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Bibliometrics: How do I find bibliometrics?

Finding bibliometrics

Below, we list some of the key tools you might find useful for finding bibliometrics.  Before using any of these tools, however, make sure you understand the limitations of citation counting, and are aware of how to use bibliometric data responsibly.

Search-tools for tracking citations

Scopus

Scopus is a database for scientific, technical, and medical information, with some limited Arts, Humanities and Social Science content. It indexes over 23,000 journals from over 5,000 publishers, and approx 150,000 books and selected book series.

DMU has a current subscription to Scopus

Caveats and limitations

  • Citation counts are not complete. Only citations to and from publications covered by Scopus (approx 23,000 journals, 150,000 books) are tracked.
  • Coverage is more comprehensive for some subjects (sciences, engineering, medicine) than for others (social sciences and humanities).
  • Secondary sources are not covered as part of the Scopus database. They are references cited by the articles that are covered by Scopus and are not included in most counts or analyses.

How to use Scopus

Online Scopus tutorials include:

Web of Science 

The Web of Science database comprises the Arts & Humanities Citation Index, Social Sciences Citation Index, and Science Citation Index Expanded, and extracts the citation information from the articles. It also includes the newer Emerging Sources Citation Index.

DMU does not have a current subscription to the Web of Science. However, you can register to view a free version of your own researcher profile (previously accessible via Publons) that includes your profile information, peer reviews, grant reviews, editorial board memberships, basic publication metrics, publication and peer review charts.

Caveats and limitations

  • A citation search in Web of Science is not a complete citation search:
  • Only citations to and from approx 20,000 source journals are counted. A very limited number of books and conferences are covered.
  • Subjects are not covered evenly by date; e.g. citation data for science journals generally goes back further than arts and social sciences.
  • Some subject areas are poorly covered, particularly across arts and humanities, and the social sciences.

Google Scholar

Google Scholar consists mainly of scholarly material including journal papers, conference papers, technical reports, theses, pre-prints, post-prints, abstracts and court opinions. Google Scholar also automatically includes scholarly works from Google Book Search.

Google Scholar is free to search and can be used in conjunction with Publish or Perish (PoP) for wider citation analysis. 

Caveats and limitations

Google Scholar's strength is the broad scope of content for both types of publications and disciplines. There is also generally better international and non-English language coverage.

However, counting of citations can sometimes include duplications and errors.

The Google Scholar Metrics page provides more information on what metrics are included.

Publish or Perish - PoP

PoP is a freely available, downloadable software providing enhanced analysis of Google Scholar citation data. It also provides for various sorting (e.g. by author, publication and publisher) and download options (e.g. to Excel).

PoP is free to use

SciVal and InCites (N.B. Not currently subscribed to by DMU)

Tools such as SciVal and InCites harvest data from Scopus and the Web of Science to provide normalised publication metrics for potential benchmarking and collaboration analysis.

Currently DMU does not subscribe to either of these products.

Additional tools

Dimensions (free web app)
Dimensions is a linked data platform developed by Digital Science in collaboration with over 100 leading research organizations around the world. The free version of the database includes access to publication and citation counts only (the grants, policy, patent or clinical trial information are available for subscribers only - not currently subscribed by DMU) and enables users to analyze the academic and broader outcomes of research, and gather insights to inform future strategy.

ImpactStory 
ImpactStory allows you to create a free profile to track traditional (citations) and non-traditional (social media etc.) forms of publication impact. An ORCiD account is needed (click on the padlock for how to get one).

VOSviewer
VOSviewer is a software tool for constructing and visualizing bibliometric networks. These networks may for instance include journals, researchers, or individual publications, and they can be constructed based on citation, bibliographic coupling, co-citation, or co-authorship relations.

Altmetric
Altmetric is a subscription based database (not subscribed at DMU) that provides altmetric data. It has a free bookmarklet that can collect some basic information.

PlumX
PlumX provides metrics for citations, usage, captures, mentions and social media. Their widget is embedded in various open access journals, repositories and can be found in the Scopus database