There’s a new database in town with the potential to help with publication analysis, grant tracking questions, and more. GW has recently secured an institutional subscription to Dimensions from DigitalScience which was launched in 2018 to compete with Elsevier’s Scopus database. Like Scopus, the Dimensions database allows you to search for information based on researcher and institutional profiles. But unlike Scopus in its current form, Dimensions aims to track the full research lifecycle including not only publications related data, but also information about grants, datasets, patents, and more. Dimensions also includes an “Analytical Views” dashboard designed to help you see information about trends for publication source titles, citations, and funders.
To access the Dimensions database from off-campus locations, use the VPN so that you can create groups and save dashboards. Next, access the Himmelfarb Library website and click on All Databases. From there, navigate to the link for Dimensions Analytics to get started. Use the “Log in” button in the top right hand corner of the screen to login with your NetID and password (reminder: to login use VPN from off-campus locations). From there, use the left hand navigation filters to search for information about specific researchers, funders, or organizations.
Like many systems that strive to aggregate vast amounts of data, Dimensions in its current form does have some limitations. Underlying data is at times incomplete and the user interface can be less than intuitive for some functionality. However, Dimensions can still be a valuable tool for creating groups and tracking research trends. Have specific questions or want to learn more about using Dimensions? Check out this Dimensions toolkit or reach out to the Himmelfarb Library.
Questions? Please contact Sara Hoover (shoover@gwu.edu) or Tom Harrod (tph@gwu.edu)!
