Quantitative Science Studies (Feb 2020)

Web of Science as a data source for research on scientific and scholarly activity

  • Birkle, Caroline,
  • Pendlebury, David A.,
  • Schnell, Joshua,
  • Adams, Jonathan

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1162/qss_a_00018
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 1, no. 1
pp. 363 – 376

Abstract

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Web of Science (WoS) is the world’s oldest, most widely used and authoritative database of research publications and citations. Based on the Science Citation Index, founded by Eugene Garfield in 1964, it has expanded its selective, balanced, and complete coverage of the world’s leading research to cover around 34,000 journals today. A wide range of use cases are supported by WoS from daily search and discovery by researchers worldwide through to the supply of analytical data sets and the provision of specialized access to raw data for bibliometric partners. A long- and well-established network of such partners enables the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI) to continue to work closely with bibliometric groups around the world to the benefit of both the community and the services that the company provides to researchers and analysts.