Essential Tools and Resources for Researchers: Author Impact

An online citation index database launched by Clarivate Analytics in 1997, this Web of Science (with SCIE and SSCI) database covers high-quality journals, conference papers, and books in natural and social sciences, arts, and humanities that matches your interests. It links citations to explore subject connections between articles by experts in your field.

• Science Citation Index Expanded (SCIE)

Over 9,000 journals in science and technology across 150 topics.

• Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI)

Over 3,300 social science journals with relevant items from 3,300 tech journals across 50 topics.

WOS can help identify Author Impact Factor:

● Number of publications

● Number of citations

● Researchers of the citations

● Performance in relation to number of citations (h-index)

How to use the WOS

• Step 1: Go to the NCHU Library homepage
• Step 2: At the bottom of the page, select the target database: SCIE (sciences) or SSCI (socials)

• Step 3: Complete authentication on the NCHU library Discovery System to sign in

• Step 4: Log in to WOS to query with the topic, author, publication, affiliation, sponsor or author ID code, PubMed ID, etc.

★To find impact factor data on number of publications, citations, and citing researchers, query the author as follows:

• Step 1: Enter author’s first name and initials
• Step 2: Click “Research Domain” for the discipline
• Step 3: Click “Select Institution” for the affiliation at the time of publication and click “Initiate Search” for the impact factor

The author can be identified with their Researcher ID or ORCID.

The WOS interface provides an “Analyze Results” option to parse by year of publication, type of document, author, source title, country or region, etc. as well as to understand the citation status and similar researchers. The results in visual charts can be exported or downloaded for data analysis to help determine topic of focus, prominent authors and institutions, journals, year of publication, etc.

h-index, a qualitative metric reflecting an author or department’s overall publication performance:

• The h-index is based on a list of publications in descending order of times cited, with highest at the top and lowest at the bottom, which indicate the number (h) of articles cited at least h times.
• The h-index is a simple evaluator, the mean value of which is easily affected by extreme values, and is able to reflect the performance of multiple articles.
• The WOS has a “Create Citation Report” function for up to 1,000 records on total publications, h-index, sum of times cited, articles, and number of citations by year.
• A step-by-step guide to finding the h-index in the WOS:
  1. Step 1: Select the target discipline: SCIE (sciences) or SSCI (socials)
  2. Step 2: Select “Organization – Enhanced” in the drop-down menu and abbreviate the institution in the search bar (e.g., yale univ) → choose “Author” in the drop-down menu and abbreviate the author (e.g., Park, Han-A) → Click “Search”
  3. Step 3: Create a citation report for further analysis. Note: Must be under 10,000 records.
  4. Step 4: The screenshot below shows 16 articles cited 386 times. The line graph shows the average citations per year, and the h-index can evaluate individual research performance (6 means at least 6 articles were each cited at least 6 times).

Library Instruction Sessions

To support faculty teaching and student research, the Library organizes multiple instruction sessions every semester on database lectures, academic writing workshops, special seminars, etc.

• How do I search for available courses?

Go to Links on the NCHU Library homepage and click Library Instruction Services

• How do I download lecture notes?

Click “Download Lecture Notes” to download course materials

★Digital Learning Resource Platform

The Library has created a Digital Learning Resource Platform with instant access to guides, instruction sessions/services, databases, lectures, and computer software classes for acquiring new knowledge to your heart’s content anywhere. We invite you to try it out online!

Essential Tools and Resources for Researchers: Journal Impact

Journal Citation Reports systematically and objectively evaluate the world’s leading journals by compiling and tabulating citation and article counts from natural and social sciences. By capturing references, JCR compares impact factors within a discipline and shows the relationship between citing and cited journals, the ranking of which evaluates research performance.

JCR can help compare and identify key Journal Impact Factor:

The updated JCR has a brand-new interface that significantly enhances the transparency of JIF and other indicators, which improves interpretation with a complete performance overview, a unique analytical perspective, and abundant details.

★Use JCR

• Step 1: Go to the NCHU Library homepage

• Step 2: At the bottom of the homepage, select the target database (JCR)
• Step 3: Complete authentication on the E-Resources System to sign in

• Step 4: Log in to JCR

JIF is the most common JCR metric to identify the average frequency of citations in a given year, which can evaluate or compare with others in the same field or determine journals for your collection.

Calculate JIF: The average number of citations of an article published within the previous 2 years.
Purpose: The JIF of articles within the previous 2 years.

The section below is on how to find the JIF and journal rankings in a specific field:

★ Find JIF

The following are 2 methods on finding JIF:

Method 1: JCR database

1. 1. Enter JCR, click “Browse by Journal”, “Go to Journal Profile” (top left), and input the name or ISSN.
   2. Key indicators will be presented. Click All Years to see past JIF, 5 Year JIF, and other indicators. In the screenshot, Nature had a JIF of 42.778 and a 5 Year JIF of 46.486 in 2019.
   3. Click Rank at the bottom of the page to see JIF rankings in one discipline each year. In the screenshot, Nature ranked No. 1 among 71 journals and was placed in the first quartile (Q1), which is the top 25%, while Q2 is top 25%–50%, and so forth until Q4.

Method 2: e-Journals via the NCHU Library Homepage

• Enter the name or ISSN, click “Impact Index” under Remarks. The JIF will show when using JCR.
• Or select a department to see a list of suitable journals and click “Impact Index” under Remarks.

Find rankings in a specific domain

1. Go to JCR, click “Browse by Category”

2. Select JCR Year, Categories, and “Submit” to search.

3. Click “Journals by Rank” to see JIF rankings.

Find the Immediacy Index

The Immediacy Index measures the speed of citations within the first year of publication for evaluating journals with cutting-edge research or to ascertain popular journals in a domain. A high immediacy index indicates high visibility in the first year.

Click “Browse by Journal” in JCR, “Go to Journal Profile” (top left), and enter the name or ISSN for key indicators. Click “All Years” to see past Immediacy Index.

In the screenshot, Nature had an Immediacy Index of 9.687 in 2019, which means it was cited 9,687 times.

Find Citing/Cited Half-life

Citing Half-Life measures the years that account for 50% of total citations in the current year, from which the Cited Half-Life (age of articles) is determined and ensures a prolonged impact of papers on peers.

Click “Browse by Journal” in JCR, “Go to Journal Profile” (top left), and input the name or ISSN. Key indicators will be presented. Click “All Years” to see past journal’s Citing/Cited Half-Life.

Essential Tools and Resources for Researchers: findMyJournal, a selection tool

The publication of hard-earned findings in an authoritative journal with high visibility that matches the research topic is extremely crucial. findMyJournal has over 29,000 journals on a wide range of topics to help select the most suitable one to submit first with best matches and features listed after a brief search.

findMyJournal can help quickly find the best suited journals for you:

• Its wide range of research domains are as follows:

1. Medicine—Approximately 9,000 journals over 1,800 subdomains.
2. Life Science—Approximately 11,000 journals over 900 subdomains.
3. Physics—Approximately 9,000 journals over 600 subdomains.

• Key publishers: Elsevier, Springer, Wiley, Sage, and Taylor & Francis.
• Indexed databases: Web of Science, Scopus, and PubMed