Students and researchers can easily locate new sources of research on diverse topics with the enriched ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Citation Index, as well as easily showcase their work and monitor impact over time.
An academic career can be rewarding, but also marked by high stress[1]. Today’s researchers are challenged to balance multiple priorities and deadlines – from securing adequate funding for their work, to meeting the demands of a full teaching workload — all while publishing research in impactful journals. Early career researchers in particular face a unique set of obstacles to gain recognition in a competitive environment with a shrinking number of permanent positions.
Earlier this year, we integrated records for more than 5.5 million dissertations and theses from ProQuestTM Dissertations & Theses Global into the Web of ScienceTM to provide students and researchers with a more holistic and comprehensive view of the scholarly landscape within a single platform. This integration opened an avenue for researchers from over 4,100 institutions in more than 60 countries to showcase their achievements to peers and evaluators. Researchers at every career stage can claim their dissertation or thesis in their Web of Science Researcher Profile to increase the visibility of their work in a database visited daily by tens of thousands of users worldwide.
Deepening connection between unpublished and published scholarship
Today we take another step forward. Cited references from ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global are now fully integrated with the Web of Science citation network, offering citation metrics for dissertations and theses and cross-linking between records on the platform, deepening connections between post-graduate works and other scholarly outputs.
Applying citation indexing to dissertations and theses in the Web of Science helps students and early career researchers develop their topics faster, increase the visibility of their work and monitor impact over time. Fully integrating dissertations and theses into the Web of Science citation network can help boost recognition of an author’s earliest works and provide encouraging insights into the emerging influence of a post-graduate project.
The value of citation indexing
A hallmark of the Web of Science Core CollectionTM is the consistent and complete cited reference capture for each indexed item. The same process is now applied to ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Citation Index — each record contains a full, browsable, cited reference list. Several additional databases on the Web of Science platform contribute citations to the expansive platform-wide citation network. As new cited references are captured, dissertations and theses will accrue citations from indexed research, helping users gauge the impact or influence of dissertations to scholarship over time. Users can also explore the unpublished dissertations and theses that cite published research and build on the concepts in peer-reviewed literature in new ways.
Through the new indexing of over 172 million cited references from dissertations and theses, users can quickly locate new research sources on diverse and niche topics and discover related works.
For the novice researcher, dissertation and thesis cited references offer a “ready-made” literature review of research topics that may not be published in peer-reviewed sources but are popular with students for research papers and projects.
Showcasing achievement to peers and evaluators
Adding post-graduate work into the Web of Science ecosystem increases its visibility and can boost career-building efforts of early career researchers. Each author can claim their dissertation or thesis to their Web of Science Researcher Profile and sign up for citation alerts, helping them track and showcase citation impact inclusive of their earliest works. The Web of Science citation network helps generate new connections between papers and people. With information on who cites their work delivered to their inbox, early career researchers can get a jump start on expanding their research network.
Our commitment to empowering researchers
Clarivate is committed to addressing user feedback and requests promptly. Incorporating dissertations and theses into the Web of Science platform was driven by user feedback emphasizing the value of this content. Now with millions of new connection points between unpublished and published scholarship available, the Web of Science platform helps facilitate academic success for students and drive further advancements for researchers.
Learn more about ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Citation Index at our upcoming webinar.
