Library products aid in promotion and tenure!

A Library News article published this morning on the VT Libraries website describes how two databases by Thomson Reuters (both of which we subscribe to) can provide valuable information for faculty members working toward promotion and tenure.  Both Web of Science and Journal Citation Reports contain information that can help assess the impact of a particular author, article, or periodical.  The full Library News article is accessible from the link above.

These databasees, Web of Science and JCR can also provide valuable information for students just beginning research in a particular discipline or area of research.  JCR relates a journal's impact factor and a general overview of the landscape of literature in a particular field, while Web of Science offers cited reference searching and other ways to track an author's influence within his field of research.

Although these databases do have limitations (not every journal that is published is listed in JCR, for example), they can provide a great deal of valuable information for both the new researcher and the more experienced faculty member applying for tenure.