In 1964, the Science Citation Index was published for the first time by Eugene Garfield, who had been working on the idea of citation indexing since 1955. The Science Citation Index was first available as an online resource back in 1972, and is now available on the web as a major part of Thomson Reuters' Web of Science, which is itself a part of their larger package of databases and indexes known as the Web of Knowledge (Garfield, 2007).
Web of Knowledge
Thomson Reuters' offers a variety of science databases and citation indexes that are bundled together as the Web of Knowledge. These resources are of use to researchers of both the hard and soft sciences, with databases for science, social sciences, and arts and humanities available. The Web of Knowledge is a commercial product, so to use it, researchers must either purchase access or be associated with an institution that has purchased access.
Which resources are a part of the Web of Knowledge?
According to the Web of Knowledge Help page, the following resources are available to search:
-Web of Science
-BIOSIS Citation Index
-Chinese Science Citation Index
-Biological Abstracts
-BIOSIS Previews
-CABI Databases
-Current Contents Connect
-Derwent Innovations Index
-Food Science and Technology Abstracts
-Inspec
-MEDLINE
-Zoological Record
-Journal Citation Reports
Web of Science
Web of Science is made up of nine databases and contains citations going back to 1899. Through Wayne State, we are able to access three of these databases: the Science Citation Index Expanded, the Social Sciences Citation Index, and the Arts & Humanities Citation Index.
According to the Web of Science factsheet, the Science Citation Index covers over 8,300 journals. There are many useful tools built into the Web of Science. The main draw is definitely the ability to search citations, which allows scholars and researchers to easily navigate between articles that cite each other. This function helps searchers to identify patterns in the research, create visual citation maps, and more easily find related authors, topics, and articles.
Based on its history, scope, and user-friendly search interface, I would highly recommend the Science Citation Index (and the Web of Science) to those who are researching topics in the sciences.
Searching Web of Science
I've created a short instructional video on how to perform a basic search on Web of Science:
Users can search Web of Science in a variety of ways: there are options for both basic and advanced searches as well as an author finder and a cited reference search. Searchable fields are topic, title, author, group author, editor, publication name, DOI, year published, and address.
A guide to search rules is available on the Web of Knowledge Help site, a screenshot of which is available below. Because it is a subscription product, you must be logged in to Wayne State's library site to view it.
For more help on searching Web of Science, there is a PDF reference card that can be found here: Web of Science Reference Card. This is an invaluable tool to use while searching; it graphically illustrates how to perform searches, look through results, and offers helpful tips and tricks.
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Garfield, E. (2007, January). The evolution of the Science Citation Index search engine to the Web of Science, scientometric evaluation and historiography. Paper presented at The University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain. Retrieved from http://garfield.library.upenn.edu/papers/barcelona2007.pdf
History of citation indexing. (2010, October 15). Retrieved from http://thomsonreuters.com/products_services/science/free/essays/history_of_citation_indexing/
Web of Knowledge help. (2011, October 31). Retrieved from http://images.webofknowledge.com.proxy.lib.wayne.edu/WOKRS55B6/help/WOK/hp_database.html
Web of Knowledge help: Search rules. (2011, October 10). Retrieved from http://images.webofknowledge.com.proxy.lib.wayne.edu/WOKRS55B6/help/WOK/hs_search_rules.html
Web of Science factsheet. (2011). Retrieved from http://thomsonreuters.com/content/science/pdf/Web_of_Science_factsheet.pdf
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