[Thomson Reuters response to Larsen & von Ins (in press)]

Mon May 3 14:32:41 EDT 2010

Christina,

Correct, the SCIE is not the online version of SCI.  SCI is available in
CDOM format as well as print.  The National Science Indicators file is
based on SCIE data. 

Jim Testa

VP Editorial Development & Publisher Relations

Thomson Reuters

From: ASIS&T Special Interest Group on Metrics
[mailto:SIGMETRICS at LISTSERV.UTK.EDU] On Behalf Of Pikas, Christina K.
Sent: Monday, May 03, 2010 12:32 PM
To: SIGMETRICS at LISTSERV.UTK.EDU
Subject: Re: [SIGMETRICS] [Thomson Reuters response to Larsen & von Ins
(in press)]

Ok. This indicates that I'm not the only one who is confused. I only
have access to the online version, not having licensed a CD-ROM for my
analysis work.

-  Apparently it's not correct to say that SCIE is the online version of
SCI.  Is there an offline batch download or mail-a-hard-drive version of
the SCIE? 

- Do the national labs and others that have locally loaded versions get
the SCI or SCIE?

- You all seriously still PRINT the SCI?  Really? Wow. (not a serious
question)

- Presumably which version you're using makes a huge difference to your
analysis and conclusions - do all authors indicate which they're using
(I know some do)?

- Are the National Science Indicators really using SCI or really using
SCIE? I know some European countries use Thomson Reuters data - are they
all using the same data? All SCI, all SCIE, some of each, no one knows?

Christina Pikas

----

Christina K Pikas

Librarian

The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory

Christina.Pikas at jhuapl.edu

(240) 228 4812 (DC area)

(443) 778 4812 (Baltimore area)

From: ASIS&T Special Interest Group on Metrics
[mailto:SIGMETRICS at listserv.utk.edu] On Behalf Of James Testa
Sent: Monday, May 03, 2010 11:30 AM
To: SIGMETRICS at listserv.utk.edu
Subject: [SIGMETRICS]

This is  in response to The rate of growth in scientific publications
and the decline in coverage provided by Science Citation Index by Peder
Olsesen Larsen and Markus von Inus1. While I strongly agree that
citation indexes should reflect the current trends in the scholarly
publishing community, I must disagree with their findings because they
are not based on accurate data. 

The Authors have derived their figures and conclusions from the SCI
(Science Citation Index), a subset of the SCIE (Science Citation Index
Expanded).  The SCI is intentionally cultivated to be a relatively small
collection of high impact journals and excellent regional journals.  The
SCIE, on the other hand,  is a comprehensive citation index covering all
science journals selected by Thomson Reuters through its Journal
Selection Process.  Additionally, the authors did not take into account
that conference proceedings are indexed primarily in the CPCI
(Conference Proceedings Citation Index), at a rate of nearly 400,000
records from approximately 12,000 conferences each year. 

I have provided a brief commentary that describes and quantifies the
content of the major indexes in the Web of Science. I would invite the
authors and any others who are interested to view it here
<http://community.thomsonreuters.com/t5/Citation-Impact-Center/Web-of-Sc
ience-Coverage-Expansion/ba-p/10663> . I welcome any feedback or further
discussion on the subject. 

1.       Larsen, P.O. and vo Ins, M. "The rate of growth in scientific
publications and the decline of coverage provided by Science Citation
Index."  Scientometrics. Online First, published 10 March 2010.   DOI:
10.1007/s11192-010-0202-z
<http://springerlink.metapress.com/content/2531345r116v3660/?p=e51d977a3
0124382bc1888ab01ee9630&pi=26> 

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
* * *

James Testa
VP Editorial Development & Publisher Relations

Thomson  Reuters

O +1 215 823 1701

F +1 215 387 4214

james.testa at thomsonreuters.com <mailto:kate.stickel at thomsonreuters.com> 
thomsonreuters.com <http://www.thomsonreuters.com/> 
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