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It is over 50 years since Dr Eugene Garfield envisioned citation indexing tools that would allow researchers to expedite their research process, evaluate the impact of their work, spot scientific trends, and trace the history of modern scientific thoughts. Dr Garfield went on to build a company – ISI (now part of Thomson Reuters) around these ideas.

Here we bring together essays and articles written by Dr. Garfield and other Thomson Reuters staff members, to provide in-depth explanatory information for users of our citation databases and other information tools.

Essays

Citation Analysis

• Expected Citation Rates, Half-Life, and Impact Ratios: Comparing Apples to Apples in Evaluation Research
• Mapping the Precursors of Modern Structural Biology
• Research Fronts
• Scientography: Mapping the Tracks of Science

Citation Indexing

• Fifty years of citation indexing and analysis
• History of Citation Indexing
• Reaction Similarity and Retrieval
• The Concept of Citation Indexing: A Unique and Innovative Tool for Navigating the Research Literature

Journal Citation Reports

• Cited Title Unification
• Journal self-citation in the Journal Citation Reports - Science Edition (2002)
• The Agony and the Ecstasy: the history and the meaning of the Journal Impact Factor
• The Thomson Reuters Impact Factor
• Using the Thomson Reuters Impact Factor

Journal and Web Site Selection Process

• Journal Evaluation and Source Coverage Policies for Biosis Products
• The Globalization of Web of Science
• The Thomson Reuters Journal Selection Process

Use of the Thomson Reuters Citation Database

• Linking Literatures: An Intriguing Use of the Citation Index
• Monitoring Complex Literature: the Advantages of Using a Multidisciplinary Database
• The Application of Citation Indexing to Journals Management
• The Relationship Between Citing and Cited Publications: A Question of Relatedness

Archived essays

• Citation-Based and Descriptor-Based Search Strategies
• From Retrieval to Analysis: How the Article Summary Interface Can Get You There
• Tailoring the Search
• Where Was This Paper Cited?

White Papers

Using Bibliometrics: A Guide to Evaluating Research Performance with Citation Data

"A library faced with collection decisions, a foundation making funding choices, or a government office weighing national research needs must rely on expert analysis of scientific research performance."

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Using Bibliometrics in Evaluating Research

"If you can measure that of which you speak, and can express it by a number, you know something of your subject; but if you cannot measure it, your knowledge is meager and unsatisfactory."
— William Thomson, Lord Kelvin

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