Publication and Citation Counts: Books and Chapter
Books are not traditionally indexed in databases and may be less frequently cited.
Books and book chapters are a prominent form of scholarly output, particularly in Social Sciences and Humanities. The research contribution of books and book chapters can be difficult to measure with traditional bibliometrics due to a lack of coverage in citation tracking sources such as Scopus and Web of Science.
Inaccuracies and inconsistencies in the referencing data (such as date, author and edition variations) can also make it difficult to determine accurate citation counts, when this data is obtained from sources such as Google and Google Scholar.
In most cases, you can use a combination of traditional citation metrics where available, and alternative indicators of influence in academia listed below.
Types of Book Metrics
Citation count
Who is citing your work and where?
Check the traditional citation tracking sources for citation counts on books or book chapters:
- Google Scholar
Locate scholarly literature, including academic books, from all broad areas of research; sourced from a wide variety of academic publishers, professional societies and university repositories. - Scopus
Includes editorially selected books and book series at both book and chapter level. - Web of Science
Includes the Book Citation Index which indexes editorially selected books in the Sciences, Social Sciences and Humanities.
Book reviews
Book reviews can indicate the exposure and reception of your book in either the scholarly or wider community.
Check for reviews published in scholarly journals and publications:
- Google and Google Scholar
Search the title of the book/chapter (enclose in quotation marks for the exact phrase). Add the word 'Review' as a keyword. - Library search box
Search the title of the book/chapter (enclose in quotation marks for the exact phrase). Use the filters of the left to limit to 'Reviews' or add the word 'Review' as a keyword.
Search a database specific to your discipline. Some databases allow you to filter to 'Reviews' or add the word 'Review' as a keyword.
Check for reviews published in news media:
Check other public websites:
Library holdings
Alternative measures of influence
Additional measures of attention, influence, or prestige include:
- Appearance of book/chapter on academic reading lists
- Prestige of publisher
- Awards or prizes
- Book sales / appearance on best seller lists / book club reading lists
- Translations or adaptions
- Reprints
- Media attention (See: Alternative metrics)