End of an Era: Social Sciences Citation Index Canceled

The Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), Meriam Library's last citation index, has been canceled. Our subscription will continue through the end of this year, but in 2006 it will not be renewed.

The SSCI is one of three major citation indexes from The Institute for Scientific Information (ISI). Our subscriptions to the Arts & Humanities Citation Index and Science Citation Index were canceled in 1993.

The rational behind the decision to cancel was primarily due to low use (this is a print index, not electronic), high cost ($7985.00 subscription price per year), and the availability of new online periodical indexes in the social sciences that meet the needs of more students and faculty than the print version of SSCI could.

The SSCI (along with the Arts & Humanities and the Science Citation indexes) is available via an online format through ISI's Web of Science. But at a subscription price of over $30,000.00 per year, it is simply too cost prohibitive for our library.

For many of you in academe, citation searching via a "citation index" was an important part of your research experience and I also realize that some of you create assignments in which your students need to use this source. Please contact me if you have any questions or concerns regarding this cancellation. It is indeed the end of an era, but perhaps someday we will be able to look back and realize we were on the brink of a new era in information retrieval. Time will tell.