Citation index

History and Major Citation Indexing Services - The earliest known citation index dates back to the 12th century. - Shepards Citations, published in 1873, was a well-known citation index for legal cases. - Citation indexes were initially used for tracking science and engineering literature in the 20th century. - Major citation indexing services include Web of Science by Clarivate Analytics, Scopus by Elsevier, CiteSeer, and Google Scholar. - Subject-specific citation indexing services include INSPIRE-HEP, PubMed, and Astrophysics Data System. Representativeness and Limitations of Proprietary Databases - Clarivate Analytics Web of Science and Elsevier's Scopus databases are considered authoritative sources of bibliometric data. - Research output from countries in South America, Asia, and Africa may be underrepresented in these databases. - Both Web of Science and Scopus are highly selective and predominantly controlled by panels in North America and Western Europe. - Coverage of journals outside North America and Europe is limited in both databases. - Scopus covers a fraction of journal publishing outside North America and Europe. Limitations and Impact of Scopus and Web of Science - The editorial boards of journals in Scopus and Web of Science are predominantly composed of researchers from Western Europe and North America. - Subject-specific indexes may reveal geographical and topic bias in citation coverage. - The under-representation of applied research in Africa, Asia, and South America may impact research strategies and policy development in these regions. - Citation indexing services like Web of Science and Scopus are widely used for researcher evaluation, institutional impact assessment, and international rankings. - The research output of countries in South America, Asia, and Africa may be perceived as low based on data from Scopus. Challenges of English Language Dominance and Epistemic Barriers - Overpromotion of global databases diminishes the role of local and regional journals. - English language dominance poses challenges for non-native speakers. - Non-native speakers spend time and resources on translation and correction. - Research from South East Asia, Africa, and Latin America is underrepresented in global databases. - Conscious and unconscious bias exists in North American and European journals. Efforts to Broaden Database Scope and Discipline- and Region-Specific Repositories - Clarivate Analytics integrated the SciELO citation index into Web of Science. - The creation of the Emerging Sources Index (ESI) increased access to international titles. - Traditional metrics do not capture the dynamics of the global science landscape. - Discipline- and region-specific preprint repositories like AfricArXiv and InarXiv bridge the gap. - Open access advocates recommend remaining critical of global research databases built in Europe or North America.