Citation analysis using online databases: Feasibilities and shortcomings

Extensive citation analysis with the Science Citation Index (SCI) has becom e possible through expanded search capabilities introduced by STN Internati onal a few years ago. STN enhanced its retrieval language with some importa nt features, originally developed for statistical analysis of patents. Most important are an expanded select command and several functions to list the search results. The publications to be evaluated may be selected either in the SCI, or in a number of other bibliographic databases offered by the ho st. With the help of these features, the basic methods to appropriately mea sure the impact of scientific activities are demonstrated. Furthermore, pos sible shortcomings as well as the risks when interpreting the results of su ch studies are discussed.