The following resources are starting points for evaluating social work journals and doing citation analysis. Some of the resources are freely available on the web. Others are Leddy Library subscriptions; if you are off-campus, you will have to sign on with your University of Windsor ID and password. If you do not find what you are looking for, please contact: Sharon Munro by email at: smunro@uwindsor.ca or by telephone at (519) 253-3000, extension 3850
Citation Analysis:
Learn Who Has Cited An Author's Work
There are several databases that you can search in order to learn if an article has been cited by other authors and how many times it has been cited. If you want to be as comprehensive as possible, search them all. Each database indexes a different array of publications. Citation analysis can be a useful exercise for judging the impact of a particular article in a field of research, and for discovering related research resources. Citation analysis is carried out primarily for peer reviewed journal articles. Check the help screens for the databases that you choose so that you can make the most effective use of them for your searches.
The Main Citation Tracking Databases
Scopus
Do your search. For the relevant article, click on the number in the Citations field (right-hand side). You will then get the bibliographic details of all articles citing your article.
Web of Science
Do your search and find the relevant article. Click on the number in the Citation field (right-hand side). You will then get the bibliographic details of all articles citing your article. You can also do a Cited References Search by entering the cited author, the cited work, and/or the cited year(s).
Other Citation Tracking Databases
(that may include non-peer reviewed resources)
Google Scholar
Do your search. Results have a "Cited By" link that will take you to other works that cite that particular work. See: Using Google Scholar for more information about this resource.
Subject databases may give you links to citations in your search results. For example, when you do a search in the Social Services Abstracts database and get your list of search results, check to see if there are any "Times cited" links underneath the titles for any of your search results.
Journal Evaluation:
Assess The Importance Of A Journal To Its Field
Journal Citation Reports
They use a measure called the Impact Factor. It provides a systematic, if controversial, way to determine the relative importance of journals within their subject categories.
SJR: SCImago Journal And Country Rank
Provides several measures to help assess the relative importance of a journal to its field: the SJRIndicator, the H Index, and Cites per Document (2 year period). Years of coverage include 1999 onwards and the data is taken from the Scopus database. For the years 1996 onwards, countries' scientific output can also be compared.
This guide was originally developed by Katharine Ball for Business and adapted for Social Work by Sharon Munro
Connect with your library