Science Citation Index Expanded

Science Citation Index Expanded
Title	Science Citation Index Expanded
Developer	Eugene Garfield
Producer	Clarivate
Language	English
Disciplines	Science, technology, medicine
Format	Bibliographic database, citation index

Science Citation Index Expanded. It is a multidisciplinary citation index of scientific journals, forming the core of the Web of Science platform. Originally developed from the print Science Citation Index by Eugene Garfield and his company Institute for Scientific Information, it is now produced and maintained by Clarivate. The database enables researchers to track citation relationships between scholarly articles across a vast array of scientific disciplines.

Overview

The index serves as a foundational tool for bibliometrics and scientometrics, allowing for the analysis of publication and citation patterns. It is integral to the Web of Science Core Collection, which also includes the Social Sciences Citation Index and the Arts & Humanities Citation Index. Access is typically provided through institutional subscriptions to platforms like the Web of Science or legacy systems such as Dialog. The data within it underpins many analytical products, including the annual Journal Citation Reports and its associated Impact factor.

History and development

The origins trace back to the pioneering work of Eugene Garfield, who founded the Institute for Scientific Information in the 1960s. The original print Science Citation Index was launched to systematically map the connections between scientific literature. With the advent of digital technology, this was expanded into an electronic version, significantly increasing its scope. The Institute for Scientific Information was later acquired by Thomson Reuters, and the intellectual property and database operations were subsequently spun off into the independent company Clarivate.

Coverage and selection process

The index selectively covers over 9,200 of the world's most influential journals across more than 150 scientific disciplines, from astronomy to zoology. The journal selection process is managed by the Clarivate editorial team, which employs a set of criteria including citation analysis, publishing standards, and international diversity. This rigorous evaluation, often compared to the process used for the Social Sciences Citation Index, aims to include only the most significant and consistently high-quality publications. Coverage extends to major journals published by organizations like Elsevier, Springer Nature, and Wiley.

Impact and use in research evaluation

Data from this source is extensively used in academic and research evaluation worldwide. It is a primary data source for calculating the Impact factor, a metric published in the Journal Citation Reports. Universities, funding bodies like the National Institutes of Health, and government agencies often use publication and citation counts derived from the index to assess research performance. This practice is particularly prevalent in countries like the United Kingdom during the Research Excellence Framework and in nations following similar evaluation models.

Related products and databases

It is a central component of the broader Web of Science platform. Related Clarivate products include the Social Sciences Citation Index, the Arts & Humanities Citation Index, and the Emerging Sources Citation Index. For specialized chemical research, the CAS registry is a key complementary resource. Other major competing bibliographic databases include Scopus, maintained by Elsevier, and the freely accessible PubMed database from the National Library of Medicine.

Criticism and limitations

Critics, including scholars in the field of bibliometrics, argue that the journal selection process exhibits a Anglophone and Western bias, underrepresenting research from the Global South. The predominant use of its data for metrics like the Impact factor has been widely criticized, with initiatives like the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment advocating for reduced reliance on such indicators. Furthermore, its coverage is not exhaustive, leading to comparisons with more comprehensive databases like Scopus or the open-source OpenAlex project.

Category:Bibliographic databases Category:Bibliometrics Category:Scientific literature