The document provides an introduction to citation analysis and the Web of Science database. It discusses how citation analysis can be used to find who has cited a researcher's work, the most cited articles on a topic, and leading researchers, institutions, and journals in a field. It then describes the content and features of the Web of Science, including how to search for articles, perform cited reference searches, and analyze search results. The document also introduces the H-index and Journal Citation Reports, discussing how to calculate the H-index and interpret journal impact factors. Exercises are included throughout to have the reader practice using the database.
Web of Science: Citation Analysis and Impact Factors
1. Web of Science
Joost Daams, MA
Arnold Leenders
Ingeborg Nagel, MSc
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2. Programme
• Introduction to Citation Analysis and
Web of Science
• Web of Science (WoS)
– Searching for articles
– Cited reference search
– Analyzing results
• Hirsch-index (H-index)
• Journal Citation Reports (JCR): impact factors
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3. Introduction: What is a citation index?
• A citation index is an index of citations between
publications, allowing the user to easily establish which
later documents cite which earlier documents1.
• First citation index was the Science Citation Index,
established in 1960 by the Institute for Scientific
Information (ISI). Later followed by the Social Sciences
Citation Index and the Arts and Humanitites Citation Index.
• Examples of citation indexes: Web of Science, Scopus,
CiteSeer, Google Scholar.
1
"Citation index," in Wikipedia; available from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citation_index
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4. Time
Cited articles Citing articles
1950 2010
original work
2000 2002 2007 2012
1997 2006 2008
1962
2007
2012
Related articles 1998
2001
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5. Introduction: citation analysis
Use citation analysis to find:
• Who has cited your work
• Most cited articles on your research topic
• Leading researchers, institutions and journals in your
field of research
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6. Introduction: Web of Science content (1)
• Combination of 3 citation databases:
– Science Citation Index
– Social Sciences Citation Index
– Arts & Humanities Citation Index
• Over 12,000 journals and 120,000 conference
proceedings indexed, coverage to 1975.
• Citation analysis tool
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7. Introduction: Web of Science content (2)
• Multidisciplinary • Medicine and
• 12000 journals related fields
• No controlled vocabulary • 5400 journals
• Conference proceedings • MeSH terms
• Citation analysis • Clinical filters
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8. Introduction: recap
• Citation analysis
• Web of Science: content
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9. WoS: Searching for articles (1)
• Combine search terms using operators:
– AND, OR, NOT
– NEAR/x (x = number of words that separate terms)
– SAME (terms in same field, can only be used in
Address field)
• Topic field = Title, Abstract, Author Keywords
• Combine search sets on the Search History page
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10. WoS: Searching for articles (2)
• Phrase search: "kidney transplant"
• Both right- and left-hand truncation:
– transplant* finds transplant, transplants,
transplantation
– *saccharide finds disaccharide, polysaccharide, etc.
• Lemmatization (on/off) includes synonyms, plurals, and
singulars in the search results. Does not apply for terms
enclosed in quotation marks (" ").
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11. WoS: Searching for articles (3)
• Find articles on Fabry disease
• Sort articles by time cited
• Which article has been cited most and how many times
was this article cited?
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12. WoS: Searching for articles (4)
Assignment 1.
Searching for articles on a topic
Go to the Web of Science database and search for articles on the topic
delirium in patients with hip fracture.
Sort the results by "Times Cited – highest to lowest".
a. Which article has been cited most and how many articles have cited this
article?
b. Click on the Times Cited number to view all articles that cited the selected
article. What is the title of the most recent articles that cited it?
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14. Cited reference search (2)
Assignment 2.
Cited reference search
Go to the Cited Reference Search tab in Web of Science and search for the
following article, using the predefined fields Cited Author, Cited Work and
Cited Year.
a. How many additional citing articles do you find for this article by using the
Cited Reference Search option?
b. Why were these articles not recognized as being citing articles by the Web
of Science?
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15. Additional: create a citation alert
When you create a citation alert, you are
notified by e-mail whenever the document
has been cited by a new publication.
The alert is active for one year. You may
renew the alert at any time.
16. WoS: Analyzing results (1)
• Who is the leading author or institution in your field of
research?
• In which journal should you publish?
• How has research on a topic developed over time?
• Analyze references by:
o Author
o Organization
o Country
o Journal title
o Publication year
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17. WoS: Analyzing results (2)
A Citation Map shows the citation
relationships (cited references and
citing articles) between a selected
paper and other papers.
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19. WoS: Analyzing results (4)
Assignment 3.
Analyzing results
Go to the Search History tab in Web of Science to return to the results from exercise
1. Analyze the results to find:
a. Which author had published most articles on delirium after hip fracture.
b. Which journal (Source Title) has published most articles on this topic.
c. Which country is leading in this field of research.
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20. H-index (1)
A scientist has index h if h of his/her Np
papers have at least h citations each, and
the other (Np − h) papers have no more
than h citations each.
(Hirsch JE: An index to quantify an individual's scientific research output. Proc
Natl Acad Sci U S A 2005;102:16569-16572.)
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21. Web of Science: recap
• Searching for articles
• Cited reference search
• Analyzing results
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22. H-index (2)
The h-index (Hirsch-index) is an index that attempts
to measure both the productivity and impact of the
published work of a scientist or scholar.
The index is based on the set of the scientist's most
cited papers and the number of citations that they
have received in other publications
In the AMC the h-index is one of the factors used for
the scientific evaluation of the Principal Investigators
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27. H-index (4)
How to calculate the h-index:
• In the AMC: use the Web of Science
• Two ways to calculate
– Author search
– Search option using the author index
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28. Calculate the hirsch-index of
mrs. A.H. Teeuw
General paediatrician
Emmakinderziekenhuis
Amsterdam
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29. H-index (5)
Problems:
• Spelling of the author's name differs (initials)
• Different authors have the same name
• Unknown where the author has worked (even for the
author)
• Faulty citations
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30. H-index (6)
Assignment 4.
Calculate the Hirsch-Index of the scientists:
a. Tabbers M; paediatric gastroenterologist AMC
b. Your promotor
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31. JCR – Impact Factors (1)
• What it is …
JIF2011 = A/B
A = the number of times articles published in 2009 and 2010 were cited
by indexed journals during 2011.
B = the total number of "citable items" published by that journal in 2009
and 2010. ("Citable items" are usually articles, reviews, proceedings, or
notes; not editorials or Letters-to-the-Editor.)
• Application
evaluate research performance
job promotion
make decisions on funding
evaluate journal collections
determine publication strategy
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33. JCR – Impact Factors (2)
• Critique
Temporality bias
Geographical/language bias
Topicality bias
Incentive for self-citations
Range of provided subject topics
Assignment of journals to topics
Poor adaptation of web downloads / web citations
Non-transparent journal inclusion criteria by
Thomson Reuters
Monolithic organisation
• Strengths
“ Impact factor is not a perfect tool to measure the quality of articles but there is nothing
better and it has the advantage of already being in existence and is, therefore, a good
technique for scientific evaluation.
(…) The use of impact factor as a measure of quality is widespread because it fits well with
the opinion we have in each field of the best journals in our speciality.”
(Hoeffel C. Journal Impact factors. Allergy. 1998;53;1225)
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34. JCR – Impact Factors (3)
Some JIF-derivatives (relevant for
determining publication strategy):
• “Journal Ranking” and “Quartile in Category”
• Aggregate Impact Factor
• Median Impact Factor
• Immediacy Index
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35. JCR – Impact Factors (5)
Assignment 5.
1. What is the 2011 impact factor of The Lancet?
2. Let’s pretend you’re about to send your manuscript to one of the top-
ranked IF journals in your discipline (≈ category). One of your colleagues
suggests the Journal of NeuroEngineering and Rehabilitation
a. What is the 2011 impact factor of this journal?
b. Describe in plain language what your answer under 2a expresses
c. Explain why your decision to send your manuscript to this journal could
depend on whether you are a neuroscientist or a physiotherapist. Hint:
take into account the journal’s category score.
3. What is the 2009 impact factor of Aids Care?
4.Does the official IF address self cites?
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36. JCR – Impact Factors: recap
H – Index & JIF quizz: True or False?
H-Index JIF
Describes journal impact
Describes author impact
Based on fixed source data
Is adjusted for publication type
(i.e. letter to the editor versus systematic review etc.)
Is adjusted for self citation
(resp. of own publications and own journal)
Allows for interdisciplinairy benchmarking
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The journal Impact Factor is the average number of times articles from the journal published in the past two years have been cited in the JCR year.
The aggregate Impact Factor for a subject category is calculated the same way as the Impact Factor for a journal, but it takes into account the number of citations to all journals in the category and the number of articles from all journals in the category. An aggregate Impact Factor of 1.0 means that that, on average , the articles in the subject category published one or two years ago have been cited one time. The median Impact Factor is the median value of all journal Impact Factors in the subject category. The Impact Factor mitigates the importance of absolute citation frequencies. It tends to discount the advantage of large journals over small journals because large journals produce a larger body of citable literature. For the same reason, it tends to discount the advantage of frequently issued journals over less frequently issued ones and of older journals over newer ones. Because the journal impact factor offsets the advantages of size and age, it is a valuable tool for journal evaluation. The Immediacy Index is the average number of times an article is cited in the year it is published. The journal Immediacy Index indicates how quickly articles in a journal are cited.The aggregate Immediacy Index indicates how quickly articles in a subject category are cited. The Immediacy Index is calculated by dividing the number of citations to articles published in a given year by the number of articles published in that year.Because it is a per-article average, the Immediacy Index tends to discount the advantage of large journals over small ones. However, frequently issued journals may have an advantage because an article published early in the year has a better chance of being cited than one published later in the year. Many publications that publish infrequently or late in the year have low Immediacy Indexes.For comparing journals specializing in cutting-edge research, the immediacy index can provide a useful perspective.
1,684 [problemen: ander jaar dan standaard jaar, ander JCR segment dan Science, problemen met de ondertitel waardoor aids care ongetrunceerd bij title words bijv. niet wordt gevonden] 2a. 3,264 [let op: JCR science edition!] 2b. On average 3,264 times articles from “Journal of NeuroEngineering and Rehabilitation” published in the past two years have been cited in 2011. 2c. Two ways: - journal ranking -> quartile score - subject categories -> select and compare both relevant subject categories: “view category data”. Compare for instance the median impact factors in relation to the journal’s IF. 3. No – this figure is provided in the section “Journal Self Cites” of the journal record in JCR.