Book Citation Index of Thomson Reuters

[Loet Leydesdorff]

Edited Volumes, Monographs, and Book Chapters in the Book Citation Index
(BCI) and Science Citation Index (SCI, SoSCI, A
<http://arxiv.org/abs/1204.3717> &HCI)


In 2011, Thomson-Reuters introduced the Book Citation Index (BCI) as part of
the Science Citation Index (SCI). The interface of the Web of Science
version 5 enables users to search for both "Books" and "Book Chapters" as
new categories. Books and book chapters, however, were always among the
cited references, and book chapters have been included in the database since
2005. We explore the two categories with both BCI and SCI, and in the sister
databases for the social sciences (SoSCI) and the arts and humanities
(A&HCI). Book chapters in edited volumes can be highly cited. Books contain
many citing references, but are relatively less cited. We suggest that this
may find its origin in the slower circulation of books then of journal
articles. It is possible to distinguish scientometrically between monographs
and edited volumes among the "Books". Monographs may be underrated in terms
of citation impact or overrated using publication performance indicators
because individual chapters are counted separately as contributions in terms
of articles, reviews, and/or book chapters. 

 

Loet Leydesdorff [1] & Ulrike Felt [2]

 

** This is a preprint version of a paper in preparation for the
(forthcoming) inaugural issue of the Journal of Scientometric Research.
Apologies for cross postings.

 

  _____  

[1] Amsterdam School of Communications Research (ASCoR), University of
Amsterdam

[2] Department of Science & Technology Studies, University of Vienna





 

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