News

Coverage for Social Sciences Citation Index Extended

14-Oct-2009

Thanks in part to a generous contribution from ISU's Graduate and Professional Student Senate (GPSS), the Library has been able to purchase The Century of Social Science (COSS), a massive, electronic backfile of social sciences literature from the years 1898-1955. Published by Thomson Reuters' Institute for Scientific Information, COSS complements the Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI) which covers the social sciences literature from 1955 to the present. SSCI in turn is part of the ISI Web of Knowledge, one of the Library's premier research tools. In the spring of this year, members of GPSS voted to fund half the one-time cost of this important research collection.

The Century of Social Science includes the full-text of over 300 of the top social sciences journals from this period in history, allowing users to trace research in the areas of psychology, communication, education, geography, political science, public health, and sociology, or to follow the works of (and reactions to) key figures such as Sigmund Freud or Otis Dudley Duncan. Bear in mind that the journals included in COSS are not necessarily the same titles covered in the more recent SSCI, but represent significant journals that may have ceased publication during the 20^th century.

For more information, contact Rebecca Jackson at rjackson@iastate.edu or 4-9030.