silent changes in WoS

Mon Feb 9 11:25:32 EST 2009

Dear All!

I want to draw again your attention to the changes in document type in 
WoS (“articles” converted in “proceedings papers”) and their possible 
consequences for the JCR-metrics and other bibliometric analyses (as 
Vladimir has highlighted and I was exposing in my last entry, see below).
We would be very grateful receiving some feedback from our Thomson 
colleagues and getting informed if these changes are permanent.
Additionally, we would appreciate receiving some information about which 
corrections will be made calculating Impact Factors and other 
bibliometric indicators in the new issue of JCR (including or not the 
Proceedings and how).

Greetings from Vienna!
Juan

Juan Gorraiz schrieb:
> 
> 
> Many regular journals are publishing “proceedings papers” in special 
> issues. If these papers were considered before as “articles” and have 
> been consequently changed to “proceedings papers”, there may be changes 
> in the JCR Metrics! If they were not changed, they are differently 
> processed from the other proceedings publications!
> 
> JCR Metrics is perhaps not so strongly influenced but a lot of analyses 
> performed by users (and considering the category “articles”) may not be 
> anymore reproducible and so lacking of scientific character.
> 
> Another problem is how the JCR Metrics will be defined in the future, 
> including or not the Proceedings. However, as we already reported, 
> citations coming from some Proceedings (for example Proceedings of the 
> IEEE and some other Series) were always (!) considered calculating the 
> Impact Factor of the core Journals but not consequently (only citations 
> from “some” issues indexed in WoS).
> Now, there is an opportunity to consider consequently all the citations 
> coming from the Proceedings. But this is also a controversial subject: 
> Is then the selection criteria (used to define the core ISI-journals) 
> also valid for the Proceedings (even if they never before had IFs)?
> 
> Kind regards
> Juan
> 
> 
> 
> 
> **********************************************
> 
> 
> Vladimir Pislyakov schrieb:
>> Adminstrative info for SIGMETRICS (for example unsubscribe):
>> http://web.utk.edu/~gwhitney/sigmetrics.html
>>
>> It is interesting what Thomson will make with the next edition of JCR, 
>> when
>> it appears in June. Either they should change the text of methodology 
>> of IF
>> calculations (add "Proceedings papers" to the citable items), or IFs will
>> loose their continuity from 2007 to 2008 (e.g. some of the 2006 papers 
>> will
>> be "citable" in 2007 IFs and non-citable in 2008 IFs calculations). It is
>> especially important for journals with high share of "proceedings 
>> papers".
>>
>> Somehow, the change to the WoS content is rather important (e.g. many 
>> of us,
>> I suppose, limit their investigations to this or that document type), 
>> so it
>> is natural to expect a clear and detailed explanation from Thomson what's
>> going on and what will be in the future.
>>
>> Kind regards,
>> Vladimir
>>
>> Vladimir Pislyakov Assistant Director for Electronic Resources 
>> Management Higher School of Economics Library 20 Myasnitskaya street 
>> Moscow, 101000 Russia Tel.: +7 (495) 6213785
>> Fax: +7 (495) 6287931
>> E-mail: pislyakov at hse.ru URL: http://library.hse.ru
>>
>>
>> =============
>> On Thu, 5 Feb 2009 15:23:34 +0000, Craig, Iain - Oxford
>> <iain.craig at WILEY.COM> wrote:
>>
>>> Adminstrative info for SIGMETRICS (for example unsubscribe):
>>> http://web.utk.edu/~gwhitney/sigmetrics.html
>>>
>>> From what I can see, the number of citable items doesn't change;
>> proceedings papers are now being added to the numbers of articles and
>> reviews. So the net effect on JCR metrics should be neutral.
>>> Iain
>>>
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: ASIS&T Special Interest Group on Metrics
>> [mailto:SIGMETRICS at LISTSERV.UTK.EDU] On Behalf Of Juan Gorraiz
>>> Sent: 05 February 2009 15:04
>>> To: SIGMETRICS at LISTSERV.UTK.EDU
>>> Subject: Re: [SIGMETRICS] silent changes in WoS
>>>
>>> Adminstrative info for SIGMETRICS (for example unsubscribe):
>>> http://web.utk.edu/~gwhitney/sigmetrics.html
>>>
>>> Dear Vladimir,
>>>
>>> this is not only an ususual thing, but a very sensititive issue!
>>> The value of many indicators based on number of articles (like Impact
>>> Factor, etc) may then change abruptly!!!
>>>
>>> Kind regards,
>>> Juan
>>>
>>> **********************************************
>>> Dr. Juan Gorraiz
>>> University of Vienna
>>> Library and archive services
>>> Bibliometrics Department
>>> Boltzmanngasse 5
>>> A-1090 Wien
>>>
>>> Tel.:
>>> +43-1-4277-27609
>>> +43-66460277-27609
>>> Fax:
>>> +43-1-4277-27650
>>> mailto:
>>> juan.gorraiz at univie.ac.at
>>> **********************************************
>>>
>>> http://personalabteilung.univie.ac.at/index.php?id=10896
>>> Vladimir Pislyakov schrieb:
>>>> Adminstrative info for SIGMETRICS (for example unsubscribe):
>>>> http://web.utk.edu/~gwhitney/sigmetrics.html
>>>>
>>>> Dear Iain,
>>>>
>>>> Thank you, I tried to test it on several years and this method seems to
>>>> produce results very close to the figures obtained earlier. It means 
>>>> that in
>>>> October 2008 about 12% of "Articles" changed their document type to
>>>> "Proceedings Paper", unusual thing.
>>>>
>>>> Kind regards,
>>>> Vladimir
>>>>
>>>> Vladimir Pislyakov
>>>> Assistant Director for Electronic Resources Management
>>>> Higher School of Economics Library
>>>> 20 Myasnitskaya street
>>>> Moscow, 101000
>>>> Russia
>>>> Tel.: +7 (495) 6213785
>>>> Fax: +7 (495) 6287931
>>>> E-mail: pislyakov at hse.ru
>>>> URL: http://library.hse.ru
>>>>
>>>> ===============
>>>> On Thu, 5 Feb 2009 12:40:29 +0000, Craig, Iain - Oxford
>>>> <iain.craig at WILEY.COM> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Adminstrative info for SIGMETRICS (for example unsubscribe):
>>>>> http://web.utk.edu/~gwhitney/sigmetrics.html
>>>>>
>>>>> Dear Vladimir
>>>>>
>>>>> If you extend your search to include document type = proceedings 
>>>>> papers,
>>>> you should recover your missing papers.
>>>>> With best wishes
>>>>>
>>>>> Iain
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> Iain Craig
>>>>> Research & Analysis Group
>>>>>
>>>>> Wiley-Blackwell
>>>>> John Wiley & Sons Ltd
>>>>> 9600 Garsington Road
>>>>> Oxford, OX4 2DQ
>>>>> United Kingdom
>>>>>
>>>>> E-mail: iain.craig at wiley.com
>>>>> Phone: +44 (0)1865 476301
>>>>>
>>>>> -----Original Message-----
>>>>> From: ASIS&T Special Interest Group on Metrics
>>>> [mailto:SIGMETRICS at LISTSERV.UTK.EDU] On Behalf Of Vladimir Pislyakov
>>>>> Sent: 05 February 2009 11:38
>>>>> To: SIGMETRICS at LISTSERV.UTK.EDU
>>>>> Subject: [SIGMETRICS] silent changes in WoS
>>>>>
>>>>> Adminstrative info for SIGMETRICS (for example unsubscribe):
>>>>> http://web.utk.edu/~gwhitney/sigmetrics.html
>>>>>
>>>>> Dear colleagues,
>>>>>
>>>>> Have anyone noticed changes of the publication indicators in the 
>>>>> Web of
>>>>> Science databases when they transformed "ISI Proceedings" into 
>>>>> "Conference
>>>>> Proceedings Citation Index" (now a part of the WoS)?
>>>>>
>>>>> For example. Before this transformation, in September 2008, we counted
>>>>> number of Russian papers of the type "Article" published in 2006 
>>>>> (in SCIE
>>>>> and SSCI databases). It was 23367. After that, in November 
>>>>> (transformation
>>>>> of the Proceeedings took place in the middle of October) the same 
>>>>> search
>>>>> produced a much smaller figure. Now the same search string
>>>>>
>>>>> (CU=Russia) AND (PY=2006) AND Document Type=(Article)
>>>>>
>>>>> produces just 20601 documents.
>>>>>
>>>>> It may be suggested that some of the documents have changed their 
>>>>> "Document
>>>>> Type" field in the process of merging of new Proceedings Index, and so
>>>>> "Articles" got some other type.
>>>>>
>>>>> It is very sad for us, because every year we publish in print 
>>>>> statistics on
>>>>> Russian publication output by document types and these changes 
>>>>> result in the
>>>>> loss of coherence of our yearly data. Have someone else confronted 
>>>>> these
>>>>> silent changes in WoS? Is there any way to overcome these 
>>>>> inconsistencies?
>>>>> There is even no note on WoK platfrom regarding these changes.
>>>>>
>>>>> Vladimir Pislyakov
>>>>> Assistant Director for Electronic Resources Management
>>>>> Higher School of Economics Library
>>>>> 20 Myasnitskaya street
>>>>> Moscow, 101000
>>>>> Russia
>>>>> Tel.: +7 (495) 6213785
>>>>> Fax: +7 (495) 6287931
>>>>> E-mail: pislyakov at hse.ru
>>>>> URL: http://library.hse.ru
>>>>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 
>>
>>>>> This email (and any attachment) is confidential, may be legally 
>>>>> privileged
>>>> and is intended solely for the
>>>>> use of the individual or entity to whom it is addressed. If you are 
>>>>> not the
>>>> intended recipient please do
>>>>> not disclose, copy or take any action in reliance on it. If you have
>>>> received this message in error please
>>>>> tell us by reply and delete all copies on your system.
>>>>>
>>>>> Although this email has been scanned for viruses you should rely on 
>>>>> your
>>>> own virus check as the sender
>>>>> accepts no liability for any damage arising out of any bug or virus
>>>> infection. Please note that email
>>>>> traffic data may be monitored and that emails may be viewed for 
>>>>> security
>>>> reasons.
>>>>> Blackwell Publishing Limited is a private limited company 
>>>>> registered in
>>>> England with registered number 180277.
>>>>> Registered office address: The Atrium, Southern Gate, Chichester, West
>>>> Sussex, PO19 8SQ.
>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 
>>
>>>
>>> -- 
>>> **********************************************
>>> Dr. Juan Gorraiz
>>>
>>> University of Vienna
>>> Library and archive services
>>> Bibliometrics Department
>>>
>>> Boltzmanngasse 5
>>> A-1090 Wien
>>>
>>> Tel.:
>>> +43-1-4277-27609
>>> +43-66460277-27609
>>> Fax:
>>> +43-1-4277-27650
>>> mailto:
>>> juan.gorraiz at univie.ac.at
>>> **********************************************
>>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 
>>>
>>> This email (and any attachment) is confidential, may be legally 
>>> privileged
>> and is intended solely for the
>>> use of the individual or entity to whom it is addressed. If you are 
>>> not the
>> intended recipient please do
>>> not disclose, copy or take any action in reliance on it. If you have
>> received this message in error please
>>> tell us by reply and delete all copies on your system.
>>>
>>> Although this email has been scanned for viruses you should rely on your
>> own virus check as the sender
>>> accepts no liability for any damage arising out of any bug or virus
>> infection. Please note that email
>>> traffic data may be monitored and that emails may be viewed for security
>> reasons.
>>> Blackwell Publishing Limited is a private limited company registered in
>> England with registered number 180277.
>>> Registered office address: The Atrium, Southern Gate, Chichester, West
>> Sussex, PO19 8SQ.
>>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 
>>>
>>
> 
> 