Research Impact Metrics: Citation Analysis

Web of Science Core Collection is really a group of databases:

• Science Citation Index Expanded (1900 - present)
• Social Sciences Citation Index (1900 - present)
• Arts & Humanities Citation Index (1975 - present)
• Conference Proceedings Citation Index - Science ((1900 - present)
• Conference Proceedings Citation Index - Social Sciences & Humanities - (1900 - present) 
• Book Citation Index - Science - (2005 - present)
• Book Citation Index - Social Sciences & Humanities - (2005 - present)
• Emerging Sources Citation Index - (2015 - present)
• Current Chemical Reactions - (1985 - present)

For more introductory information about Web of Science, view the related Research Guide. 

1. Access Web of Science (sign in for off-campus use, if necessary)
   
2. Click on "Cited Reference Search" tab. 
3.  In the "Cited Work" box, enter the journal abbreviation for a specific journal title. Use the journal abbreviation list, linked below the search box (View abbreviation list), to find the correct abbreviation of the journal name you are searching.
   
   Example: enter SCAND J SOC WELFARE for Scandinavian Journal of Social Welfare
4. Click on the "Search" button. Once the results are posted, click on "Select All" and then on "Finish Search."
5. The results number should indicate how many articles in Web of Science cited the journal. Please note: The citation count will only include the number of times the publication was cited by specific articles from the journals that Web of Science covers. Web of Science does not count citations from every journal published around the world, nor does it count citations from books, conference proceedings, dissertations/theses, patents, technical reports or other types of publications.
    

Searching for a specific author can be difficult, especially if the name is a common one. There are options for identifying authors by an assigned identification number so that you can be sure the research of a particular individual is correct, whether there is a change in the name, it is listed differently or incorrectly, or if the researcher changes institutions.

Example:

1. Jennifer Smith is a researcher from the School of Public Health, University of Michigan.
2. Performing an author search using this name in Web of Science results citations from many disciplines ranging from Renaissance Studies, Marine Biology, Chemistry and others. None of the disciplines listed in the list of results include Public Health. 
3. It may take several steps to narrow this list of results to the correct author and still some articles may be inadvertently be missed or incorrectly included. 
4. This particular Jennifer Smith from University of Michigan has registered for an ORCID ID; this identifying number can used to correctly retrieve citations by this researcher. 
   
   

For more information on ORCID author identifiers see the links below. 

While many researchers on campus have an ORCID identification number which can be used in Web of Science, not all faculty members or researchers in the U.S. are using their identification number. You may want to use the author search suggested from the video below for a complete search strategy.

The Citation Report feature displays bar charts for the number of items published each year, the number of citations each year, the counts for the average number of citations per item, the number of citations per year per publication, average number of citations per year per publication, and the H-index.

A Citation Report can be generated from any set of search results. 

View the video below for more information on building a Citation Report or read the Citation Report help page.

1. Perform a cited reference search to find articles that cite the works of a specific author.
   
   
    
2. Click the Search banner then select Basic Search and enter the same name in the Author field. Click Search.
   
   
    
3. Click the the Search banner again and choose the Advanced Search link.
   
    
4. Combine your cited reference search for this author but eliminate the articles written by this author as well as cited by this author by using the connector NOT. Use the numbers in the search history, available under Advanced Search to  do this. Using the above examples you would enter the following in the advanced search box: #1 NOT #2

​This video demonstrates how to find the number of times an article or an author has been cited within Web of Science. Remember, only citations from the set of journals, books and conference proceedings within this database will be included in this citation count. This will likely be a smaller number of citations for an author or article compared with Google Scholar or Scopus because Web of Science covers a smaller number of works than these other databases and is very concerned about quality compared with quantity. 

The Citation Report feature displays bar charts for the number of items published each year and the number of citations each year, plus counts for the average number of citations per item, the number of citations per year per publication, average number of citations per year per publication, and the H-index.

Be Aware: The Citation Report only analyzes the correct citations to the unit's journal articles published in the journals covered by the Web of Science; variant-citations are not covered, nor can an analysis be done on the unit's books, conference papers, patents, other non-journal documents or on articles from journals not covered by the Web of Science.

•  Access Web of Science (sign in for off campus use, if necessary)
•  Use the "Search" feature to find all the articles by members of the unit; this is generally difficult to do with just one single search statement.   
  
  Use any or all of the following methods to find the unit's journal articles: 
  • If there is a small set of articles you want to analyze, do a search for each article, searching by either the words in the title or a combination search for first author plus words in the title.   Use the Advanced Search feature to "OR" the sets together to get one combined set that includes all the articles.  Display the combined results set and click on the "Create Citation Report" link at the top upper right of the list.
  • Do an author search for each individual in the unit. Select "Author Search" in the pull-down menu. Use the author name with first initial, then then click on the "Add Author Name Variant" button to enter the author's name with first and middle initials.     Example: smith j  or smith jr
    
    After entering the author's name, click on the "Select Research Domain" button and select one or more research domains.
    After selecting research domains, click on the "Select Organization" button to select one or more research organizations.
    Some authors work for more than one institution/unit during their career and some are appointed to more than one unit at a time.  Whether the citation researcher finds this to be a PRO or a CON depends on if s/he is trying to find everything the author wrote or just what was written for a specific university/unit. 
  • If you have multiple sets of answers, use the Advanced Search feature to "OR" the individual results sets together to get one combined set.  Once you have all the results in a single set of references, click on the "Create Citation Report" link at the top upper right of the list.
     

There are two methods for determining the most highly cited papers by an author: 

•   Less Accurate but Easier & Quicker
  •  Access Web of Science (sign in for off campus use, if necessary)
  •  Use the "Basic Search" feature to find all the articles by an author.
    Recommended search: Use the author name with first initial, then add "OR author's name with first and middle initials". Example: smith j  or smith jr
  •  On the results page, change the “Sort by” box to (upper right of the list) to “Times Cited-Highest to Lowest”; the articles that then appear at the top of the list are the author’s most cited.
  • Be aware: Although easy to do, this method does not account for variant-citations and only includes the author’s articles from the journals covered by the Web of Science. 
• More Accurate but Harder & Time-Consuming
  • Follow steps 1-5 above, finding all the correct citations and variant-citations for each of the author’s papers. 
  • Use whatever method you find most comfortable (paper, index/flash cards, word processor, spreadsheet, etc.) to keep track of the counts for each paper and when finished, sort the papers by the “times cited” count. 

This method can only be used for journals covered by the Web of Science; variant citations are not included in the citation determination.

• Access Web of Science (sign in for off campus use, if necessary)
   
• Select "Basic Search." Enter the journal name (use the journal’s full name) and select "Publication Name" in the pull-down menu. Click "Search." 
   
•  On the results page, change the "Sort by" box (upper right of the list) to "Times Cited-Highest to Lowest";  the articles that then appear at the top of the list are the journal's most cited.

To be notified whenever an article of interest is cited, use the "Citation Alert" feature.   This feature is only available for articles that appeared in a journal covered by the Web of Science.

• Access Web of Science (sign in for off campus use, if necessary)
• Login to your personal account using the "Sign In" link at the top of the page.
  Citation Alerts require registration (free); to register, click on the "Sign In" link at the top of the page, in the left column, click on the "Register" link and follow instructions.
• Use the "Search feature" to find the article. 
•  On the results list, click on the item's title to display the full record.
• In the right-hand column, click on the "Create Citation Alert" button. Alerts are automatically set for one year.
• To remove an alert, click on the "My Citation Alerts" link at the top of the page; when your alerts are displayed, click on the "Modify Settings" button and mark which articles you wish to remove from your alerts.