Science Citation Index Expanded

Science Citation Index Expanded (SCIE) is a bibliographic database that indexes scientific articles from a wide range of disciplines. It is produced by Clarivate Analytics, formerly the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI). The SCIE is part of the Web of Science Core Collection, which includes other databases such as the Social Sciences Citation Index and the Arts & Humanities Citation Index.

Overview

The Science Citation Index Expanded provides researchers, administrators, faculty, and students with quick, powerful access to the bibliographic and citation information they need to find research data, analyze trends, journals, and researchers, and share their findings. It covers over 8,500 notable and significant journals, across 150 disciplines, from 1900 to the present. These disciplines include Biomedical Sciences, Physical Sciences, Social Sciences, and Arts & Humanities.

Features

The SCIE offers numerous features to its users. It allows for Citation analysis, a method of measuring the impact of scientific publications. It also provides Cited reference search, which allows users to trace a body of work's influence by tracking all the subsequent articles that cite it. The SCIE also includes a Journal Citation Reports feature, which provides information about the impact factor and ranking of a journal in its field.

Use in Research Evaluation

The Science Citation Index Expanded is widely used in academic evaluation and research assessment. It is used to rank institutions and researchers based on their publication output and citation impact. The SCIE is also used to identify emerging trends in research, track research performance, and benchmark relative performance.

Criticism

Despite its widespread use, the SCIE has been criticized for its potential to skew research priorities and for its focus on English-language publications. Critics argue that the SCIE's emphasis on citation counts can lead to gaming the system, where researchers focus on topics and methods that are likely to generate citations rather than on the intrinsic value of the research.