April 9, 2003 Santiago, Chile

The ISI Database:Reflecting the Best of International and

Regional Research

Keith R. MacGregorSr. Vice President

The Americas, Europe, Middle East, & AfricaThomson ISI

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ISI founder

– Dr. Eugene Garfield: a pioneer in the field of bibliometrics and the measurement of scientific and scholarly communication

– Dr. Garfield’s legacy: editorial standards for selecting high quality journals from around the world

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Accessing the core literature

– S.C. Bradford’s law: a relatively small number of journals accounts for most of the important scientific information in the world

– Dr. Garfield’s findings: 2,000 journals account for about 85% of published articles (and 95% of cited articles)

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Our Mission

Our commitment is to provide evaluated coverage of multidisciplinary, global research information by selecting high quality content

Multidisciplinary: covering the essential information in each category of science, social science, and arts & humanities

High Quality: selecting the best, most influential content for the ISI database

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The ISI Database

Multidisciplinary, global, high quality research content including:

– Journals (8,500+ titles)

– Conference proceedings (10,000 indexed per year)

– Web sites (4,100+ evaluated sites) and full-text Web documents (440,000+)

– Chemical reactions (740,000) and compounds (2 million)

– Patents (20 million from 40+ patent authorities)

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Criteria for selecting journals

Publishing standards – Timeliness– Editorial conventions for bibliographic information; now

particularly important for electronic journals.– Peer-review

Editorial content– Will it enrich ISI content? Is it a new field? Does it extend the

scope of an existing field? Citation analysis

– Determining importance and influence by measuring use (citation rates, impact factor, immediacy index, etc.)

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Criteria for selecting journals

International diversity– Reflecting the international collaborations within scientific

research– Authors, editors, advisory boards

Regional coverage– Understanding the importance of localized research within

the larger scientific landscape– Compare journals in a category to others from the same

geographic area– Must have high journal publishing standards, timeliness– English language bibliographic elements are essential for

reaching the widest possible global audience

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Chile: Research activity as measured by the ISI database

Chilean research in both regional and international journals (based on author’s country of origin)

– 41,000 articles in the Web of Science from 1945 – present – Number of papers published per year has tripled since 1981– Percentage of world papers has doubled since 1981

The global nature of Chilean research partnerships

– Alone or in worldwide partnerships, Chilean researchers have authored top papers in 18 of 22 categories within Essential Science Indicators

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Chile: Annual Research Output, 1981-2002

Steady increase over the past twenty years has tripled productivity (number of papers)

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Chile: Percentage of world papers, 1981-2002

Steady increase over the past twenty years has doubled world share (percent of papers)

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How to recommend journals

If you would like to recommend a journal for evaluation, please contact the Editorial Development Department by e-mail to:

journals@isinet.com

– Please provide the full name of the journal, its ISSN, the name and address of the editor, and the journal's publisher.

– Include a brief statement explaining the unique features of this journal and how it is distinguished from other journals in its field.

– If possible, send the most current issue of the journal and then the next two or three issues as soon as they are published to: Publication Processing Department, ISI, 3501 Market Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104 USA.

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http://www.isinet.com/isi/hot/essays/

Selection of Material for Coverage:

– The ISI® Database: The Journal Selection Process– Current Web Contents™:Developing Web Site Selection

Criteria– ISI Current Contents Connect® with Searchable Web Content

ISI Web of Knowledge:

– ISI Web of Knowledge Platform: Current & Future Directions

List of ISI essays

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