The library provides access to databases that will show how many times a scholarly article has been used by another researcher for their research. This use is demonstrated by citation counts: the more citations received, the greater the impact. Some examples of databases that track citation counts are listed below.
Use (Cited by) in the results list or the Cited Reference Search. Web of Science provides access to Science Citation Index, Social Science Citation Index, and Arts and Humanities Citation Index.
Use (More Search Options) in Advanced Search or Search Tools. PsycINFO provides indexing coverage of all document types, including journal articles, book chapters, books, dissertations, and technical reports. The database focuses on research in the field of Psychology.
Use (Citation Locator) (Items Citing this Item) in the search results. JSTOR is an online collection of academic journals in all fields.
Use (Cited By) in the search results. Google Scholar includes citations from an array of sources in its cited by calculation. Use Google Scholar to find articles from a wide variety of academic publishers, professional societies, preprint repositories and universities, as well as scholarly articles available across the web.
More information on using citation metrics can be found on our Research Impact and Metrics Library Guide.
Another way to find influential articles is to look at alternative metrics. Since most research, including journal articles, are now electronic and networked we can track how many times they are accessed, used, and shared. These numbers help provide a more complete picture of the reach and impact of research and scholarship; one that goes beyond citations in peer-reviewed publications. Altmetrics can tell you how many times a paper was mentioned in policy documents, social media and newspapers, for instance. The University Library System provides access to the Altmetric Explorer. It is a web-based platform that enables users to search for and report on attention data of scholarly content. For further information visit our Altmetrics Library Guide.
For assistance locating and using traditional citation metrics or altmetrics, please contact Aimee Jenkins aimees@pitt.edu
