General Guide
THE LIBRARY
www.salford.ac.uk/library
Bibliometrics
Bibliometrics is a term used to describe the statistical analysis of the impact of
research; bibliometric methods can be used to measure the impact of an academic
journal article, the impact of a group of researchers, or the impact of a field of
research. Most typically, bibliometrics are used to analyse the number of citations a
journal article receives in subsequent articles, thus indicating the impact the original
article had on future research in that field.
The most common bibliometric methods are:
o
Citation analysis – examines how often an academic paper has been cited in
future papers.
o
H-index (Hirsch number) - is a graph based on the set of a researcher's most
cited papers and the number of citations each has received in other papers.
o
Impact factor - measures the number of citations to academic journals and is
used to indicate the importance of a journal to its field.
At Salford we subscribe to the two main databases that provide bibliometric data:
Web of Knowledge and Scopus. This is a guide to using those databases.
Access
To access either database:
o
Go to the Student Channel at http://students.salford.ac.uk/
o
Click the SOLAR Library Search link (listed under Web/ICT Resources).
o
Click the Databases link at the top of the screen.
Type in the name of the
database you want, then
click the Find databases
button.
Web of Science
Web of Science
The basic Search screen will allow you to find bibliometric information for an author
based on citations indexed within the ‘Web of Science’ database.
Type in the author’s name followed
by initials, or if you are unsure of the
second initial use *, e.g. Craig P*
Select Author from the
menu, then click Search.
A list of articles for all authors with names matching your search will be displayed.
Use the options in the panel on the lefthand side of
the screen to narrow your results, for example, by
research area or by the author’s institution.
Tick the boxes you want, then click Refine.
A set of records that are likely to have been written by your author will be displayed. You may
Collaborative Research
need to use the Refine Results options again to ensure you have the correct results.
You can also use ‘Web of Science’ to search for bibliometric data on two or more
When you are confident you have
retrieved the correct set of results
click the Create Citation Report link.
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Web of Science
The Citation report analyses the articles in the set you have retrieved.
Graphs are displayed for the last 20 years for the number of articles published and the number of
citations received per year.
In this example the author’s h-index is 31.
This means that 31 articles (in this set of
results) have been cited at least 31 times
each.
A table showing a breakdown of the number citations per article
per year is displayed. Click the arrow to see earlier years’ results.
Collaborative Research
You can also use ‘Web of Science’ to search for bibliometric data on two or more
researchers working together. Start at the Basic Search screen (see p.2).
Click the Add Another Field link.
You can add more than one.
Type in the authors’ names, change the menus to
Author and click Search.
Use the Refine Results options (as described above) until you are satisfied you have the
correct set of results, then click the Create Citation Report link.
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Web of Science
Cited Reference Search
The Citation Report generated from the basic search (i.e. pp.2-4) reflects only those
items indexed within ‘Web of Science’. To include citations to articles not indexed within
‘Web of Science’ you need to use a Cited Reference Search.
Select Cited Reference Search
from the menu.
Type in the author’s name.
Put in the title of the journal (if required). You must use the
abbreviated title, so first click View abbreviation list and
browse to find the journal title you want.
Click Search.
If you wish to see the articles that have cited this paper, tick the ones you want
(in this example, the 1996 article), then click the Finish Search button.
Note: these duplicate records appear on the
database because the article was incorrectly
cited in subsequent papers – in these cases the
page numbers and/or year are wrong.
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A View Record link means
this article is fully indexed in
Web of Science – and that
this citation is correct.
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Web of Science
Journal Citation Reports
Journal Citation Reports is a comprehensive resource that allows you to evaluate and
compare journals using citation data drawn from over 10,000 scholarly and technical
journals, which includes virtually all areas of science, technology, and social sciences.
Journal Citation Reports can show you the:
o
most frequently cited journals in a field.
o
highest impact journals in a field.
o
largest journals in a field.
It is useful tool to help you decide which journals you could submit your paper to, for
maximum impact.
Caution
You should not depend solely on citation data in your journal evaluations. Citation data is
not meant to replace informed peer review. Careful attention should be paid to the many
conditions that can influence citation rates such as language, journal history and format,
publication schedule, and subject specialty.
For more information see the section “Using Journal Citation Reports Wisely”, which is
available through the “Information for New Users” link once in Journal Citation Reports.
Click the Journal Citation Reports
link at the top of the screen.
Choose the broad subject area you want, and the
year, if you want the data from an earlier year.
Click the SUBMIT button.
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Web of Science
Select your subject area. To choose more than
one hold down the Ctrl key while you click.
Select View Journal Data, and
Journal Title from the menu.
Click SUBMIT.
A list of journals in your chosen subject area(s) will be displayed, in
alphabetical order. To find the highest impact titles, select Impact Factor
from the menu and click SORT AGAIN.
For more information about any journal click its title link.
This will take you a detailed breakdown of information, such as the journal’s Impact Factor, Immediacy
Index and Cited Half-life – and explains what each of these means and how it is calculated.
Remember:
Journal Citation Reports only assesses the impact of a journal, not the impact of
individual articles within that journal or of individual authors. However, in the case of
highly specialised journals, it can help indicate the impact of the field of research covered
by that journal.
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Scopus
Scopus
Scopus provides bibliometric data in a similar manner to Web of Science. The main
differences between the two databases are:
o
o
Subject coverage. Both databases cover science subjects extensively; Scopus
indexes more journals in the fields of business, management and related disciplines,
and Web of Science has better coverage of arts and humanities areas.
Timespan. Citation data in Web of Science is from 1900 onwards; in Scopus it is from
1995 onwards.
See: Appraisal of Citation Data Sources : a report to HEFCE by the Centre for Science
and Technology Studies, Leiden University, 2008,
http://www.hefce.ac.uk/pubs/rereports/year/2008/citationdatasources/
for a detailed comparison of the two databases.
Scopus : Citation Overview
Access ‘Scopus’ following the instructions on p.1 of this guide or go to: www.scopus.com
1. Click the Author search tab.
2. Type the author’s
surname and initials
in the boxes.
3. Type the affiliated
institution (a keyword is
enough).
5. Click the
search button.
4. If you wish you can limit your search by subject
area. Hover your mouse over each to see more
detailed information about subject coverage.
6. Matching authors will be displayed.
Tick the box(es) for the ones you want.
7. Click the View citation overview link.
Scopus
The table shows the most recent years’
citations. To extend the display to earlier
years select from the menus.
Use either of these checkboxes if you want to remove
self-citations from the data.
Remember that in highly specialised fields, self-citation
may be inevitable as there are so few researching in that
area that collaboration may be essential.
The author’s h-index.
Click the h-graph button for
a chart displaying this.
Click any of the blue numbers
for a list of the citing articles.
Collaborative Research
You can use ‘Scopus’ to find bibliometric information for two or more researchers working
together.
Click the Document search tab,
then type in the names of your
authors.
Select Authors from the menus.
Click the Add search field link if
you need to search for more
authors.
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Click the search button.
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Scopus
Click this box so that all
the records are ticked.
Click View citation overview.
The report will be displayed as
described on p. 8 of this guide.
Journal Analyzer
Use the Journal Analyzer to compare up to ten Scopus sources on parameters such as
total number of citations, articles published, percentage of articles not cited, and trend
line. (Note that you need to have Adobe Flash Player installed and JavaScript enabled to
use Journal Analyzer.)
On the Scopus homepage click Analyze Journals.
Type in the title of
the journal you
want – note, you
can also search by
ISSN or publisher,
by selecting from
the menu.
Click the Search
button.
A list of matching
titles will be
displayed.
Double-click on
the one you want.
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Scopus
Various analytical graphs for the journal will be displayed.
Use the tabs to see them. For explanations of what each
graph represents, click the About calculations link.
Hover your mouse over
any data point on the
graph to see its value.
Use the Zoom Year
slider to change the
date range displayed.
Click Show info for
information about the journal.
You can compare up to ten journals at a time by following the steps on page 9 and
adding each title to the chart area. Graphs like this will be displayed.
Please note: Information contained in this General Guide was correct at the time of
publication. A more recent version may be available at www.salford.ac.uk/library/userguides/
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