Scope and character

Web of Science (Clarivate) is the oldest citation index, built on the original Science Citation Index. It is selective — a curated core collection of journals vetted by editors — and is the source of the Journal Impact Factor and Journal Citation Reports.

Strengths and limits

  • Strength: high-quality, curated, deep historical coverage; trusted for benchmarking.
  • Limit: narrower coverage — weaker for books, non-English and Global-South journals, and newer fields.
Worked example — when to reach for it
You need a defensible, like-for-like comparison of two chemistry departments’ output in indexed journals. Web of Science’s curated, consistent coverage suits this — but remember it may undercount work published in regional or open-access venues it does not index.

🔗 Learn more (free): Web of Science

Try it
In your field, would Web of Science’s selective coverage help or hurt? Name one type of source it might miss.

Self-check

What does “selective coverage” mean, and how does it affect the citation counts Web of Science reports?

© FRELIP, released under CC BY 4.0. Adapted in part from openly-licensed UNESCO (CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO) and institutional research-support materials. Linked resources remain under their own licences. Curated by the FRELIP Open Courseware editorial team.

Última modificación: jueves, 4 de junio de 2026, 12:49