Citation Autobiography: An Investigation of ISI Database Coverage in Determining Author Citedness

Thomas E. Nisonger is an Associate Professor in the Indiana University School of Library and Information Science, Bloomington; e-mail: [email protected]. The author thanks his two graduate assistants at Indiana University’s School of Library and Information Science, Jason Cooper and Leah Broaddus, who helped tabulate data; his wife, Claire Nisonger, who helped search for Web citations; and Debora Shaw, Interim Dean of the School, who kindly shared one of her unpublished manuscripts with him. This article presents a case study investigating the coverage completeness of the Institute for Scientific Information’s citation data for specific authors, based on analysis of this author’s lifetime citation record, which was compiled through the ISI database, searching the literature for nearly fifteen years, and through various Web search engines. It was found that (with self-citations disregarded) the ISI captured 28.8 percent of the total citations, 42.2 percent of print citations, 20.3 percent of citations from outside the United States, and 2.3 percent of non-English citations. The definition and classification of Web citations are discussed. It is suggested that librarians and faculty should not rely solely on ISI author citation counts, especially when demonstration of international impact is important.