NEWS

Thomson Reuters Launches Book Citation Index
for Web of Knowledge

Most comprehensive index of its kind helps complete the research picture with the inclusion of scholarly books to the world’s most powerful search and discovery platform

Thomson Reuters announced the launch of the Book Citation Index, a new resource within the Web of Knowledge platform covering 25,000 books in the sciences, social sciences, and arts and humanities.

The Book Citation Index is designed to enhance the powerful discovery and analysis capabilities of Web of Knowledge by incorporating comprehensive book citation data. Researchers can search for and identify the most relevant and esteemed literature along with the 12,000 peer-reviewed journals and 150,000 conference proceedings already indexed in Web of Knowledge, enabling users to navigate the links in citations across books, journals and proceedings. Books are indexed at the chapter level, resulting in improved searches and deeper insights into the citing behaviour between books and the wider world of scholarly research.

The new layer of citation data created by the addition of the Book Citation Index to Web of Knowledge has implications for the entire platform and its users.  Those who work primarily in the arts and humanities will benefit from increased visibility for their works, which may not have been indexed among other scholarly publications, while all researchers will have greater opportunity for collaboration as a result of increased citations. Initially, 13.5 million additional cited references will appear in Web of Knowledge as a result of the Book Citation Index launch. 

Charles Watkinson, director, Purdue University Press, said: “In the networked environment, books have been at risk of becoming invisible. The Book Citation Index will bring monographic literature back to the heart of the research process, where it belongs. It will be a major benefit to publishers, librarians, and scholars alike.” Content for the Book Citation Index is comprised of scholarly books, both electronic and print, that present fully referenced articles of original research or reviews of the literature, and has been carefully selected based on well-defined criteria to offer the most significant literature available. The index consists of 25,000 books, dating back to 2005. Coverage is expected to rise to 30,000 books by the end of 2011, with 10,000 new books added each year.

In addition, universities and research institutions can connect their library’s book catalogue and collection of e-books with the Book Citation Index, increasing the visibility of valuable collections and subscriptions to users, and giving libraries greater value from their invested budget.

Keith MacGregor, executive vice-president at Thomson Reuters, commented: “We are excited about the launch of the Book Citation Index and the added benefits it will bring to Web of Knowledge. We look forward to connecting our customers to more high-quality books and helping to expand the scope of their research.”

http://wokinfo.com/products_tools/multidisciplinary/bookcitationindex/.

More information on the book selection process for the index is available at http://wokinfo.com/media/pdf/BKCI-SelectionEssay_web.pdf