CENTURY OF SCIENCE

Groundbreaking research 1900 - 1944

Why are backfiles so crucial to research? Because they enable you to track past developments...pinpoint key turning points...and determine future directions for your research. Century of ScienceSM delivers.comprehensive backfile and cited reference data from 1900 to 1944. Combined with existing Web of Science™ Core Collection backfiles, this carefully selected and evaluated collection delivers to users the most influential scientific research information from the 20th century.

Backfile data: The foundation for today's knowledge

  • As the new century dawned, MARIE CURIE informed the scientific world of her discoveries of the radioactive elements polonium and radium, and provided the key to a basic change in the way we study matter and energy

  • In 1905 EINSTEIN described the special theory of relativity, and the general theory of relativity ten years later â€.completely overturning previous thought and replacing it with a startling new framework

  • In 1922 FREDERICK BANTING and CHARLES BEST discovered a pancreatic extract insulin” which had antidiabetic characteristics

  • In 1928 SIR ALEXANDER FLEMING observed that colonies of the bacterium Staphylococcus aureus could be destroyed by the mold Penicilium notatum

 

These are just a few of the discoveries from the first half of the twentieth century that caused fundamental shifts in scientific understanding and ushered in new eras of scientific development. But other, less heralded achievements from this era also continue to have a deep impact on research. Until recently, many of the published records of these achievements lie buried in storehouses or restricted collections accessible to few if any researchers.

This wealth of historical research data is now available online via the Century of Science initiative within Web of Science Core Collection.

Over the last two years, nearly 120 Clarivate staff have been dedicated to selecting, finding, and indexing this important research material. The first question was there a demand for this information was clearly answered by Clarivate customers worldwide with a resounding "yes!".

The educated use of citation data:
Discerning which journals should be included in the collection

The second question was tougher: which journals should be included? As Jim Testa, Director of Editorial Development, Clarivate said, "We started with an endless list of journals. The question was, which were the most useful?" The Clarivate editorial team set out to include research that was relevant, significant, and useful to today's researcher. In order to do this, they turned to the most powerful tool within Web of Science Core Collection citation navigation.

"Data does not reveal its truths automatically", added Keith MacGregor Executive Vice President, Scientific and Scholarly Research, Clarivate. "Cited reference searching puts data into context. This makes it an invaluable tool not only for the researcher, but also for the information provider trying to.compile decades of significant research."

Building the collection: A step-by-step process

The first selection criteria were based on citation patterns within the current Web of Science database from 1945 to 2004. Which articles from 1900 to 1944 were highly cited? And in which journals were they published? This initial dataset was.comprised of 200,000 journal items including articles, reports, editorials, reviews, and.commentaries.

Clearly, the content needed further refinement. The next step was to identify the journal items that had at least 50 citations to them and to use this criteria to select the most important journals of the day. This step allowed the editorial team to focus on a collection of 2,000 journals.

"Then, journal title abbreviations were identified and unified. Before the era of government funding and the advent of citation indexing, there were fewer journals being published with less standardization." said Testa. "People would often cite a source cryptically and inexactly because researchers in the field knew their principal source publications well", added Maureen Handel, Manager of Journal Selection, Clarivate. The older the material got, the more the challenges grew. Journal names changed, abbreviations changed, naming conventions varied widely.

The daunting task of identifying journals based on their citations was greatly aided by using Web of Science Core Collection. For example, said Handel, a cited reference search based on the title variant MNRAS reveals that it represents the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. This unification process further narrowed the selection down to approximately 1,500 journals.

A second, article-based dataset was then brought into play, consisting of titles that published at least one article with 100+ citations. After the same unification process, these two datasets were.combined and refined, yielding a dataset of journal titles that published five or more articles with 100+ citations, or that had a total of 1,500+ citations. This was the base for the final selection of highly cited titles.

Beyond citations: Ensuring full geographic and disciplinary coverage

Now, the editorial team had a carefully chosen collection of highly cited journals. But citation patterns only told part of the story. In order to ensure a truly representative and.comprehensive collection, they had to go beyond the journal level beyond the straightforward crunching of numbers to make sure they were including the crucial seminal articles of the time period.

Geographic patterns and a meaningful balance across scientific disciplines were important considerations, as was ensuring that significant articles published in short-lived or otherwise obscure journals, or in journals covering seemingly unrelated disciplines, were included. A good example is the Transactions of the Ophthalmological Society of Australia, which included a critical paper describing the association of infection with German measles in early pregnancy with cataracts and lesions of the newborn's heart.

Since worldwide.communications weren't the standard 100 years ago, what happened in one part of North America or Europe or Asia might not be disseminated outside that region. As the 20th century progressed, English became the language of science but in earlier years, many significant papers only published in regional journals, and were never translated into English. Century of Science staff traveled worldwide to find these journals, and over 30 translators at the Limerick office translated the items into English. The final count over 850,000 items from more than 250 journals. The next challenge how to find these older publications.

Libraries, societies, and publishers: partners behind the scenes

Who was keeping these archives? Where could the information be found? Almost everywhere, it turned out. Valuable yet almost forgotten journals were found in boxes in storage facilities. In renowned libraries' archives. In professional associations' historical files. Thomson's partners immediately saw the value of.compiling and disseminating this backfile data and helped our editorial team retrieve and.compile the information. "Their efforts were key to the success of this massive undertaking, stated MacGregor. "They helped Thomson take valuable research information from scattered archives and rare book collections and turn it into fully indexed, accessible, linked data available for global circulation.

Our global partners include:
  • Temple University
  • University of Pennsylvania
  • Princeton University
  • Trinity College (The University of Dublin)
  • University College Cork
  • Heidelberg College
  • Waseda University
  • The College of Physicians of Philadelphia
  • University of Uppsala
  • Royal Society of Chemistry Library and Information Centre

It was a true mutual.commitment; a mutual effort. For example:

  • Two universities in Ireland Trinity College and University College Cork were especially involved in the retrieval and indexing of material. Graduate students served as photocopiers and translators. Since Trinity College Library in Dublin is the largest library in Ireland and one of five Royal libraries used for deposit of all British and Irish publications, it had rare journals that couldn't be found elsewhere. Some of the material was very rare and leather bound this necessitated additional care and cost.
  • Clarivate staff had to debind issues of Yale University's American Journal of Science, which had i.complete pagination. The journal's editorial staff provided a thorough list of where each plate belonged, so that each journal could be rebound in the correct order.
  • University College Cork was in the process of moving their warehoused archives, but still wanted to participate in this project. Clarivate staff worked with a graduate student assigned to this project to gather the necessary journals and send them to Limerick.

This mutual.commitment of time and effort was facilitated by the.composition of the Clarivate editorial team librarians, scientists, and information specialists' professionals whose interests, knowledge, and values engendered confidence and a trust that these old, rare, and valuable resources would be handled with the care and respect they deserved.

"Our partners kept these meticulous collections for years, and they were pleased that someone was finally going to use them", said Marian Gloninger, Manager, Publisher Relations, Clarivate. "We visited each library to see their collection. We asked them what can we do to help you provide us with this material?" In many cases, we took as much as 45 years of content out of their building, to be shipped to our Limerick office.

The Thomson Limerick office:
built, outfitted, and staffed especially for the Century of Science initiative

The Limerick office and its dedicated Century of Science staff was another factor that encouraged our partners' cooperation. This facility built, outfitted, and staffed especially for this project had a skilled full-time work force of over 100 individuals, as well as an additional 150 part-time employees.

Materials had to be handled specially, explained Gloninger. For instance, the University of Cork in Ireland has hardbound volumes of The Lancet, bound by hand in traditional cork binding. Clarivate funded the preservation of these volumes; debinding them so the information could be scanned, rebound, and fully restored.

"We encountered surprises every day"
As content arrived at Limerick, staff members encountered unexpected challenges. "As meticulous as our normal indexing procedures are, we had to add special procedures for these older archives", said Phil Heller, Publisher Relations and Senior Director, Linkage Business Development, Clarivate. "The production staff was ready to go, but the preparation was extensive. Translating older foreign-language journals. Keeping track of journals that frequently changed their name — or even their language. Countries that changed names."

Translation skills were very important, as bibliographic data was translated from German, French, Russian, Dutch, and Swedish into English. Much of the staff had a scientific background that was critical for properly translating technical data.

Gloninger said: "There was no standardization of publication practices like there is now. We found more bibliographic references per article than expected. Sometimes references were embedded in the articles, sometimes not. How many issues were in a volume? How many articles per issue? Did the table of contents match the actual content?"

"The content came in the door as an unknown. We encountered surprises every day."

 

"A testament to scientific achievement"

The addition of Century of Science material further deepens the content covered in Web of Science, and increases the value of its most powerful search tool — cited reference searching. The Century of Science initiative brings together the modern library and remote storage of archives and rare book collections, and makes the content of both immediately available to researchers worldwide.

Keith MacGregor summed it up aptly: "The breadth, scope and timetable for the project — not to mention the age of the journals — have created many unique challenges. Despite the.complexities, we remain dedicated to this initiative because the end result will be a testament to scientific achievement as well as a significant enhancement to Web of Science Core Collection.

Journal Selected for the Century of Science

A

Acta Mathematica
Acta Medica Scandinavica
Acta Physicochimica URSS
Acta Radiologica
Advances in Enzymology And Related Subjects of Biochemistry
American Heart Journal
American Journal of Anatomy
American Journal of Botany
American Journal of Diseases of Children 
American Journal of Hygiene
American Journal of Insanity
American Journal of Mathematics
American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology
American Journal Of Pathology 
American Journal of Physiology
American Journal of Psychiatry
American Journal of Psychology
American Journal of Roentgenology
American Journal of Roentgenology and Radium Therapy
American Journal of Science
American Journal of the Medical Sciences
American Mineralogist
American Naturalist
Anatomical Record
Angewandte Chemie
Annalen der Physik
Annales de Chemie et de Physique
Annales de Chimie France
Annals Of Applied Biology
Annals Of Botany
Annals of Eugenics
Annals of Internal Medicine
Annals of Mathematical Statistics
Annals of Mathematics
Annals Of Surgery
Archiv fur Dermatologie und Syphilis
Archiv fur die Gesamte Physiologie des Menschen und der Tiere
Archiv fur Entwicklungsmechanik der Organismen
Archiv fur Experimentelle Pathologie und Pharmakologie
Archiv fur Experimentelle Zellforschung
Archiv fur Mikroskopische Anatomie
Archiv fur Mikroskopische Anatomie und Entwicklungsgeschichte 
Archiv fur mikroskopische Anatomie und Entwicklungsmechanik
Archiv fur pathologische Anatomie und Physiologie und fur klinische Medicin
Archiv Fur Psychiatrie Und Nervenkrankheiten
Archives Internationales de Pharmacodynamie et de Therapie
Archives of Dermatology and Syphilology
Archives of Internal Medicine
Archives of Neurology and Psychiatry
Archives of Ophthalmology
Archives Of Otolaryngology
Archives of pathology
Archives of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine 
Archives of Surgery
Astrophysical Journal

B

BACTERIOLOGICAL REVIEWS
Beitrage zur pathologischen Anatomie und zur allgemeinen Pathologie
Bell System Technical Journal
Berichte der Deutschen Chemischen Gesellschaft
Biochemical Journal
Biochemische Zeitschrift
Biological Bulletin
Biological reviews and Biological Proceedings of the Cambridge Philosophical Society
Biological Reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society
Biometrika
Botanical Gazette
Brain
British Heart Journal
British Journal Of Dermatology and Syphilis 
British Journal of Dermatology 
British journal of experimental biology 
British Journal Of Experimental Pathology
British Journal of Surgery
British Medical Journal
Bulletin Of The American Museum Of Natural History
Bulletin of the Geological Society of America
Bulletin Of The Johns Hopkins Hospital
Bureau of Standards journal of research 

C

Canadian Medical Association Journal
Cancer Research
Chemical Reviews
Clinical Science
Comptes Rendus de l Academie des Sciences URSS
Comptes Rendus des Seances de la Societe de Biologie et de ses Filiales
Comptes Rendus Hebdomadaires des Seances de L'Academie des Sciences
Contributions to Embryology
D
Dermatologische Wochenschrift
Deutsche Medizinische Wochenschrift
E
Ecology
Endocrinology
G
Genetics

H

Heart - A journal for the study of the circulation
Helvetica Chimica Acta
Hereditas
Hoppe-Seylers Zeitschrift Fur Physiologische Chemie

I

Industrial And Engineering Chemistry
Industrial And Engineering Chemistry, Analytical Edition

J

Journal de Physique et le Radium
Journal fur die Reine und Angewandte Mathematik
Journal Fur Makromolekulare Chemie 
Journal fur Praktische Chemie-Leipzig (chk 1944) 
Journal fur Psychologie und Neurologie
Journal of Abnormal And Social Psychology 
Journal of Agricultural Research
Journal of Agricultural Science
Journal Of Anatomy
Journal of animal ecology
Journal of Applied Physics
Journal of Bacteriology
Journal of Biological Chemistry
Journal Of Bone And Joint Surgery
Journal of Cellular and Comparative Physiology
Journal of Chemical Physics
Journal of Clinical Endocrinology
Journal of Clinical Investigation
Journal Of Comparative Neurology
Journal of Comparative Neurology and Psychology
Journal of Comparative Psychology
Journal Of Ecology
Journal Of Economic Entomology
Journal of Educational Psychology
Journal Of Experimental Biology
Journal Of Experimental Medicine
Journal of Experimental Psychology
Journal Of Experimental Zoology
Journal of General Physiology
Journal of Genetics
Journal Of Geology
Journal of heredity
Journal Of Hygiene(UK)
Journal Of Immunology
Journal of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry
Journal Of Infectious Diseases
Journal Of Laboratory And Clinical Medicine
Journal of Marine Research
Journal of Medical Research
Journal of Morphology and Physiology
Journal of Morphology 
Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease
Journal of Neurology and Psychiatry
Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry
Journal Of Neurophysiology
Journal Of Nutrition
Journal Of Organic Chemistry
Journal of Pathology and Bacteriology
Journal of Pediatrics
Journal Of Pharmacology And Experimental Therapeutics
Journal of Physical Chemistry-
Journal of physics-USSR
Journal of Physiology - London
Journal of Research of the National Bureau of Standards
Journal of the Acoustical Society of America
Journal Of The American Ceramic Society 
Journal Of The American Chemical Society
Journal of the American Medical Association
Journal of the American Statistical Association 
Journal of the Chemical Society
Journal of the Franklin Institute
Journal Of The Institute Of Metals
Journal Of The National Cancer Institute
Journal of the Optical Society of America
Journal of the Optical Society of America and review of scientific instruments
Journal of the Royal Statistical Society
Journal of Urology
Justus Liebigs Annalen der Chemie

K

Kolloid Zeitschrift

L

Lancet

M

Mathematische Annalen
Mathematische Zeitschrift
Medicine
Monthly Notices Of The Royal Astronomical Society 

N

Nature
Naturwissenschaften
Naunyn-Schmiedebergs Archiv Fur Experimentelle Pathologie Und Pharmakologie
New England Journal of Medicine

O

Organic Syntheses

P

Pedagogical seminary
Pedagogical seminary and journal of genetic psychology
Pflugers Archiv fur die Gesamte Physiologie des Menschen und der Tiere 
Philosophical Magazine
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London Series A-Mathematical and Physical Sciences 
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London Series B-Biological Sciences
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, Series A, containing papers of a mathematical or physical character
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Containing papers of a biological character
Physica
Physical Review
Physics
Physikalische Zeitschrift
Physiological Reviews
Phytopathology
Plant Physiology
Proceedings of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
Proceedings Of The Cambridge Philosophical Society
Proceedings of the Cambridge Philosophical Society-Biological Sciences
Proceedings of the Institute of Radio Engineers
Proceedings of the IRE
Proceedings of the Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen Te Amsterdam 
Proceedings of the Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen 
Proceedings of the London Mathematical Society
Proceedings Of The National Academy Of Sciences Of The United States Of America
Proceedings of the Physical Society
Proceedings Of The Physical Society Of London
Proceedings of the Royal Society of London
Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Series A-Mathematical and Physical Sciences 
Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Series B-Biological Sciences 
Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series A, Containing papers of a mathematical and physical character
Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Containing papers of a biological character
Proceedings Of The Society For Experimental Biology And Medicine
Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London Series A-General and experimental
Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London Series B-Systematic and morphological
Proceedings Of The Zoological Society Of London 
Psychological Review
Publications of the American Statistical Association

Q

Quarterly journal of experimental physiology
Quarterly Journal Of Experimental Physiology And Cognate Medical Sciences 
Quarterly Journal Of Medicine
Quarterly Journal Of Microscopical Science
Quarterly Journal of Studies on Alcohol 
Quarterly Publications of the American Statistical Association
Quarterly Review Of Biology

R

Recueil des Travaux Chimiques des Pays-Bas
Recueil des Travaux Chimiques des Pays-Bas et de la Belgique
Review Of Scientific Instruments
Reviews Of Modern Physics
Revue Neurologique

S

Science
Sitzungsberichte der Preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften
Sitzungsberichte der Preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften Physikalisch-Mathematische Klasse
Sitzungsberichte ker Koniglich Preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften 
Skandinavisches Archiv fur Physiologie
Soil Science
Stain technology
Surgery
Surgery Gynecology and Obstetrics

T

The American Journal of Hygenie Monographic Series
The Boston medical and surgical journal
The Journal of neurology and psychopathology
Transactions Of The American Institute Of Chemical Engineers
Transactions Of The American Institute Of Mining And Metallurgical Engineers
Transactions Of The American Mathematical Society
Transactions of the Faraday Society
Transactions of the Ophthalmological Society of Australia
Transactions-American Geophysical Union

V

Virchows Archiv fur Pathologische Anatomie und Physiologie und fuer Klinische Medizin

W

Wilhelm Roux' Archiv fur Entwicklungsmechanik der Organismen 

Z

Zeitschrift des Vereines Deutscher Ingenieure
Zeitschrift fur Angewandte Mathematik und Mechanik
Zeitschrift fur anorganische Chemie
Zeitschrift Fur Anorganische Und Allgemeine Chemie
Zeitschrift fur Biologie
Zeitschrift fur die Gesamte Neurologie und Psychiatrie
Zeitschrift fur Elektrochemie
Zeitschrift fur Elektrochemie und angewandte physikalische Chemie
Zeitschrift fur Kristallographie
Zeitschrift fur Krystallographie und Mineralogie
Zeitschrift fur Physik
Zeitschrift fur physikalische Chemie—Stochiometrie und Verwandtschaftslehre
Zeitschrift fur physikalische Chemie-Abteilung A-Chemische Thermodynamik Kinetik Elektrochemie Eigenschaftslehre
Zeitschrift fur physikalische Chemie-Abteilung B-Chemie der Elementarprozesse Aufbau der Materie
Zeitschrift fur physikalische Chemie-Leipzig
Zeitschrift fur Wissenschaftliche Zoologie
Zoologiska Bidrag fran Uppsala