Science Citation Index

Science Citation Index, founded by Eugene Garfield is unusual in that it makes it possible to do retrospective searches that move forward in time, rather than backward. Science Citation Index is published by the Institute for Scientific Information. Among other activities the Institute for Scientific Information also publishes Current Contents. Citation, Source, Permuterm Subject, and Corporate Indices are available for Science Citation Index. Montana Tech has copies of the Science Citation Index from 1974 to 1982.

Suppose you were reading the following communication by E. J. Corey (the author is listed at the end of the communication) in the Communications to the Editor of the Journal of the American Chemical Society, 91:1233 (1969). on the Base Catalyzed Carboxylation of Organic Halides by Nickel Carbonyl in Protic Media. A portion of this communication is reproduced here:

Base Catalyzed Carboxylation of Organic Halides by Nickel Carbonyl in Protic Media

A new method for carbon-carbon bond formation in which halogen attached to trigonal or tetrahedral carbon is replaced by carbon, e.g. n-alkyl, using organocopper-lithium complexes has recently been reported.¹ The upper reagents appear to function as electron donors to generate simultaneously two mutually reactive species which combine to form the observed coupling product. This concept suggested the possibility of finding electropositive, transition metal reagents which would function in a similar way to replace halogen by carbon functional groups. As a consequence of students so directed, a new general method has been developed for the replacement of halogen bound to trigonal or tetrahedral carbon by –boxylic functional groups. The method depends on the well-known tendency of certain metal carbonyls to form more strongly electropositive anionic species under the influences of bases. ^2,3

*
*
E. J. Corey and L. S. Hegedus J. Am. Chem. Soc., 91:1233 (1969)

and the research described in this article was of such potential interest to you that you wanted to see who had subsequently cited this research in their own work. To pursue this line of inquiry you would locate the cited article under the author's name in the Citation Index for 1969, where you find:

indicating, e.g., that T. Funabiki cited Corey's communication in an article in the J. Am Chem. Soc. in volume 104 on page 1560 published in 1982.

The complete bibliographic information to T. Funabiki's article can be found in the 1982 Source Index under Funabiki's name:

What is the title of the article, who are the other authors, where was the work done?

The bibliographic information allows the citing article by T. Funabiki to be located and a portion of it is shown below:

J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1982, 104, 1560-1568

Stereoselective Cyanation of Vinyl Halides Catalyzed by Tetracyanocobaltate(I)

Takuzo Funabiki,* Hiroaki Hosomi, Satohiro Yoshida, and Kimo Tarama

Contribution from the Department of Hydrocarbon Chemistry, Faculty of Engineering,
Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan. Received July 3, 1980

Abstract: Tetracyanocobaltate(I), [Co(CN)4]3-, which is formed in an aqueous alkaline solution under a hydrogen atmosphere, catalyzes the cyanation of vinyl halides to form 2-alkenenitriles. The reaction is stereoselective, forming nitriles with retention of configuration, except for (Z)-2-bromobut-2-ene, which forms a mixture of nearly equimolar isomeric nitriles. Reactivity is dependent on the CN:Co ratio and is highest when the ratio is slightly lower than 5:1. *
*

(3) Lapouyad, R.; Deney, M.; Lapenue, M.; Bouas-Laurent, H. Bull. Soc. Chim. Fr. 1973, 720-721.
(4) Corey, E.J.; Hegedus, L.S. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1969, 91, 1233-1234.


Note that the 4th reference in T. Funabiki's article cites Corey's article that we began with in this retrospective search.


The Institute for Scienctific Information is also heavily involved in citation analysis, the attempt to rank journals according to their relative importance to the scientific community based on how frequently these journals are cited. For example, in 1982 according to the Journal Citation Reports the top three journals based on impact factor were:

where the impact factor for Pharmacological Reviews in 1982, for example, is calculated by dividing all the citations to articles published in this journal in 1980 and 1981 (the previous two years) by the number number of citable articles published in this journal in these years:

(423 citations in 1980-81 / 14 citable articles in 1980-81) = 30.214

The high impact factor for Pharmacological Reviews in 1982 suggests that the articles published in this journal in 1980 and 1981 are important for they are cited more frequently during this time period than articles from any other journal. Journal Citation Reports has also developed and publishes several other measures of journal importance.

Assignment:

1. Given a journal article, locate an article that cites the original article. You should hand in the photocopy of the cited article that has been provided for you and photocopies of the title page and the page containing the citation (with this citation circled) of the citing article (see the Assignment Notes below).

2. The Director of the Division in which you work has given you authorization to spend $10,000 annually to purchase journals in support of the Division's activities. She would like you to supply her with a no longer than one page clearly type-written recommendation of journals the Division should purchase. Based on past experience you know that she will expect you to be able to support and defend your recommendations with appropriate data. You should of course appropriately reference the sources on which you based your recommendations.

Assignment Notes:

1. Cited authors with the same surname and initials will be listed under the same heading in the Citation Index and you may need to look at the nature of their work as indicated by where they are publishing to distinguish different authors with the same name.

2. Since you are asked to provide photocopies from the citing article, you will have to pick a citing article in a journal carried by the Montana Tech Library.

3. The identity of the division in which you work will be provided for you.

4. In completing the 2nd part of the assignment you will need to consult a source of subscription prices for journals. The Montana Tech Library uses the EBSCO Information Services, which is available through the Montana Tech Library. You could also consult Ulrich's International Periodicals Directory which provides subscription data for 158,000 journals (as of 1999).

References:

Science Citation Index, Institute for Scientific Information, Philadephia (1961).

Ulrich's International Periodicals Directory, Bowker, New York (1998).