Why has the number of articles in Web of Science gone down?
Why has the number of articles in Web of Science gone down, while the number of proceedings papers has gone up?
Our recent addition of the Conference Proceedings Citation Indexes to Web of Science has caused a number of changes beyond the basic added value of creating a more complete citation universe for search and discovery. Here we explain the reasons for this change, and provide a method by which researchers can obtain the same search results as they did previously.
What has changed?
- A 'Proceedings Paper' in Web of Science is a document in a journal or book that notes the work was presented - in whole or in part - at a conference. This is a statement of the association of a work with a conference. Prior to October 2008, these items displayed as Article in the Web of Science product.
- These records have also been included in our Proceedings product, with the document type Proceedings Paper, since all of the documents covered in the proceedings product are in fact papers presented at conferences. Our Proceedings product has also included detailed information about the conference location and sponsor.
- In October 2008, the two proceedings citation indexes that formerly constituted the ISI Proceedings product were merged into Web of Science as two editions. Now, all materials in any Web of Science edition identified with a specific conference are given the document type proceedings paper to note this association. All entitled Web of Science users now benefit from the additional conference information these records contain. Note that we are not in any way commenting on the scholarly status of these documents in making this designation.
This change only applies to searches in Web of Science. We have worked carefully to minimize the effects in other Thomson Reuters products. There is no effect, for example, on the denominator of the Journal Impact Factor. In Journal Citation Reports, proceedings papers have always been included in the count of articles in the denominator of the JIF calculation.
How can I obtain results consistent with those obtained before the change?
- Web of Science users with only three editions (SCIE, SSCI, A&HCI) will find that a search that is limited to “Article” will now retrieve fewer records than it did before. To perform a comparable search the users must now extend the search limits to both Article and Proceedings Paper. Note: To select more than one document type press the Ctrl key (Windows) or the Command key (Macintosh) as you click each item.
- Web of Science users who have access to the Conference Proceedings Citation Index Editions (CPCI-S, CPCI-SSH) can exclude the added Proceedings records by de-selecting the Conference Proceedings Citation Index Editions from the search. Including these editions, of course, will provide a more robust set of search results.
Further information
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