A citation alert notifies you by email whenever a publication of interest has been cited and added to the database.
Although different databases will have different procedures for setting search alerts, the general principles are same. You must:
Most database providers provides step-by-step instructions for saving searches and setting up search alerts.
Google alerts are a great tool for research, as you can set an alert so that Google searches the web on a regular topic gathering hits on a topic of interest from a range of sources (including news sources, videos and blogs).
*You can run a number of alerts concurrently, and revisit your Google Alerts account to modify/add/remove alerts.
If you use Google Scholar to follow an author of interest with a public profile you can get updates of how they are creating new publications.
Create a Google account if you do not already have one.
Search for author in Google Scholar
Create author alerts by following the author
For advanced Google searching tips, look towards the Advanced Google searching guide.