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Using large information and citation databases for evaluation. Tefko Saracevic, PhD School of Communication, Information and Library Studies Rutgers University, USA tefko@scils.rutgers.edu http://www.scils.rutgers.edu/~tefko. Full disclosure. I have no connection with Scopus
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Using large information and citation databases for evaluation Tefko Saracevic, PhD School of Communication, Information and Library Studies Rutgers University, USA tefko@scils.rutgers.edu http://www.scils.rutgers.edu/~tefko
Full disclosure • I have no connection with Scopus • But: I am on Scopus Advisory Board & as such have a free password • but I have Scopus access through Rutgers University Library and as Elsevier journal editor • I participated so far at one Scopus Advisory Board meeting (Budapest) and evaluated their product informally over phone conversations • I gave an informal talk about using Scopus at 2006 American Library Association meeting & at Rutgers © Tefko Saracevic
What you can’t find on Scopus Named after: Chiffchaff (Phylloscopus Collybita) a small bird with great navigational skills © Tefko Saracevic
Definition of the central theme to evaluate (verb) to consider or examine something in order to judge its value, quality, importance, extent, condition, or performance © Tefko Saracevic
However … • Evaluation has many components and should use a number of sources • Information & citation databases are a powerful source & tool, but one among a number of others • Very useful • But use with skill & caution! © Tefko Saracevic
Overview of Scopus • Elsevier effort to get into searching • & combining ScienceDirect & Scirus (web searching) • Massive effort & outlay; big marketing • development investment HUGE & undisclosed • Headed by Eefka Smit & a young, mostly Dutch team • global operations: • Headquarters: Amsterdam; marketing: global; indexing: Philippines; computers: Dayton, Ohio, USA • Unveiled in 2004 • new features unveiled constantly – innovative • e.g. mid 2005: added RefWorks; end 2005 Citation tracking; 2006 Author profiling & further analysis tools • Search engine licensed from Fast © Tefko Saracevic
Coverage • Science & technology only, no (or little) humanities • includes Chemistry, Physics, Mathematics, Engineering, Life and Health Sciences, Social Sciences, Psychology, Economics, Biological, Agricultural and Environmental Sciences • Covers some 15,000 journals, 700 proceedings, 600 trade publications, 125 book series, 12.5 mill. patents • Incorporates wall to wall Medline, Embase, Compendex, & many other databases © Tefko Saracevic
Coverage … • Time covered: • Abstracts go back to 1966 • References go back to 1996 • While having gaps, coverage seems more comprehensive than any other single database • Also incorporates web search via Scirus • 200 mill. web sources • Also strong in non-English & developing country sources • More than 60% of titles are from countries other than the US © Tefko Saracevic
Overview of other databases- for a few comparisons • Web of Science (WoS) • Coverage: science, technology, humanities • origin in three citation databases • Science Citation Index (SCI), Social Science Citation Index (SSCI), Arts & Humanities Citation Index (AHCI) • at Rutgers coverage only 1994-present - pricing reason - with some 8,000 journals, plus patents & other databases – only this accessible to me • DIALOG • a very large supermarket – some 900 databases (db) in every field and area, including citation indexes • Citation db coverage: SCI 1974- ; SSCI 1972 -; A&H, 1980- • all accessible to me © Tefko Saracevic
Reviews • Comparing Scopus and Web of Science • 2005: http://www.charlestonco.com/comp.cfm?id=43 • 2006: http://www.charlestonco.com/comp.cfm?id=43 • critical of Scopus gaps in coverage, particularly before 1996 • but not clear why comparison of these two services • Scopus does many different things that WoS does not & vice versa • both have citation searching but Scopus has much more • Scopus subject searching is much more comprehensive, WoS citation searching is more comprehensive, but Scopus citation tracking more usable for evaluation © Tefko Saracevic
What can you do? • Subjects search • with many capabilities to limit & modify, rank • Source search – journals, types of sources • Author search with many extensions • – e.g. as to citations to and from • Citation tracking • Integrated with getting full texts with library • Integrated with RefWorks, given library has it • Integrated web search © Tefko Saracevic
What do I do? • Use it as in a variety of roles & evaluations, as a: • researcher • teacher • journal editor • mentor • promotion, tenure, committee member; administrator • tool for keeping current; also: • for finding what and who did I miss • who is leading an area concentrate here with implications © Tefko Saracevic
What do you see? • At first: Lots of features laid out all at once • But, relatively clear interface laying out capabilities • Geared toward fast, intuitive learning & use • and indeed it is relatively easy to learn & use • Results displayed in Last In First Out (LIFO) order, but can be ranked or listed in various ways © Tefko Saracevic
But lets get going …. Live examples from http://www.scopus.com/ user: tsaracevic password: I am not telling or: http://www.libraries.rutgers.edu/ © Tefko Saracevic
Starting … search options © Tefko Saracevic
Use in research and citation tracking • Presently, I have completed but am updating & re-writing a comprehensive review about the notion of relevance in information science • For that: • I did subject searching & identified & evaluated areas of research • I also searched for some key authors and did citation tracking & evaluated contributions & trends • including, of course, a vanity search • then I saved each author or subject search in a list © Tefko Saracevic
Fun part • Had fun tracking those that cited them that cited them … • Eventually got lost in the tracking maze – of course! • Well, lets take a look © Tefko Saracevic
Subject search search selections © Tefko Saracevic
Search results • I found 66 articles about “relevance AND judgment” • then saved them in My List, so I can evaluate, use and update them later • then I found all the citations to the 66 articles • Here is the results page • And then two author examples… © Tefko Saracevic
Searchresults Using options after I got the results © Tefko Saracevic
Following a single author & article • Selected one of the most cited articles: • Saved in list as “Voorhees 2000” and did citation tracking: who cited it? • it was cited 28 times (“Voorhees children”) • then I went on and found 102 articles that cited Voorhees children (“Voorhees grandchildren”) • this way I evaluated impact of an article and spread into various publications and areas • Well, lets take a look © Tefko Saracevic
Selected article various features © Tefko Saracevic
My 11 saved lists after searching& citation tracking I create lists © Tefko Saracevic
Voorhees 2000 I saved in my lists various features © Tefko Saracevic
various features 28 Voorheeschildren © Tefko Saracevic
various features 102 Voorheesgrandchildren © Tefko Saracevic
then… • I selected and viewed the list “Mizzaro citations” to work on them further • selected them all • clicked on citation tracking • and voila! © Tefko Saracevic
Selected them all for citation overview © Tefko Saracevic
Interested in this one © Tefko Saracevic
Follow-up on four articles; Tombros was NEW for me! © Tefko Saracevic
Following a vanity but useful trail • Created a similar list of my own articles • Selected one on interaction & relevance • Who cited it? • Who cited them who cited me? • Discovered a number of previously unknown articles • Well, lets take a look © Tefko Saracevic
Author selection &disambiguation Choice List of all 20 authors last name “Saracevic “– first page © Tefko Saracevic
List of all 5 “Saracevic, T” – all me Author selection &disambiguation List of all 20 authors last name “Saracevic “– second page Choices © Tefko Saracevic
Scopus & I: without self-citations No. of articles in Scopus No. of citations in Scopus This one © Tefko Saracevic
Scopus & I: with self-citations No. of all citations in Scopus 977 all -950 without 27 self © Tefko Saracevic
Web of Science (WoS) • Same subject search “relevance AND judgment” • Same vanity search • Reminder: My access to WoS through Rutgers limited to 1994 – present • Well, lets take a look © Tefko Saracevic
WoS:subject search search selections © Tefko Saracevic
WoS: subject search results search results © Tefko Saracevic
WoS and I: my articles analysis features No. of articles in WoS © Tefko Saracevic
No. of all citations in WoS WoS and I: authors citing me Author citing me most Self citations © Tefko Saracevic
WoS and I: my citations analysis features No. of all citations in WoS © Tefko Saracevic
Dialog • Same vanity search • Reminder: My access to Dialog databases includes whatever years they have: • Citation db coverage: SCI 1974- ; SSCI 1972 -; A&H, 1980- • Dialogweb I use is a command search • powerful but not intuitive at all • needs training or information professional • Well, lets take a look © Tefko Saracevic
Dialog and I: my citations List of databases being searched search command: expand on authors named “saracevic” © Tefko Saracevic
Dialog and I: search process • commands complex, thus screens not shown, except the final result screen • Briefly: • found my articles in all 4 databases (126 articles) • some articles are in more than one db, thus removed duplicates (102 unique articles remained) • found citations to me in all db (1513 citations) • some citations are in more than one db, thus removed duplicates (1084 unique citations remained, but include self citations) • finally, eliminated self citations (1042 citations without self citations) © Tefko Saracevic
S1: no. of articlesin those db S2: no. of articlesafter removing duplicates S3: no. of citationsin those db S4: no. of citationsafter removing duplicates S5: no. of citationsafter removing self citations Dialog and I: search process © Tefko Saracevic
Comparisons of my articles & citations © Tefko Saracevic
Tracking a single article Barry C.L., Schamber L. (1998) Users' criteria for relevance evaluation: A cross-situational comparison Information Processing and Management, 34(2-3), 219-236 • Tracked citations in Scopus • And in Web of Science © Tefko Saracevic
Cited 33 times in Scopus I followed up on the citations – cited even in: Evaluating research for use in practice: What criteria do specialist nurses use? Journal of Advanced Nursing 50 (3), pp. 235-243 © Tefko Saracevic
For Barry & Schamber 1998 article: Scopus: 34 citations Web of Science: 31 citations Oh well … Were they the same articles? Degree of overlap? Overlap: 27 documents (both in Scopus & WoS) Scopus had 7 that WoS did not WoS had 4 that Scopus did not Scopus 34 7 27 4 WoS 31 and the winner is? © Tefko Saracevic