PLoS ONE indexed by Web of Science
Today we learned that by the end of this week PLoS ONE (in keeping with all other PLoS journals) will be indexed by the Web of Science – this is an important literature discovery tool that many people use and so we are pleased to be indexed. PLoS ONE is also indexed by a host of other services such as PubMed, MEDLINE, PubMed Central, Scopus, Google Scholar, the Chemical Abstracts Service (CAS), EMBASE, AGRICOLA, PsycINFO, Zoological Records, FSTA (Food Science and Technology Abstracts), GeoRef, and RefAware.
Initially, coverage in the Web of Science will include new PLoS ONE articles plus those published in 2008 and 2009, and will be expanded to the articles published in 2006 (when PLoS ONE was launched) and 2007 in the coming weeks. Inclusion in the Web of Science also means that in June 2010 PLoS ONE will receive journal-level citation data from Thomson Reuters including a 2- and 5-year Impact Factor and Eigenfactor metrics.
As we have previously indicated, PLoS believes that research articles are best assessed on their own merits, rather than on the basis of the journal (and its impact factor) where the work happens to be published. While we are happy that PLoS ONE articles will become more discoverable as a result of their inclusion in the Web of Science, we will continue to push forward with our Article-Level Metrics program.
Naturally, we understand that inclusion in the Web of Science is significant for many academics whose research output is still measured by traditional means. We hope that this news encourages even more scientists to publish their work in PLoS journals, to benefit from the article-level metrics that are provided for every PLoS article (for example, this PLoS ONE article), and to ensure that all interested users have open access to their research.