Since the 1960s, Science Citation Index® has provided scientists a novel means of tracking developments in the scientific literature. This tool takes the items in the reference lists at the end of journal articles and creates an index using each of these items as a grouping mechanism. The researcher is then able to look up an article from the past and see who has cited it in more recent writings. The underlying rationale is that when a researcher cites an article in a paper, this newer paper bears some relation to the older work being cited.

The Web of Knowledge, a Web interface for institutional, site-wide access to the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI) Databases, is now available to the LSUHSC community. Web of Knowledge is an amalgamation of all the products that ISI offers. The Library provides three of its components:

• Web of Science®, which includes the
o Science Citation Index Expanded™ and the
o Social Sciences Citation Index®, both going back to 1997.
• Current Contents Connect® includes the tables of contents for journals in
o Clinical Medicine, the
o Life Sciences, and the
o Social & Behavioral Sciences
• Journal Citation Reports® (JCR), the source for Impact Factors, includes
o Science Edition, 2000 & 2001 editions, and
o Social Sciences Edition, 2000 & 2001 editions

Web of Knowledge is available from the Library's web pagelink removed. More information about the system can be obtained from http://www.isiwebofknowledge.com/link removed.

Watch your e-mail for the announcement of classes in effectively using these databases. Or call the Reference Librarianslink removed at 568-6102 and 568-8339 on the Main Campus or 619-8550 on the Dental Campus.

-- Mary L. Marix
mmarix@lsuhsc.edulink removed