A Users Manual for Using Consortium for

e -Resources in Agriculture (CeRA)

Prepared by
Sonia Bansal, Assistant librarian
Nirmal Singh, Assistant librarian
Dhiraj Kumar, JLA

University Library
Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Sciences
University, Ludhiana-141 004 (Punjab)
INDIA

Foreword

In this age of information explosion where scientific literature doubles every

few years, no library can acquire all the information resources relevant to the
information needs of its users. The consortium approach with the objective of pooling
the resources of an association of two or more individuals or organizations is gaining
momentum these days and contributes significantly in meeting the information needs
of the scientific community. This is an essence that the scientific and scholarly
community of an organization must be familiar with the use of online journals in this
era of Information & Communication Technology (ICT). Indian Agricultural
Research Institute has taken an initiative for establishment of Consortium for eResources in Agriculture (CeRA) with the objective to help scientists, researchers,
scholars and students to get the requisite information by providing online access to
peer reviewed national and international journals and by collaborating the resources
of print/online journals subscribed by various Agricultural, Veterinary and allied
sciences Universities/Institutes of India. If the teachers, scientists, researchers and
students of universities continue to rely only on the print journals for their
information needs they may be depriving themselves from the vital information
published in many reputed international/national online journals. Therefore, there is
need to familiarize teachers, scientists, researchers and students of universities with
CeRA to keep them abreast with the latest advancements in their respective fields.
This manual will help teachers, scientists, researchers and students to learn the use of
Consortium for e-Resources in Agriculture (CeRA).

Dr. S. Prabhakar
University Librarian

Contents
PAGE NO.
List of Abbreviations

CHAPTERS
1. AN INTRODUCTION TO CeRA

2. BROWSING JOURNALS

2-11

Browse Journals by Title

Full Text Journals
Request the Article Journals
Available in Your Library Journals
Browse Journals by Subject
Browse Journal by Publishers
3. ACCESSING THE ARTICLES

12-16

Quick Search
Advanced Search
Author Finder
4. CREATING ALERT PROFILE

17-22

5. ADDITIONAL FEATURES

23-29

View Marked Results

Search History
Chat Support

Abbreviations

AL

: Available in your Library

CeRA

: Consortium for e- Resources in Agriculture

FT

: Full Text

GADVASU : Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal

Sciences University
IARI

: Indian Agricultural Research Institute

ICAR

: Indian Council of Agricultural Research

ICT

: Information & Communication Technology

RA

: Request the Article

SAUs

: State Agricultural Universities

URL

: Uniform Resource Locator

Chapter-1
An Introduction to CeRA

Consortium for electronic Resources in Agriculture (CeRA) provides access to

approximately 3516 journals in the broad spectrum of Agricultural Sciences and to nearly
300 journals in the subjects of Veterinary Sciences, Dairy Technology, Fisheries and
Aquaculture and allied fields. It is hosted by Indias premier national institute for agricultural
research, education and extension i. e. Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), New
Delhi. ICAR has a well established network connectivity of Institutes and State Agricultural
Universities (SAUs). Therefore, it was proposed that selective journals in respective subjects
could be made accessible over the network to supplement the academic and research
activities of theses institutes. Working on this, the National Agricultural Innovation Project
(NAIP) funded to establish CeRA at IARI in 2007 to facilitate access to crucial scientific
journals to scientists/ teachers in National Agricultural Research System (NARS). It has
following objectives:
1. To upscale the existing Research and Development information resource base of
ICAR Institutions/ Universities comparable to worlds leading institutions/
organizations.
2. To subscribe e-journals and create e-access culture among scientists/ teachers in
ICAR Institutes/ Agricultural Universities.
3. To assess the impact of CeRA on the level of research publications measured through
NAAS ID and Science Citation Index. (www.jgateplus.com)
CeRA Office is housed at IARI Central Library that has assumed the status of National
Agricultural Library of India. CeRA has a feature of Document Delivery Request System by
which users can get hardcopy/scanned copy of full text of the articles included in journals
which are not subscribed by his/her parent institutes library. The IARI has organised various
awareness training-cum-workshops to promote the use of CeRA by scientists and teachers.
CeRA is expected to facilitate online access to all important journals in the discipline of
agriculture and allied sciences, to provide quick access to information about research &
developments worldwide and to upgrade the quality of scientific publications, research and
guidance. It provides 24x7 access to the journals published by world famous publishers
including Annual reviews, Springer Link, Elsevier, CSIRO Publishing, Taylor & Francis,
Oxford Journals, American Society of Agronomy, Nature Publishing Group etc. Web based
applications were developed to provide online access to CeRA through the URL
www.jgateplus.com. Journals from CeRA can be browsed through different options
including by title, author and publishers. Besides this, articles on particular topics can be
accessed through Quick and Advanced Search options. Various search and browse options of
CeRA are discussed in detail in following chapters.
1

Chapter-2
Browsing Journals
A hyperlink to CeRA has been provided from the GADVSU Cyberary website. When user
login to access Internet, the homepage of GADVASU Cyberary appears. Click on the
hyperlink of Consortium for e-Resources in Agriculture on this page as shown in figure.
Users can also access CeRA directly within university campus by using the URLwww.jgateplus.com.

Click on
Consortium for
e-Resources in
Agriculture
Screen as shown below will appear:

Users can browse journals from CeRA by following browsing options:

A. By title A-Z
B. By subject

C. By publisher
These are discussed in detail in following sections:
A.

Browse Journals by Title A-Z

Click on Journal Finder to browse journals by title A-Z as shown below:

Click on
Journal
Finder

An alphabetical list of the journals will appear as shown in following screen:

Access
Type
denoting
status of
journals

Alphabetical
list of
Journals

If the user know the exact title of the journal, he/she can type the journal title in search text
box to restrict search result. If user does not know the exact journal title he/she may search
the journal by typing the phrase word in search text box. The database will display the
alphabetical list of all the journals containing phrase word.

Click on search

Enter phrase
word here

The database will retrieve the results containing the search term as shown below:

User can click on the relevant journal title to access its articles. Access type (FT, RA and AL)
of the journal indicates its accessibility status which is discussed below in detail:
Full Text (FT) Journals
When user click on any FT journal title, screen as given below will follow:

Back
issues
can be
accessed
year
wise
from
Archive

Click on
Full Text

Click on Article Fulltext to get the full text of article as shown in following screen:

Click on Article
Full text to
access full text
article
or
Click on HTML
or
PDF
to
access full text
article

Following screen having full text of selected article will appear:

Request the Article (RA)

If the access status of a journal is RA (Request Article), then user can send request to the
institution that subscribes print/online journal to get the required article. The institute to
whom request is sent will either send a hardcopy by post or scanned copy through email of
the needed article. The user can send request for the required article by following below
given steps:
Step 1: Click on Request Article.
The following screen will appear:

Click on
Request
Article

Step 2: Fill the particulars in the request form. The fields marked with * are mandatory.

After filling the form click on Send. The request will be sent to the institution having
hardcopy of the requested journal article.

Click here to
send request

When user sends the request for an article, a confirmation mail is sent at his/her e-mail ID.

Available in Your library (AL)

If the access type of a journal is AL (Available in Your Library), it means library of users
institution subscribes to that journal. User can visit the library to consult the journal and
obtain photocopy of the article(s), if required. User may contact the library staff for any help.

Click on
Available
in Print

B.

Browse Journals by Subject

Users can browse journals by subject also. Click on Journal Finder to browse journals by
subject as shown below:
s

Click on
Journal
Finder to
browse
journals
by
subject

Click on + sign provided against Agriculture Sciences. The following screen will appear:

Click here
(on +) sign

When user click on + sign the following screen will follow:

Select one
or more
subjects to
browse
by clicking
on the check
box
provided
against that
subject

User can select one or more subjects in which he/she wants to browse journals by clicking on
the check box provided against that subject. After it click on Apply Filters as shown in
following screen to access journals in particular subject(s):

Click on
Apply Filters

C.

Browse Journals by Publisher

User can browse journals being published by particular publisher(s). Click on Browse by
Publisher as shown in following screen:

Click on
Browse by
Publisher

10

Complete alphabetical list of the Publishers of journals available through CeRA will appear
in alphabetical order as given below:

Click on
Publishers
name to
access
journals of
particular
publisher

Alphabetical
list of
Publishers

If user wants to browse journals published by Academic Journals accessible through CeRA,
then go to Academic Journals and click on it. A complete list of journals being published by
Academic Journals available through CeRA as given below will appear.

List of
Journals
published
by
Academic
Journals

Click on relevant journal title to access articles.

11

Chapter -3
Accessing the Articles
There are three search options in CeRA to access the articles:
1. Basic Search
2. Advanced Search
3. Author Finder
Basic Search
Go to the homepage of Consortium for e-Resources in Agriculture and type any phrase word
in Basic Search text box. User can use Boolean operators AND, OR, NOT to search articles
and click on search tab as given below:

Click on
search

Enter phrase
word here
Use of Boolean
Operator AND

12

The database will retrieve all the articles containing the phrase words as per Boolean
Operators applied as shown below:

390 articles
found for the
phrase words
Fertility
AND
Buffalo

Advanced Search
Advanced search facilitates the CeRA users to restrict and explore their search options by
phrase words using Boolean Operators:

by

different

fields

(including

Title,

Keyword

Only,

Title/Keyword,

Title/Keyword/Abstract, Author, Author address and Journal Name).

by journal category (Full Text Only, Peer-Reviewed Journals and Professional &
Industry)

by publication year and

by subject categories.

To conduct advance search, click on Advanced Search tab on home page of CeRA. User
can search articles using aforesaid fields and by applying Boolean Operators. After filling all
particulars and selecting subject categories that user wants to explore, he/she needs to click
on search. The database will retrieve articles as per search fields applied for. Advanced
Search is illustrated through below given screen:

13

Advanced
Search Tab

Select field to
search phrase
word

Restrict
search by
subject
categories

Boolean
Operators
Enter phrase
word(s) here

For additional
search boxes
click on the
More button

Restrict
search
by
journal
category

Restrict
search by
publication
year
Author Finder

Users can also search articles written by their favourite authors by clicking on Author Finder
as shown in the screen. If the user wants to search journals articles written by Sharma, then
type author name in the Author Finder text box and click on search as shown in following
screen.

Click on
Author Finder

Click on
search

14

Type author
name (First
name or Last
name) here
without
initials

The following screen will follow:

User can select one or more authors whose journal articles he/she wants to
search. If user wants to search the journal articles written by A Barindra
Sharma, then select it by clicking on the check box and after that click on view
articles as shown in below given screen.

Select one
or more
authors by
clicking on
the check
box shown
against the
author name

Click
on view
articles

15

Complete list of journal articles written by A Barindra Sharma which are

available through CeRA will be displayed as shown in following screen:

2 Articles
written by
A Barindra
Sharma

16

Chapter-4
Creating Alert Profile
Users can create alert profile to get Table of Contents (TOC) of the recent issues of selected
journals through e-mail. This will be helpful to keep you abreast with the latest literature in
respective fields. Follow below given steps to create alert profile:
Click on My Jgate at homepage of CeRA as given below:

Click on
My Jgate

Screen as below will appear :

Click to register
for Alert Profile

17

When user click on register to create alert profile, the screen as shown below appears. User
needs to fill all the particulars and click on Register as shown in following screen:

Fill these
particulars

Click on
Register

User will receive an email regarding the successful registration as shown in below given
screen:

18

Login
To login into your account click on My Jgate on home page of CeRA. Fill the credentials
received via email as shown below:

Fill the credentials

received via email
Click on
Login

Click on My Favourite Journals as shown in the following screen:

Click on My
Favourite
Journals

19

Screen as below will follow:

Click to configure
favourite journals

Screen as below will follow:

Select the
journals
either by
browsing
alphabetically
or by
selecting
subjects

Type name of
the alert topic

Select the journals either by browsing alphabetically or by selecting subjects as discussed

earlier, to add journals in the alert profile. User can add unlimited number of journals in alert
profile. After adding the journals in alert profile, click on save as shown below:

20

Click on
save

Screen as below will follow:

Journal Alert Folders can be viewed, edited or deleted and user registration details can also be
edited as shown below:

21

Click to view,
edit or delete
Journal Alert
Folders
Click to edit
registration
details

22

Chapter-5
Additional Features
1.

View Marked Results

Users can mark the articles found relevant for later reference by clicking on the square box
shown on the left of title of article as shown below:

Click on the
check box
to mark
articles

After marking the articles user can further browse/search the articles. Whenever user wishes
to view marked results he/she just needs to click on View Marked Results as shown below:

Click on
View
Marked
Results

23

The list of the marked results will be displayed as shown below:

The marked results can be saved, mailed, printed and downloaded as discussed below:
Saving the Marked Results
Select the article from the list. Then click on Download.

Click on
Download
Click on the check
box to select article
you want to Save

24

Screen as shown below will be displayed:

Select the desired file format out of BibTex (BIB), EndNote (RIS), ProCite (RIS), Reference
Manager (RIS) and Ref Works (RIS) and click on Download to download the citation of
the selected article(s). After this save the file in desired location.

Mailing the Marked Results

Users can email the records directly to their friends/colleagues by selecting the article from
the list. In order to send e-mail, click on Mail as shown in following screen:

Click on the
check box to
select article
Click on
Mail

Fill the particulars viz. receivers email ID, senders name and message. Then click on Send
articles as shown below:
25

Fill the
particulars

Click on
Send articles

Printing and removing the marked results

Select the article from the list. Then click on Print or Remove to take printout or delete
the details of the marked article as shown below:

Print

Remove

26

2.

Search History

In order to view your searches, click on Search History as shown below:

Click on Search
History

Screen as shown below will be displayed:

Saving Search History

To save history of searches made, select the search terms by checking the square box
displayed on its left side. Then click on Save as shown below:

27

Click on
the
check
box to
select
search
terms

Click on
Save to
save
search
history

The user is asked to login into his/her J-gate account. When user logs in to his/her account
the search terms get saved in his/her account and screen as shown below displaying Current
Search Results and Saved Search Results will appear:

Users can view all the current and previous searches saved by them by clicking on Current
Search Results and Saved Search Results, respectively.
User can also delete the saved searches from his/her account. To delete a search term, click
on the square box displayed on its left side. Then click on Delete as shown below:

28

Click on
the check
box to
select
search
terms

Click on
Delete

3. Chat Support
CeRA provides the facility of chat support to its users to resolve their queries from 9:30 AM
to 5:30 PM. In case user faces any difficulty in using CeRA, he/she can take online help
from the CeRAs support team by clicking on Chat Support button provided on the bottom
of the navigation bar. For this user need to fill his/her name, email ID and phone no. To start
chatting click on Start Chatting button as shown in following screen:

Fill the
particulars
Click here to
start chatting

29