Emerging Sources Citation Index 101:

Discover emerging global research beyond the

high impact literature

Amy Braden, MSLIS

Solutions Specialist

May 2018
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Web of Science platform

34,100+ unique journals

150 MILLION unique records
Web of Science
Core Collection
1.4 BILLION cited references
Science Citation Index Expanded Biological Abstracts
Social Sciences Citation Index
Arts & Humanities Citation Index
Emerging Sources Citation Index
Book Citation Index
Conference Proceedings Citation Index
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Web of Science Core Collection

The world’s most trusted citation index.

20,000+ journals indexed cover-to-cover

 Multidisciplinary
 International
Web of Science  Influential
Core Collection
Science Citation Index Expanded
Social Sciences Citation Index
Over 70 million records, 100% with cited references,
Arts & Humanities Citation Index provide industry leading metadata to power your
Emerging Sources Citation Index
Book Citation Index discovery and analytics.
Conference Proceedings Citation Index

Careful and objective journal selection performed

by a dedicated team that is independent from any
commercial or publishing activities.

Master Journal List


Adapting to changing needs ....
Web of Science
Core Collection
Science Citation Index Expanded
Social Sciences Citation Index
Arts & Humanities Citation Index
5
Desire for more content to
10-12% respond to needs of funders,
Acceptance rate
for journals submitted evaluators, researchers...
to SCIE, SSCI & AHCI
YET
Customers want us to remain
selective and provide thought
leadership by continuing to
Source data for
Journal Impact Factor distinguish the most impactful
journals
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Emerging Sources Citation Index (ESCI) benefits the academic research ecosystem

• Launched in 2015, ESCI covers nearly 7,000 journals in total.

• It captures scientific, social science, and humanities trends and developments beyond
the high-impact literature.
• The journals selected and reviewed by our editorial team have been identified as
important to key opinion leaders, funders, and evaluators worldwide.

“ESCI has a positive effect on research assessment and it accelerates communication in the scientific
community.”
Early Insight on the ESCI: an overlay map-based bibliometric study
Scientometrics, 18 March 2017

“Indexing in the ESCI will improve the visibility of a journal, provides a mark of quality, and is good
for authors. We have already seen examples of institutions and funders suggesting publication in
an ESCI listed journal, similar to what already takes places with other Web of Science databases.”
James Hardcastle, Senior Manager, Product Analytics, Taylor & Francis
13 February 2017
How does Clarivate Analytics
select journals for ESCI?
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The guiding principles of Web of Science journal selection have remained consistent over 50 years.
Selectivity | Objectivity | Transparency

Four Points of Evaluation

Journals are selected by
Publishing Editorial International Citation experts with:
Standards Content Focus Analysis
150 years of experience
Fluency in 12 languages
• A complex process: no one factor is
considered in isolation. 0 affiliations with any journals
or publishers
• Each journal is evaluated on its own
merits, with an objective, unbiased
approach. More information available in the
Journal Selection Process Essay
• Coverage is not static: titles are monitored
to ensure they maintain performance

• Evaluation decisions are independent of

commercial operations
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Web of Science Core Collection journal selection process

Journal
Editorial International Citation
Publishing
Content Diversity Analysis
Standards

 Peer review
 Ethical publishing practices
 Meets technical requirements
(XML / PDF)
 English-language bibliographic
 How does this journal compare
information
 Timeliness of publication
 International editorial
conventions
 Scholarly community
recommendation or
demonstrated interest
 Will this journal enrich WoS
with novel content?
with covered journals of similar
scope?
 Is this subject already well
covered?
 Does this journal target an
international audience or
specifically a regional
audience?
 Is international representation
among authors and board
members at an appropriate
level for such a journal?
 Total citations
 Recent citation activity
 Author and editorial board
members’ citations in the
literature
 Integration of the journal into
the literature over time
Green = ESCI selection requirements
Black = SCIE/SSCI/AHCI selection

ESCI makes our rigorous selection criteria more transparent

by exposing content earlier in the selection process
http://wokinfo.com/essays/journal-selection-process/
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Continuous content curation

Journal ESCI High-performing titles

can be added directly
SELECTIVITY
submission Evaluation to SCIE, SSCI or AHCI

In 2017:
Rejection Acceptance

48 ESCI Titles from ESCI to WOS-3

Journal may be selected for ESCI Evaluation for
alternate coverage (e.g BIOSIS) but additional products
remains eligible for other collections Indexing 15 WOS-3 Titles from WOS-3 to ESCI

ESCI journals monitored Rejection Acceptance

for performance

Add to SCIE, SSCI or

AHCI
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Journals covered in ESCI are eligible for evaluation in main indexes.

ESCI titles remain covered in Web of Science if they do not qualify for main indexes.

Journal continues
coverage in ESCI

Journal will be
Journal will be first monitored for a Journal may be
Evaluated/rejected evaluated for minimum of two added to SCIE/SSCI
content enrichment years to or remain
for SCIE in 2017 and added to ESCI demonstrate
(Emerging Sources performance covered in
Citation Index) according to strict ESCI
main index criteria

Evaluated/accepted
for ESCI in 2015
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Persistent quality control and journal transition

Example of a journal
dropped from SSCI but
accepted by ESCI
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Emerging Sources Citation Index (2005-2018)

6,926 Same features and indexing standards as

Total journals other Core Collection editions:
(2005-2018)
Web of Science
 Full cover-to-cover indexing of all
Core Collection
60% content
Acceptance rate for  Address unification
journals submitted to ESCI
 ORCID/RID integration
ESCI journals do  Funding data
NOT receive
Journal Impact
Factor scores
ESCI Journal List
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Web of Science Core Collection Journal Coverage with ESCI

Web of Science Core Collection

Journal Category Coverage

42%
* Includes category overlap

11,000+
journals evaluated increased journal
coverage

85
Journals selected
61%
highest growth
from ESCI for WoS Education &
SCIE, SSCI, AHCI Education Research
ESCI Backfile
2005-2014 Content
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Emerging Sources Citation Index (ESCI) Backfile

• Enables expanded research

5,649 2,184 47% 1.4M assessment & benchmarking

• Comprehensive search and discovery

of new areas of research
journals indexed publishers not indexed by records
competitors 2005-2014 • Better understanding of the evolution
of emerging fields & global trends

• Identify new
75% 1,988 74% 200+ collaboration opportunities in
emerging research areas

journals with 5 open access papers published Authors from

years or more journals in English over 200
in the backfile countries

Statistics as of December 7, 2017

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ESCI 2005-2014 Global Coverage

80% of ESCI Backfile content

from outside North America

% share of
Journal Country
ESCI Backfile
Russia England 20%
130 journals United States 16%
Europe
Spain 8%
North America 2,820 journals
Netherlands 4%
1,058 journals Asia Pacific
Brazil 4%
732 journals
Germany 4%
Middle East & Africa Italy 4%
319 journals
Canada 3%
Australia 3%
India 2%
Latin America
590 journals

Journal Counts by region

as of December 5, 2017
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Who is publishing the journals in the ESCI Backfile?

Publisher

ROUTLEDGE JOURNALS,
# of Journal Titles

488


Publishing houses
Societies
28%
TAYLOR & FRANCIS LTD of ESCI titles are published
EMERALD GROUP PUBLISHING 197  University Presses by University Presses
ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV 142
WILEY 137  Associations
HINDAWI LTD 113
SAGE PUBLICATIONS LTD 108
SPRINGER HEIDELBERG 95
SPRINGER 91
BRILL ACADEMIC PUBLISHERS 85
TAYLOR & FRANCIS LTD 85
DOVE MEDICAL PRESS LTD 76
MDPI AG 65
UNIV COMPLUTENSE MADRID,
59
SERVICIO PUBLICACIONES
DE GRUYTER OPEN LTD 53
CAMBRIDGE UNIV PRESS 52
BIOMED CENTRAL LTD 47
IGI GLOBAL 47
WALTER DE GRUYTER GMBH 43
SAGE PUBLICATIONS INC 40
OXFORD UNIV PRESS 38
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Who is authoring the papers in the ESCI Backfile?

# records in
Author Country
ESCI Backfile
USA 263,414
England 102,055
Spain 77,095
India 72,215
Australia 55,519
Canada 52,954
Brazil 49,907
Peoples R China 48,127
Italy 45,545
Germany 42,730

Authors working in established countries are well represented in ESCI Backfile content.
The map & table show the top ten countries by record count, according to author location.
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Who is authoring the papers in the ESCI Backfile?

Countries in Latin America, Southeast Asia, and Africa show content gains of over 15%.

Countries/Territories WoS3 ESCI Backfile Total % change

COSTA RICA 4,857 1,526 6,383 31.42%
COLOMBIA 28,983 8,435 37,418 29.10%
CUBA 9,276 2,624 11,900 28.29%
INDONESIA 13,864 3,478 17,342 25.09%
NIGERIA 23,668 4,651 28,319 19.65%
GHANA 5,843 932 6,775 15.95%
MALAYSIA 63,098 8,439 71,537 13.37%
ECUADOR 4,018 530 4,548 13.19%
BANGLADESH 12,050 1,588 13,638 13.18%
U ARAB EMIRATES 12,438 1,595 14,033 12.82%

We compared authorship by country in the Science Citation Index Expanded, Social Sciences Citation Index, and the
Arts & Humanities Citation Index to authorship by country in the ESCI Backfile for papers published 2005-2014.

The top ten countries with the greatest increase to their authorship representation for this time period are
highlighted in the above table & map.
How will ESCI 2005-2014
benefit me in my research
discovery and assessment?
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I already subscribe to WOS Core and ESCI 2015-2017

What benefit will ESCI 2005-2014 give me?

Research Evaluators Librarians Researchers

Expands research assessment to
include 10 years of additional
research output from many more
journals for evaluations at the
institution, department, and
researcher level.
Allows your users to search and
discover new areas of research and
provide your users with deeper
regional coverage. Give your
researchers a broader view of their
personal metrics and more
comprehensive h-index calculations.
Gain a broader view of your research
output and impact, and calculate a
more comprehensive h-index and
citation report. Discover new,
emerging fields of research and gain a
more global perspective. Identify
additional publication targets beyond
journals in JCR. Identify new global
collaborators.

Funders
Identify emerging fields and global
trends. Add greater perspective to
research output and impact. Expand your
view of grant applicants and reviewers to
additional countries and fields.
Publishers
Identify new and emerging journals,
authors, and topics. Gain greater
insight into the performance of your
journals as well as your competitors’.
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Search Demonstration

I need to find all of the relevant papers on my topic to obtain a complete

global profile.

I need to access more of my published work to build a better publication

profile, and to produce more complete citation metrics.

I need reliable citation metrics for the most comprehensive set of

publications possible for my institution.

I want a more complete picture of the research my agency has funded.

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Topical Case Study: Arab Spring

Search: arab near/3 (revolution or uprising or spring)

There are 2,542 papers on this 35% of the papers are 20% of the papers are located
topic in the Core Collection located in ESCI in the ESCI Backfile
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Researcher Case Study: Dr. Brian T. McMahon, Virginia Commonwealth University

39% of this author’s publications indexed in the Core Collection are located in the
ESCI Archive.
Profile
Metrics without ESCI Archive Metrics with ESCI Archive

papers +22
citations +71
h-index +3

• papers: 34 • papers: 56
• citations: 164 • citations: 235
• h-index: 8 • h-index: 11
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Organization Case Study: University of Quebec

Top 10 Categories in SCIE, SSCI + AHCI Top 10 Categories in ESCI

1. Environmental Sciences 1. Education, Educational Research

2. Engineering, Electrical Electronic 2. Sociology
3. Biochemistry/Molecular Biology 3. Economics
4. Geosciences, Multidisciplinary 4. International Relations
5. Ecology 5. Political Science
6. Neurosciences 6. Humanities, Multidisciplinary
7. Materials Science, Multidisciplinary 7. Management
8. Marine Freshwater Biology 8. Business
9. History 9. Philosophy
10. Chemistry Physical 10. Psychiatry
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