Citation Searching  

Citation Searching refers to searching for articles that have cited an older publication.

Citations can be traced through the use of several tools that are available on the market. 
The three primary tools are Web of Knowledge, Scopus and Google Scholar. 

• Web of Knowledge:  (about)  Contains the three citation indexes that have existed since the early 1960s:
              Arts & Humanities Citation Index - Indexes over 1,300 journals.
              Science Citation Index - Indexes over 6,650 journals.
              Social Science Citation Index - Indexes over 1,700 journals.
   
• Google Scholar:  Another useful option for citation search, but one that is an anomaly in the
  library profession.  While it tracks citations for articles from both books and articles, the folks
  at Google do not share the list of what vendors are involved in the project and so librarians
  cannot tell with any certainty just what it is searching.  
        Links to articles about Google Scholar's coverage are below:
                  Peter's Digital Reference Shelf
                  Google Scholar Duped and deduped -  the aura of robometrics.  (pre-print version)
                   Jasco, Peter.  (2011)  Online Information Review.  35(1), pp. 154-160.
    
• Scopus:  (about)  is not available at the Sprague Library.
  The nearest library that currently subscribes is the Van Houten Library at NJIT.
  Tracks citations in over 18,000 publications, over half of which are from Europe, Latin America and Asia.
  Over two thirds of the coverage is in the hard sciences, with the remainder being in the social sciences
  and psychology.

The citation indexes are strongest in the sciences with Scopus including over 12,000 science and medicine titles and Science Citation Index over 6,100 titles.  Coverage in other fields is markedly less comprehensive.  In the social sciences Scopus covers around 2,700 titles and Social Sciences Citation Index covers around 1,700 titles.  Arts & Humanities Citation Index includes approximately 1,300 publications and is the only tool for tracking citations in those fields.

Suggestions for additions to the guide, ways to make it clearer or for new resources that would add to the depth of the library's collection are welcome.

-Tom Trone and William Vincenti

Reference Desk:  973-655-4291

Resources that rank the importance of journals in their fields of study.