Transportation research Fall 2011 Engineering & Computer Science Library Cristina Sewerin

outline review: major search tools & databases review: major search tools & databases recent changes recent changes citation searching citation searching journal impact factors journal impact factors alerting systems, bibliographic management systems alerting systems, bibliographic management systems your questions & recommendations your questions & recommendations

Guide to library materials in transportation:

Article databases Controlled language (thesauri) overcomes keyword limitations Good sorting functions Search by treatment of topic: e.g., lit review, theoretical, experimental Advanced citation search features – identify significant papers; track development of research through time

Refining search using controlled vocabulary

ScholarsPortal Search: where has it gone? the developers (CSA Illumina) have discontinued it the developers (CSA Illumina) have discontinued it we are no longer able to provide it we are no longer able to provide it all other Scholars Portal services are continuing all other Scholars Portal services are continuing

other changes in UofT library searching Summon Summon Summon library.utoronto.ca website changes library.utoronto.ca website changes library.utoronto.ca

Using citation databases Identify key documents using citation data Ancestors Aka footnote tracing Aka footnote tracing Use reference lists from review articles, significant articles Use reference lists from review articles, significant articlesDescendents Take most relevant articles or ‘seeds’ Take most relevant articles or ‘seeds’ Follow them forward in time Follow them forward in time

Best databases with citation info Scopus Scopus Scopus Web of Science Web of Science Web of Science Web of Science Google Scholar Google Scholar Google Scholar Google Scholar

Journal Impact Factor Widely used as measure of significance of journals in a particular field Widely used as measure of significance of journals in a particular field Database: ISI Journal Citation Reports Database: ISI Journal Citation ReportsISI Journal Citation ReportsISI Journal Citation Reports Produced by publishers of Web of Science & Web of Knowledge, therefore limited to same pool of titles Produced by publishers of Web of Science & Web of Knowledge, therefore limited to same pool of titles

ISI journal citation reports

Impact factor average number of times articles from the journal published in the past two years have been cited in the past year e.g., Impact Factor of 2.5: on average, articles published one or two years ago have been cited two and a half times citing articles may be from the same journal; most citing articles are from different journals. citing articles may be from the same journal; most citing articles are from different journals.

Criticisms journals may adopt questionable editorial policies that increase its impact factor, e.g., requiring a number of journal self-cites adopt questionable editorial policies that increase its impact factor, e.g., requiring a number of journal self-cites publish a larger percentage of review articles which generally are cited more than primary articles publish a larger percentage of review articles which generally are cited more than primary articles change the fraction of "citable items" compared to front-matter …which types of articles are considered "citable" is negotiable change the fraction of "citable items" compared to front-matter …which types of articles are considered "citable" is negotiable

Other possible problems a small number of publications are cited much more than the majority a small number of publications are cited much more than the majority e.g., approx 90% of Nature's 2004 impact factor based on 1/4 of its articles e.g., approx 90% of Nature's 2004 impact factor based on 1/4 of its articles

Eigenfactor Score  the number of times articles from the journal published in the past five years have been cited in the JCR year  also considers which journals have contributed these citations so that highly cited journals will influence the network more than lesser cited journals  References from one article in a journal to another article from the same journal are removed, so that Eigenfactor Scores are not influenced by journal self- citation  References from one article in a journal to another article from the same journal are removed, so that Eigenfactor Scores are not influenced by journal self- citation

Alerting Services  alerts are sent after every database update  Sent if the update contains any new records that match your saved query  May be daily, weekly or monthly

RefWorks refworks.scholarsportal.info refworks.scholarsportal.info refworks.scholarsportal.info Free for U of T students, staff, faculty Free for U of T students, staff, faculty No software installation necessary: browser-based No software installation necessary: browser-based Organize & cite almost anything: Organize & cite almost anything:  Journal articles  Book chapters  Library sources  Internet sources  …

Organizing (& presenting) research results Citation management software  Select  Annotate  Organize  Output approved-style reference lists  Format bibliographies, in-text citations in documents

refworks.scholarsportal.info

Thank you! Questions, comments? Questions, comments? Please feel free to contact me with questions or recommendations Please feel free to contact me with questions or recommendations