Publication data is recorded in most databases, both nationally and internationally. The most important databases and data sources are explained here.
Central databases and data sources
Select a database for more information.
DiVA
The most common source of data analyses is DiVA. All researchers at Stockholm University are asked to register their publishing activity in DiVA- from popular scientific papers and books to scientific articles and monographs. This is why correct registration in DiVA is critical, as well as keeping the database updated with current information.
Web of Science and Impact Factor
Web of Science is a database of published articles. Some book titles are also included in the series. It was founded in 1960 by the Institute of Scientific Information in the US, and the research company Thomson Reuters is the current owner.
The database consists of several parts, but the most commonly used are The Science Citation Index and The Social Science Citation Index. The quality of all the indexed material is assured through a strict application process requiring all approved publications to be peer-reviewed and correctly represented in digital format.
These indexes are used to create the annual statistics of the Journal Citation Reports, which in turn generates the Journal Impact Factor. The Impact Factor is a measurement that indicates the average number of citations per article in a given calendar year and includes articles published in each of the journals’ two-year volumes that came out before the citation year.
There is also an Arts & Humanities Citation Index, but it does not produce a statistical report on citations, and the journals are not ranked by Impact Factor.
SCOPUS
In 2004, the citation database SCOPUS was founded by the publishing house Elsevier. It was established as an alternative to Web of Science to provide more analysis opportunities and include a journals and book series that were not addressed by the competitor.
SCOPUS can analyse the number of citations per article or magazine, but it measures different parameters. There is an h-index for each sample of data, and there is a service called SCImago Journal & Country Rank (SJR) that compares different publication channels.
Google Scholar
Google Scholar lists scientific publications from electronically published journals with a DOI number or from well-known databases, and it also includes information from other publication databases, such as DiVA or an equivalent.
The author’s name is stored, making it possible to obtain statistics on the use of published entries per author. Data inflow to content from Google Scholar is automatically generated and is not quality-assured, but it provides a good overview and records new information quickly.
A search result indicator on Google Scholar shows the number of citations that include data from both the Web of Science and Scopus, however, the total number is not useful because duplicate posts are possible.
The Norwegian Database for Statistics on Higher Education
Stockholm University uses additional sources to analyse publication frequency since Web of Science and Scopus are not comprehensive, in particular regarding published social sciences and humanities material.
In Norway, a database that contains a list of publishing channels sorted into different levels of scientific validity has been developed. It is sometimes called ’the Norwegian list’, and is used to ensure that researcher's writings are published in accordance with good scientific practice.
The list contains approved publication channels for periodicals, book series and publishers. The publication channels are rated on a scale between 0 and 2.
- Level 0 indicates that the channel has a national readership but has no scientific review process.
- Level 1 indicates that the channel undergoes a scientific review process and has an international readership.
- Level 2 indicates that the channel is of a high, international class in terms of review of published articles and books, and the selection represents the top 20 percent of the total amount of channels.
The ranking is done annually, and the list is evaluated by Norwegian scientific experts who specialise within the related subject matter. Reviews of new publishing channels can be requested and information about the inclusion criteria for new channels is available.