Web of Science Core Collection spans far more
than just science, including over 3300 journals
across all disciplines in the Social Sciences
– let’s look at how searching Web of Science
can easily help you make surprising connections
to related research that is helping drive
innovation…
Jane Goodall’s work in primatology is known
across the world.
Searching for her as a subject in Web of Science
Core Collection, I can see that she is discussed
in academic publications in fields like anthropology
and environmental studies which I might expect,
but also in some that are less expected like
engineering and computer systems.
Her work has wide-ranging influence.
But there is another way to search for her
influence that you may be missing.
Because Web of Science Core Collection is
a true citation index, we capture all cited
references from each scholarly publication
we ingest – even to non-journal items, like
monographs and primary sources.
These citation links are associations that
reveal a story of how scholarly research is
connected, and you never know where they may
lead you.
Take a look at this example.
In the Shadow of Man, a chronicle of Goodall’s
time spent studying chimpanzees in the wild
of Tanzania, introduced the world to never-before-seen
primate behavior and tool-making skills which
were thought at the time to be unique to humans,
but thanks in part to her work we understand
that animals and humans share the ability
to innovate.
Searching Jane Goodall as a cited author,
and the name of the book, In the Shadow of
Man, using Cited Reference Search in Web of
Science, I can see that it’s been cited
by over 300 scholarly articles.
Those citations come from zoology, anthropology,
behavioral sciences, psychology and more.
This citing article from the field of Engineering
and Manufacturing, examines the cognitive
skills that humans share with animals which
are the foundation of the modern idea of Design
Thinking.
Design thinking is a system that creates user-centered
designs to solve problems through repeated
investigation and iteration.
Today we use design thinking to problem-solve
and build products, processes and learning
materials, but the origins of our ability
to do this are millions of years old.
We’ve looked at where we’ve come from,
but what about where we’re going?
Following the thread of this scholarly conversation,
we can use Related Records to look at articles
that share citations in common with the paper
on design thinking – it reveals a whole
community of research on this topic.
Design thinking enters into urban planning,
libraries, manufacturing, process engineering,
software and systems design, to name a few.
The Arts, Humanities, Social and Natural Sciences
– it’s all connected.
Opening pathways to new discovery and driving
innovation.
