April 9, 2003Santiago, Chile The ISI Database: Reflecting the Best of International and Regional Research Keith R. MacGregor Sr. Vice President The Americas, Europe, Middle East, & Africa Thomson ISI

2 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

3 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)

4 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

5 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)

6 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.)

7 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

8 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

9 Chile: Annual Research Output, Steady increase over the past twenty years has tripled productivity (number of papers)

10 Chile: Percentage of world papers, Steady increase over the past twenty years has doubled world share (percent of papers)

11 How to recommend journals If you would like to recommend a journal for evaluation, please contact the Editorial Development Department by to: –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 USA.

12 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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