Citation databases
Citation databases are databases developed for evaluating publications. They enable you to count citations and check, for example, which articles or journals are most cited. However, none of the citation databases covers all publications. Also the coverage of disciplines varies greatly.
Citation databases and bibliometric indicators are based on citations and their amount. Citing in itself, however, is not always a quality criterion and there can be many reasons for the citing (negative citations, ethnocentricity, self-citation).
Compare citation databases
| Database |
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| General information | Multidisciplinary abstract and citation database, oldest and most frequently used | |
| Service provider | Clarivate Analytics | |
| Access | Access via Finna in the university’s network or by remote access if the university has license to the database. University of Vaasa and Novia have a license to Web of Science. | |
| Content |
Web of Science (WoS) comprises of several separate multidisciplinary, field-specific and regional citation databases as well as patent and research information databases. Access to the databases depends on your university's license. Altogether, the databases in WoS include 182 million titles starting from 1800s. The Web of Science Core Collection includes high-quality scientific journals, conference publications and books selected as most influential worldwide by an internal editorial board. WoS provides access to essential Core Collection indexes: Science Citation Index Expanded, Social Sciences Citation Index and Arts and Humanities Citation Index. |
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| Coverage | Excellent coverage: Hard sciences (chemistry, clinical medicine, biochemistry) Good coverage: Psychology, mathematics, economics, technology Moderate coverage: Humanities and social sciences |
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| Advantages | Covers publications from a long time period (especially hard sciences) Well-known and used indicators Comprehensive search options |
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| Limitations | Only moderate coverage in humanities and social sciences Publications are mainly journals in English, other languages and countries poorly represented |
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| Features | Cited Reference Search Citation Mapping Alerts Citation Report and h-index Researchers search Journal Citation Reports database (evaluating and comparing the impact factor of journals) |
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| Bibliometric indicators | Total number of citations H-index Impact factor Immediacy index AI (article impact) EF (Eigenfactor) Citation median |
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| Researcher profile | ResearcherID. Can be integrated with an ORCID account. | |
| Other | Impact Factor is only available in Web of Science, Clarivate Analytics has exclusive rights |
| Database |
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| General information | Multidisciplinary abstract and citation database | |
| Service provider | Elsevier | |
| Access | Accessible via Finna in the university’s network or by remote access if the university has license to the database. University of Vaasa has a license to Scopus. | |
| Content | Contains about 29 000 scientific journals from more than 7000 publishers and 400 000 books (in 2025). Includes also Open Access journals and conference publications. Citations starting from 1996. | |
| Coverage | Most comprehensive collection in natural sciences, technology, medicine and social sciences. Material from all over the world (also Europe, Asia and Latin America). | |
| Advantages | Easy to use More comprehensive than WoS regarding social sciences, humanities and technology Different continents quite well represented |
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| Limitations | Citations indexed since 1996 Errors can occur, especially regarding authors with the same name Publications are mainly journals in English |
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| Features | Author Identifier Authors search Organizations search Sources (analysing publication channels) Alerts Citation alert H-index |
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| Bibliometric indicators | Total number of citations CiteScore FWCI (Field-Weighted Citation Impact) SJR (SCImago Journal Rank) SNIP (Source Normalized Impact per Paper) H-index |
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| Researcher profile | Scopus Author Indentifier. Can be integrated with an ORCID account. | |
| Other | - |
| Database |
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| General information | Search engine that searches for data in scientific online sources | |
| Service provider | ||
| Access | Free to use online | |
| Content | Search results include, for example, theses, books, abstracts, conference papers and articles produced by academic publishers, institutions, universities and other scientific organizations. | |
| Coverage | No information on which publishers or publications are included in the search Material from various fields |
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| Advantages | Open for all Access to many full texts Comprehensive, especially regarding conference publications as well as free and Open Access publications Searches for information irrespective of country and language Easy to use |
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| Limitations | Lack of transparency: no information on which sources are covered with the search or how often they are updated Several important databases do not allow Google to use their data Many citations are non-scientific Errors in publication information (e.g. authors, year of publication) and citations |
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| Features | Most common search features Search within cited articles List of Top publications |
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| Bibliometric indicators | Total number of citations, no other indicators. Indicators based on the data in Google Scholar can be created in the free software Publish or Perish (PoP). | |
| Researcher profile | Google Scholar Citations | |
| Other |
In your university's network the full text articles and journals acquired by your university can be accessed directly via Google Scholar. Remote access to these same articles is available only via Finna or Google Scholar's Library links (Settings -> Library links -> Search for your university -> Select -> Save) |
