by ISSN​

For the most precise results, you can search using a journal's International Standard Serial Number (ISSN).

  • How it works: Enter the 8-digit code (e.g., 2041-1723).
  • Results: This will return the specific journal associated with that unique identifier.
Following Journals via Article Search

If a journal is available in OpenAlex but not found via the standard Journal search (Crossref), it can still be followed through the Articles search:

  1. Switch the search toggle to Articles and select OpenAlex as the provider.
  2. Open the filters and enter the ISSN (or a comma-delimited list of ISSNs).
  3. Set Sort by to "Publication date" and Sort order to "Descending".
  4. Save the query and launch the search.
  5. In the Library screen, go to the Queries tab, find the query card and enable the Include in feed toggle.

The saved query will now act as a custom feed for those specific journals. Note that OpenAlex publication data may update slower than Crossref.

Following Journals

Once a journal is found, tap the Follow button. This adds the journal to the feed, ensuring the latest abstracts in that area of study are not missed.