FAQs

Below are responses to frequently asked questions (FAQs) or comments that we receive. Some questions address problems encountered while using the TEEAL system, and others address the administrative side of the project. This is by no means an exhaustive list. You are welcome to send other questions that you would like us to respond to, at: teeal@cornell.edu.

Click on a link to view its response

FAQs for LanTEEAL 2.0:

Coming Soon...

Using TEEAL:

General FAQs:

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What if I want to browse through a particular journal?

Click on the Browse tab. Select a particular journal. Click on the Book icon to select a volume/issue. Articles are displayed underneath. Choose an article and double-click on it. Or, if when you click on a volume/issue you see two green links appear on the right-side of the screen, you can click on one of those links to open the volume/issue and browse through the entire journal page by page.

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How do I view articles?

From a citation, simply click on the hyperlink (the underlined text) in the View article field. (If you have CD TEEAL, you will get a prompt to insert a disc.) The article will appear in a new program, Image View or Adobe® Reader®. To move from page to page, or to change the size, use the toolbar options at the top of the screen. To return to Folio, the TEEAL index database, click on the Book Icon in your toolbar (Image View), or open the minimized program icon located in the main toolbar at the bottom of your screen (Image View & Adobe® Reader®.

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How do I print an article?

Fom an article citation, click on the hyperlink (the underlined text) in the Print article field. The entire range of pages will be printed on your specified printer. If you are viewing a full-text article and just want to print one page, simply click the Printer icon or choose File > Print.

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How do I find an article by subject? Say I’m searching for wheat and disease resistance.

Go to File > Search and a dialog box will come up with a list of options. Enter wheat disease resistance into the Keyword box. (Please note: you will get different search results if you enter wheat AND "disease resistance".) The search is compiled automatically, and the number of articles is listed at the bottom. Click on Search to bring up the citation and abstract information.

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How do I find a particular article? I already have the citation.

It is easy to locate an article in TEEAL if your citation contains an author's name. Open the search box (go to File > Search). Let’s say you’re looking for “The ecological sustainability of slash-and-burn agriculture” by David Pimentel, published in a 1995 issue of Agriculture, Ecosystems, and Environment. Type into the Author box: Pimentel . The Word Wheel on the right side will automatically jump to this name. Double-click on it to insert it into the Author box (this is the only way you will get positive results for an Author). Click Search. Your article will display in citation and abstract form. If you aren’t sure of all of the citation information, or you do not have an author name, first try a few key words. For instance, to find the Pimentel, plug into the Keyword box this phrase: "ecological sustainability" and slash.

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How do I look for everything published in 2003 about a particular subject, such as, soil erosion and cover crops?

Open the search box. Type into the Keyword box the phrase: soil erosion cover crops. Put 2003 in the Year box. The number of articles is displayed at the bottom. Click on Search. Articles will be displayed in citation and abstract form. .

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How do I search when I’m looking for different variations of a term? Say I want to find articles on farms or farmers or farming in Sudan?

The truncation symbol is an asterisk (*) . When you type into the keyword box this term, farm*, it allows you to search for multiple variations of the word 'farm,' such as farms, farmers, farming, etc. BUT, in this case, the combined search yields over 9000 articles. When combined with Sudan (farm* and Sudan), our search produces far fewer yet much more relevant results.

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How do I mark records from my search results?

While in the Document tab, select a record you wish to mark and go to Edit > Tag Records. A long red line will appear to the left of your record. You can also mark records by clicking on the Tag Records icon in the toolbar. Repeat for as many records as you want. To clear your records, go to Edit > Clear All Tags. To view all of your marked records, go to View > Tagged Records.

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What if I want to save records from my search results?

While in the Document tab, go to File > Export. Your tagged records will be saved as a plain text (.txt) file.

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Why don’t my Author searches ever return results?

There is a specific protocol for locating an author’s name in the TEEAL index database. Begin your search by typing an author’s last name into the Author box. The Word Wheel to the right moves toward that name in a chronological list of authors. Double-click on your author’s name in the Word Wheel to insert it into the Author box. This will search the name in the exact format in which it is found in the database. Only one name per author search, unless you are searching for co-authors of an article.

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Some journal issues are missing article abstracts. How do I get to its articles?

You can view an issue’s full text articles whether or not it contains article abstracts. Go to the Browse tab on the left. Open the book icons until you are at the year, volume or issue that you wish to view. Click on one of the links that appear on the right: “Click Here to Browse Journal Page by Page” or “Click Here to View the Table of Contents.” Due to time constraints, not all journals could have index records created while still allowing us to meet our production deadlines.

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Why are some abstracts missing the ‘Print Article’ link?

Some of the newer journals issues in TEEAL are PDF articles sent by participating publishers (rather than hard (print) copies of journal issues to be scanned). You can print these PDF articles while viewing their full text in Adobe® Reader®. First open the article by clicking on its View Article link in the citation. In Adobe® Reader®, go to File > Print and click “OK” to print, or click on the Printer icon..

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What if I have more complicated questions about using TEEAL?

The TEEAL program is equipped with a comprehensive help system built right into the program. Go to Help > Contents. The Help file works exactly the same as the index database. If you have further questions that this FAQ cannot answer, please send us an email and we will respond as quickly as possible: teeal@cornell.edu.

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How do you determine pricing?

Revenue from sales of TEEAL sets and annual updates cover the costs of producing and distributing each annual update, plus outreach and training activities executed by TEEAL & ITOCA.

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Can annual updates be released any sooner?

We produce each annual update as fast as possible. Here is a brief explanation of the 3-step production process:

1-The first step is to gather and collate all of the journals and indexing, which takes six to eight months. We receive over 140 journals from 68 publishers, and over 20,000 bibliographic index records from four aggregators (CABI, Biosis, Econlit, PubMed). Only after we acquire and process all of these raw materials can we then move to the next step in the process.

2-The second step is to bring in our software developer and the scanning facility. Our developer takes the index data to create a new database. Concurrently, the scanning facility digitizes our print copy journals. This step takes three to five months and is completed in three batches of journals. With each new batch, we carefully examine it to verify that the links work properly, the content is complete, and the scanned images are of good quality. The last part of this step is for the software developer to fold the new data in with the existing TEEAL index database for a new Install Disc containing the 1993 to current data.

3-The final step is to master new sets. We ship the new Install Disc and set of Image Discs to a scanning facility that produces 100 copies of the new CD update. This takes one to two months.

As much as we would like to provide annual updates to subscribers more quickly, the time spent on each step of the 3-step process is largely dictated by external factors, such as how fast we receive copies of journals after they have been published, and how fast the indexing is available after publication. This cycle for creating a new update is the reason the annual update is released a year following the publication year.

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How long will TEEAL be available and updated?

As long as there is a demonstrated need and we have the ongoing support of our participating publishers. Our hope is that available free or low-cost Internet resources, such as the FAO's AGORA, will eventually eliminate the need for TEEAL. For now, however, our subscribers and advisors counsel that bandwidth challenges need to be addressed before Internet resources can meet their full potential.

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Can I use TEEAL on the Internet?

It is strictly forbidden to access, or provide access to, the TEEAL system via the Internet, or the World Wide Web. This is true for both versions (LanTEEAL and CD TEEAL). LanTEEAL, the local area network version of TEEAL, is intended ONLY for use on an organization's internal network (local area network (LAN)). Violation of this rule has serious reprecussions for the organization, and puts the future of the entire project at risk.

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