[Note from moderator: For information, as publisher I have twice suggested TAC to Thomson. Three years ago it was rejected after a long delay with no explanation other than a reference to their "policy". When the suggestion was renewed last summer via email and their web site mentioned below I received no response at all, not even an acknowledgement, certainly no gift card.] Dear Colleagues, I wrote Thomson and asked how to find out what's covered, and also how to request a journal be included. Below is a copy of the response I received. I checked, and neither Cahiers nor T&AC are included (nor is ENTCS, sad to say). I also took a brief look at the leading essay on the ISI site about their rationalization for their selection process. The bottom line in my view is that they provide this service not for our needs, but for those who want quick and dirty guesstimates of the importance of publications. Administrators like to use such rankings, and publishers also focus on them, citing impact factor as a major aspect of the importance of journals they publish. We can all go to the site listed below to request that Cahiers and T&AC (and don't forget ENTCS!!) be included, but I'm afraid this community is too small to have an impact (sic) on this industry, so I think we should look elsewhere for the needs we have to be met. Of course, there is the lure of that $50 American Express gift card.... Best regards, Mike Mislove
From: ts.cts-ps@thomson.com Date: December 4, 2008 10:35:11 AM CST To: mislove@tulane.edu Subject: RE: Web of Science Journal Coverage CASE 254481
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On Dec 3, 2008, at 11:23 AM, John Baez wrote:
Dear category theorists -
Thomson Scientific runs the well-known "Science Citation Index", which "provides researchers, administrators, faculty, and students with quick, powerful access to the bibliographic and citation information they need to find relevant, comprehensive research data". I believe data from this index is used in tenure and promotion decisions at some universities.
I just heard that "Theory and Applications of Categories" and "Cahiers" are not listed on the Science Citation Index, while - for example - Elsevier's journal "Homeopathy" is listed there.
Is this true? Is there some way to improve the situation?
Best, jb
=============================================== Professor Michael Mislove Phone: +1 504 862-3441 Department of Mathematics FAX: +1 504 865-5063 Tulane University URL: http://www.math.tulane.edu/~mwm New Orleans, LA 70118 USA ===============================================