A revisit to the specification of sub-datasets and corresponding coverage timespans when using Web of Science Core Collection

Abstract

Many papers used the Web of Science Core Collection (WOSCC) as the data source. The work by Liu (2019, Scientometrics) revealed that only 48 % of such papers published in information science and library science journals during 2017–2018 specified which sub-datasets they used, and subsequently urged researchers to provide such information together with the corresponding coverage timespans to improve transparency and reproducibility. This work revisited this issue to reveal if the current condition has improved following Liu's recommendations. Using WOSCC, 934 bibliometric open-access papers published during 2020–2022 in non-information science and library science journals were evaluated. Of these 934 papers, 45.0 % specified the sub-datasets of WOSCC they used for data collection, and 4.8 % specified the coverage timespan(s) of corresponding sub-datasets or the overall dataset. There seemed to be no improvement in the specification of data source using WOSCC.