Web of Science is one of the oldest and most influential indexes of scholarly literature. It covers curated sets of journals, conference proceedings, and books and records which works cite which, making it possible to follow ideas forward and backward through the literature. Researchers use it to find relevant papers, track citations, and analyze trends in a field.
Institutions also use its data for research evaluation. Clarivate publishes the Journal Citation Reports, which includes the impact factor, one of the most discussed metrics in academia, and Web of Science supports measures of authors, journals, and institutions. A Research Assistant adds AI-driven features such as natural language search and summaries of results. The selectivity of coverage is a selling point and also a criticism, as it favors certain journals and languages.
Access is by institutional subscription, so most users reach it through a university library, and costs are high. Scopus from Elsevier is the direct competitor, Google Scholar and OpenAlex are free alternatives with broader coverage, and Dimensions combines publications with grants and patents. Web of Science suits researchers and administrators at institutions with access.