Author:
Levine‐Clark Michael,Gil Esther
Abstract
PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to identify the utility of Web of Science, Scopus and Google Scholar as citation analysis tools for the social sciences.Design/methodology/approachThe 25 most‐accessed articles in 163 social sciences journals are searched in three citation databases.FindingsWeb of Science has long been the only tool for citation analysis. Scopus and Google Scholar, while still new to the market, are complementary to Web of Science and in some cases can provide a more nuanced view of the importance of scholarly articles in the social sciences.Practical implicationsAs libraries struggle to provide the best tools to their users, they may wish to consider the freely‐available Google Scholar as a substitute or complement to expensive databases such as Web of Science and Scopus.Originality/valueMost analyses of citation databases have focused on the sciences. Because this study examined the social sciences literature, it has expanded on the research available on Web of Science, Google Scholar and Scopus.
Subject
Library and Information Sciences,Computer Science Applications,Information Systems
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