Citation Analysis Tools
Citation analysis is the process of evaluating the research impact of an article, an author, or the research work of an institution.
UNB Libraries subscribe to the following databases that can aid faculty in analyzing their research impact. No single database can provide a complete citation count, therefore it is recommend that faculty use a combination of databases to discover how many papers are citing your works.
Where available, links to tutorials are provided below. Automatic alerts are also an excellent way to keep current in your field of study. Steps for alerting are noted below and will vary depending on the database.
Key Resources
WOS provides quality indexing for science journals (> 8,000 journals) but faculty should use some caution when conducting citation analysis in the Social Sciences (> 3,000 journals). Indexing for the Arts & Humanities is less than stellar (>1,800 journals).
Tutorial: https://www.brainshark.com/thomsonscientific/cit_rept_eng_5_2
Citation Alert: Faculty can create a citation alert by navigating to the full record for an article by selecting "Create Citation Alert" (activity requires registration).
Scopus is an Elsevier product that indexes/abstracts more than 19,500 peer-reviewed journals from approx. 5,000 publishers. While journal coverage in Scopus is somewhat broader than Web of Science, citation tracking is limited to articles published after 1996. Therefore, attempts to ascertain the impact of a researcher's work prior to 1996 may not be accurately reflected using Scopus.
Subject coverage includes life sciences (> 4,300 titles), health sciences (> 6,800 titles), physical sciences (> 7,200 titles) and social sciences/humanities (> 5,300 titles). Arts & Humanities coverage is not strong (titles from >2002).
Tutorial: http://help.scopus.com/flare/Content/tutorials/sc_AnalyzeJournals.html
Citation Alert: A document, author or affiliation alert can be created within a record by selecting "Set alert" (activity requires registration).
Coverage weaknesses (noted above) have caused some faculty to turn to Google Scholar to track individual citations. Google Scholar offers three metrics: the h-index, the i-10 index (the number of articles with at least ten citations), and the total number of citations to individual articles.
Coverage strength is science/medical literature, open access repositories, and some (but not all) major publishers. Google Scholar has its own coverage weaknesses in the social science/humanities.
Faculty should be aware that Google Scholar does not index all scholarly articles. As such, it is possible articles that cite the item under study may not be counted. It is also difficult to determine what sources and time spans are covered in Google Scholar.
Citation Help: http://scholar.google.com/intl/en/scholar/citations.html
Metrics: http://scholar.google.com/intl/en/scholar/metrics.html
- Web of Science
Web of Science (WOS), a Thomson Reuters database, covers a wide range of disciplines. The database is composed of the following citation indexes that can be search simultaneously or individually:
- Science Citation Index Expanded (1899-present)
- Social Sciences Citation Index (1898-present)
- Arts & Humanities Citation Index (1975-present)
- Conference Proceedings Citation Index- Science (1990-present)
- Conference Proceedings Citation Index- Social Science & Humanities (1990-present)
- Scopus
- Google Scholar
- Microsoft Academic Search
Microsoft Academic Search is still in beta and is not particularly well known. However, it boasts of over 38 million references in its database. No other schorarly resource is as concerned with bibliometrics as is MAS. Rankings of individuals, departments, and institutions are front and centre with this product.
Editing of profiles or papers is possible by logging in. The login uses the UNB site for accreditation and login is therefore done by using a UNB ID and PIN.
Subscribing to be notified of new citations is not explicitly a feature of this database. Instead, MAS offers the option of subscribing to an RSS feed for any article. It is presumed that an new citation to the article would generate a change in the RSS feed, butthia is yet to be confirmed.
Additional Resources
Certain disciplines (especially those within the Social Sciences or Arts/Humanities) may not be well-represented using the citation analysis tools above.
The following UNB-subscribed databases can be useful when attempting to discover how many papers are citing your works.
Tutorial (Word Format):http://support.ebsco.com/uploads/kb/en_host_cited_refs_help_sheet.doc
- EBSCOhost Databases
Cited reference searching can be undertaken in various discipline-specific databases within EBSCO (e.g., PsycINFO, CINAHL, Historical Abstracts, SocINDEX with Full Text and Business Source Premier). EBSCO databases all share similar search strategies when conducting citation analysis:
- Select "Cited References" from the navigation ribbon across the top of the screen (N.B. "Cited References" is sometimes an option under "More" on the navigation ribbon (e.g., Business Source Premier))
- Search for the article/author under study
- Check the box adjacent to relevant results that has a "Times Cited in this Database" link
- Select the "Find Citing Articles" button at the top of your results to view the articles citing the original article/author
- ProQuest Databases
Cited reference searching can also be undertaken in the discipline-specific databases within ProQuest (e.g., MLA International Bibliography, PAIS, Worldwide Political Science Abstracts , Sociological Abstracts, Georef, Philosophers Index and Social Services Abstracts).
- Search for article/author under study
- Within the results, select the "Cited by (#)" link to see the articles from ProQuest databases that cite the original article/author's work.
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- HeinOnline
Hein Online offers citation analysis only for the law/criminology journals housed by the database. It is not at the level of Web of Science or Scopus,
Help Page: http://heinonline.org/HeinDocs/ScholarCheck.pdf
For further assistance with citation searching, please contact your Liaison Librarian.