The SJSU version of Web of Science is a citation database that covers three major tools: Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-Expanded), Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), and Arts & Humanities Citation Index (A&HCI). The complete database covers thousands of scholarly journals from 1995 to the present, across a broad range of disciplines. The most useful tool for library science students is the Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), which is a multidisciplinary index to the journal literature covering Library & Information Science as well as psychology, social issues, sociology, and several other disciplines within the social sciences.

What makes Web of Science unique is that it is a citation index, which means that you can use this tool to find articles that cite a previously published work, allowing you to trace an idea forward and backward in the literature. In addition to cited reference searching, you can search these databases by topic, author, and more. To locate the full text of documents, select the Get Text icon to determine whether the document is available electronically or in print.

Click Next to begin this module. The Web of Science database will load in the right frame on the next screen, with directions for searching in the left. If you are accessing this database remotely, you will be asked to enter your SJPL barcode or SJSU ID and Pin number before being able to use the database.

IMPORTANT: There is a limit to the number of users that can access Web of Science simultaneously. Therefore, if the database does not load, you will need to revisit Module 3 at a later time and log in to L.O.T.S.S. as a Returning Student.

Also, if the active tab you see is not “Web of Science,” then look for the third tab, “Web of Science,” and press that tab to display the proper screen for beginning the tutorial. (The display seems to vary with different browsers).