The Web of Science is the powerful new interface that provides Web access to the Science Citation Index Expanded^(TM), Social Sciences Citation Index®, and Arts & Humanities Citation Index® (formerly SciSearch®, Social SciSearch®, and Arts & Humanities Search®).

Designed exclusively by the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI) for its proprietary Citation Databases, the Web of Science provides researchers with navigational and retrieval functions only possible through the powerful combination of citation indexing and enabling Web technology.

The ISI Citation Databases
Cited Reference Searching
Web of Science Features
Operating Requirements

The ISI Citation Databases collectively index more than 8,000 high quality, peer-reviewed journals cover-to-cover, providing users with complete bibliographic data, full-length author abstracts, and cited references from the world's most influential research:

• The Science Citation Index Expanded covers over 5,300 journals (2000 more titles than the print or CD-ROM version) and is updated with 16,000 new records every week.
  
• The Social Sciences Citation Index covers over 1,700 journals and is updated by 2,800 new records every week.
  
• The Arts & Humanities Citation Index covers over 1,100 journals and is updated by 2,200 new records every week.

Through the Web of Science, these multidisciplinary databases are available independently or in any combination. Users will be able to perform current and retrospective searches (back to 1972, depending upon database(s) chosen) of the files using standard graphical Web browsers such as Netscape 2.0.

The ISI Citation Databases provide standard access points to the literature, such as title, author, author abstract, etc. They also provide access to -- and take advantage of -- cited references, which are the footnotes or bibliography published with a scholarly paper.

By indexing these references, ISI enables researchers to conduct cited reference searching, a unique search technique that exploits the formal linkages between papers -- links established by the authors or experts themselves and indicated by the references -- to find new, unknown information based on earlier information.

Navigational options allow users to follow citation links forward in time to citing references, backward in time to cited articles, or across the database to current related records. Only ISI information tools make this possible.

Cited reference searching enables the researcher to:

• Discover who is referencing your research and how it is being used to support current research
• Track the research activities of colleagues or competitors
• Follow the history of a methodology or an idea from its first communication into the present day
• Uncover the early unpublished stages of research activity
• Locate current research based on earlier patents, reports, published works or findings
• Create a list of experts within a field of research
• Analyze the impact of published research
• And much more!

Through its unique and powerful combination of citation indexing and Web technology, the Web of Science enables researchers to more easily navigate through the research process -- from uncovering key data to electronically ordering the full text of important articles. They can:

• Navigate forward, backward or through the research literature using the unique links made possible only with citation data
• Locate an unlimited number of items which share one or more cited references in common and retrieve additional relevant research (Related Records®)
• Link to original article information when a cited reference of interest is found (for those original articles covered by the database)
• Conduct cited reference searches on primary and secondary authors (for those references covered by the database)
• Receive weekly updates to "times-cited" information

Additional Features:

Users of the Web of Science can also:

• Search using the Full Search mode for advanced users or the Quick Search mode, a more intuitive option for novices in which cited reference searching is done with a click of the mouse
• Select any combination of citation databases (SCI Expanded, SSCI, or A&HCI) to search
• Choose the time period they want to search, including all years indexed, specific years indexed, or the most recent weekly update
• Limit retrieval by language and/or document type
• Sort results by relevance, date, first author, or source journal title
• Use Boolean logic and proximity operators.
• Mark records of interest for exporting, saving, printing, or document retrieval
• Save queries to run against updates and modify as needed
• Export fields of interest directly into Reference Manager®, ProCite®, or other bibliographic management software
• Access local holdings via a link to a local Web-based OPAC (INNOPAC®)
• E-mail reprint authors for the full-text of articles of interest (applicable to articles published from 1997 forward)
• Reach publishers' Web home pages for more information through addresses provided by ISI (applicable to data published from 1997 forward)
• Order full-text documents electronically from the ISI document delivery service, ISI Document Solution

Software:

ISI will provide layered server software architecture consisting of a high-end text retrieval engine, World Wide Web server software, CGI applications, and supporting software for data loading and preparation. Customers will need to provide the necessary systems software, including standard graphic browsers, and Internet connections.

Hardware:

The Web of Science will operate on a number of platforms, including:

DEC Alpha (DEC UNIX)

Sun Systems (Solaris)

IBM RS-6000 (AIX)

Windows NT (Intel Based) -- planned

Storage/Data Years Available:

Science Citation Index Expanded: 5.5 gigabytes per annual (1974 to present)

Social Sciences Citation Index: 1.0 gigabytes per annual (1972 to present)

Arts & Humanities Citation Index: .5 gigabytes per annual (1975 to present)

Trial options:

A trial of the Web of Science (including remote access to five years of data for a limited period) is available for institutions.

Note: The Web of Science is available, free of charge, to all magnetic tape customers of ISI's Citation Databases. Current customers of other ISI citation products may qualify for discounts.