If you are interested in interdisciplinary research, then Web of Science is an excellent database to utilize for your non legal research. Web of Science is a multidisciplinary indexing tool, which means that it provides citation information for scholarly journals, books, conference proceedings, reports, and more. The database contains citations to over 10,000 high impact journals and over 120,000 conference proceedings. You’ll find current and retrospective coverage in the sciences, social sciences, arts, and humanities, with coverage available to 1900.
Two useful tools available on Web of Science are the journal impact factor and the cited reference tool. The first tool, the journal impact factor, is a measure of the frequency with which the “average article” in a journal has been cited in a particular year. The impact factor helps you evaluate a journal’s relative importance, especially when comparing it to others in the same field. Much like Keycite or Shepards, the second tool, the cited reference tool, allows you to view what sources have cited to a previously published source.
If you identify an article from Web of Science that you would like to read, you can search the Library’s E-Journal Portal to determine whether or not the journal is available electronically. If it is not available electronically, then you can request that the article be delivered to you through ILLiad, the Library’s interlibrary loan system. See this previous post for more information on how to submit a request through ILLiad.
If you have any questions about Web of Science, E-Journal Portal, or ILLiad, please contact a reference librarian.
