We now have an additional database available via Web of Science – Emerging Sources Citation Index.
This database is for new and emerging journals which haven’t yet been accepted into the full citation indexes. It expands the range of journals in Web of Science and picks up quite a lot of new open access journals, independent publishers and scholarly societies plus journals with irregular publication patterns.
Journals accepted for ESCI have to be peer reviewed, follow ethical publishing practices, meet technical requirements and be recommended by Web of Science users as for the other indexes. All journals now submitted to WOS will be considered for this index initially while they are undergoing a full evaluation. If a journal is accepted for one of the other citation indexes it will move out of ESCI so that there is no duplication.
ESCI journals will not be assessed for an impact factor though the citations in these journals will contribute to the impact factors of others.
This database should add some depth to sources available for new and emerging fields of study so is a useful addition to Web of Science. Of course, if you prefer to keep to the traditional citation indexes you can simply deselect it in the More settings section of the initial screen.