Citation databases are key tools in demonstrating the impact of an individual published paper or of a researcher's body of published work. They can be used to:

• Demonstrate the impact of an article by the number of times it has been cited since it was published (citing references)
• Use the author's references (cited references) to find the research that underpinned his or her work
• Find related work in a field of research
• Track the work of colleagues or competitors
• Track the development of a theory
• Identify influential (highly cited) papers and researchers or research groups

As no single database will contain complete information on who has cited a particular work, it is advisable to use multiple sources. Many Library databases and research repositories include citing references, but do not provide citation analysis tools.

Scopus and Web of Science are two large citation databases that can provide citing references. Google Scholar also provides a 'cited by' feature.

There are also other databases available and many of these are subject specific. To locate databases relevant to your research area you can consult the Library's Subject Guides.

Scopus

Web of Science

Google Scholar