Science Citation Index

Science Citation Index (SCI) is a bibliographic database that provides a comprehensive citation search. It was originally produced by the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI) and is now maintained by Clarivate Analytics. The database allows researchers to track the citation history of articles and books across many disciplines, including science, technology, and social sciences.

History[edit | edit source]

The Science Citation Index was created by Eugene Garfield, a chemist and information scientist, in the 1960s. Garfield's goal was to create a tool that would simplify the process of literature search and improve the efficiency of scientific communication. The SCI was one of the first databases to use citation indexing, a method that links articles together based on the references they cite.

Functionality[edit | edit source]

The Science Citation Index provides a comprehensive citation search, allowing users to track the citation history of articles and books. It covers a wide range of disciplines, including biology, chemistry, physics, mathematics, engineering, computer science, geology, medicine, psychology, and sociology. The database includes all the citations in the articles it indexes, allowing users to see who has cited a work and how often it has been cited.

Impact[edit | edit source]

The Science Citation Index has had a significant impact on the field of information science and bibliometrics. It has been used to develop the impact factor, a measure of the importance of a journal, and the h-index, a measure of the productivity and impact of a researcher. The SCI has also been used to study the structure and evolution of scientific disciplines, the development of scientific ideas, and the diffusion of scientific knowledge.

Criticism[edit | edit source]

Despite its wide use, the Science Citation Index has been criticized for its focus on English-language and Western journals, its reliance on citation counts as a measure of importance, and its potential for misuse in the evaluation of individual researchers and institutions.

References[edit | edit source]

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