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Guide to Social Sciences Citation Index

What is SSCI?

There are 4 major parts of the printed Social Sciences Citation Index:
Citation Index
Source Index
Permuterm Subject Index
Guide/Lists of Source Publications

Finding Citations with Web of Science

Finding Book/Film Reviews using Citation Indexes

What is SSCI?

Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI) is an annual, international, multidisciplinary index which lists hundreds of thousands of articles in over 5,000 journals.  It indexes the literature to 25 social and behavioral science disciplines.

Starting with an older article on a topic of interest, users can identify more recent works that cite that original work in their bibliographies or footnotes.  The rationale behind this concept is that articles citing an older article will be on a similar topic.  It also assists the researcher to identify interconnections among several disciplines, locate updated research, and find retractions and corrections.

Authors also use the SSCI to find out how frequently their articles are being cited, useful for tenure purposes, and determining how influential an article is on other research.

The locations of SSCI are:
Print: JPL Reference Stacks, H1 .S62(1970 - 1975) (1604 Campus)
Electronic: A Web version is available as Web of Science (1975 - current) through the Resources section of the Library web page. (UTSA Library subscription)

Citation Index

1. Beginning with the most recent Citation Index, look up the author of your original (cited) article.
   
   
2. Under the original author's name, find the citation to your original article. All articles written by that author which were cited in the year of the volume you are consulting will appear here.  (NOTE: This volume lists articles in the year they were cited not the year they were published.)
   
   The citation will appear in this format:
   
   Renoux G
   83 B WORLD HEALTH ORGAN  48  661
       Thelin A    SC J S MED      1993   1     15
       Wilson A    B MED HIST     1993   3    115    Cited author
       Original Citation:   year - publication - volume - page number
   Citing article:  Author - publication - year - volume - page number
   Citing article: Author - publication - year - volume - page number
   
   
3. Under the reference to the original author and article are listed all articles that cited that original article in that year.
   
   
4. Using the corresponding Source Index, look up the author of each citing reference you chose.

Note:  Only the first author is indexed.

Source Index

The Source Index provides a complete bibliographic reference to every article in SSCI and the first author's institutional affiliation and address, when available. By using the Source Index from all years since the original article was published, you can track what a particular author has published over time. It is best to consult the five year accumulations for this type of work.

• Authored items are arranged alphabetically by first author's last name. (Note on double surnames: SSCI considers the name that appears last is the last name. So if the author's last name is "Vargas Llosa," SSCI will index the name as "Llosa.") Anonymous and corporately authored source items appear at the beginning of the Source Index.
  
  
• Corporate citations are listed under the name of the publishing institution or agency or by the geographic location of the publishing institution or agency.
  
  
• Anonymous source items are arranged alphabetically by journal title abbreviation and within journal title by issue number.
  
  

Permuterm Subject Index

The Permuterm Subject Index allows you to search for articles on a particular subject. This is a "natural language" index--no subject headings or descriptors have been assigned to articles.

• The terms selected as primary and co-terms are taken from article titles. This is helpful when you only remember some of the words within a title.
• A permuted title-word index corresponds to the source items in SSCI.
• Primary terms from each title are arranged alphabetically.
• Secondary or co-terms are listed alphabetically beneath the primary terms.
• Authors who have used the primary and co-term within the title of their article are listed opposite each co-term. This is useful if you only know some of the words in the title.  Once you have an author reference, search for that author in the Source Index.

Guide and Lists of Source Publications

The "Guide" illustrates how to use the Social Sciences Citation Index.  The "lists of source publications" gives the full title for a source abbreviation and tells you what sources are covered by SSCI.

Need to know if UTSA subscribes to a particular journal?  Do a title search in UCAT, UTSA Library Catalog:  (e.g., journal of personality and social psychology).  To find if another library in San Antonio subscribes to the journal, check WorldCat.:

Web of Science

Web of Science is the electronic version of the Social Sciences Citation Index, Science Citation Index and the Arts and Humanities Citation Index. For instructions on using the Web of Science to find who cited an older article, go to: Web of Science: Cited Reference Search