Citation Index Checker

Mathematical Sciences Publishers is a not-for-profit publishing company that publishes mainly mathematical research journals. One of our responsibilities is to make sure that our publications are properly indexed at various citation index websites. We want a tool that will make this job easier for us. WHAT WE NEED FROM YOU The following websites provide lists of published articles from one or more of our journals: MathSciNet: [login to view URL] Zentralblatt MATH: [login to view URL] Web of Science: [login to view URL] Create a tool that automatically compares these websites' list of our articles and related data to our own lists of our articles and related data. The tool should flag inconsistencies such as missing data, incorrect data, or added data that is present on the index site but not in our own records (i.e., an article incorrectly attributed to our journal). Here are some technical requirements: - Language: Python preferred, PHP ok. - To be installed on a vanilla LAMP/Ubuntu 12 server w/ MySQL 5.5, alongside other webapps; provide installation instructions and specify all dependencies. - The code needs to be easily maintainable/configurable, in particular if the the structure of the indexing agencies' websites is to change, or a new agency is needed, or a new journal, or the structure of our DB changes, etc. We want this tool to last and be useable for a while. - Provide good documentation. More detailed requirements are listed below. Proposals for an alternative UI that would offer equivalent functionality are welcome. ## Deliverables INTRODUCTION Mathematical Sciences Publishers is a not-for-profit publishing company specializing in, you guessed it, the mathematical sciences. We publish mainly research journals, and are also responsible for the publicity, marketing, and subscription development that such journals demand. One of the tools of marketing/usage that we find particularly important is the citation index. Citation indexes list crucial information about published academic articles. This makes it easier for researchers to find our articles and (hopefully) become interested in us and our journals. Unfortunately, citation indexes are not infallible, and sometimes they list incorrect information about our journals. Titles are misspelled; authors are not credited; or articles are left off of the list completely. When this happens, we obviously want to catch and address the errors as quickly as possible. The more accurate the index data is, the better chance there is that a researcher will eventually end up at our website. Our task, then, is to regularly make sure that all of the publication information listed in these citation indexes is accurate. However, because checking each individual article title, author name, volume/issue number, and page number is mind-numbingly tedious, we'd really like to be able to get a computer to do the job for us. WHAT WE NEED FROM YOU The following websites provide lists of published articles from one or more of our journals: MathSciNet: [login to view URL] Zentralblatt MATH: [login to view URL] Web of Science: [login to view URL] Create a tool that automatically compares these websites' list of our articles and related data to our own lists of our articles and related data. The tool should flag inconsistencies such as missing data, incorrect data, or added data that is present on the index site but not in our own records (i.e., an article incorrectly attributed to our journal). Here are some technical requirements: - Language: Python preferred, PHP ok. - To be installed on a vanilla LAMP/Ubuntu 12 server w/ MySQL 5.5, alongside other webapps; provide installation instructions and specify all dependencies. - The code needs to be easily maintainable/configurable, in particular if the the structure of the indexing agencies' websites is to change, or a new agency is needed, or a new journal, or the structure of our DB changes, etc. We want this tool to last and be useable for a while. - Provide good documentation. SPECIFIC DESCRIPTION OF WHAT WE WANT The tool should start with four drop-down boxes and two buttons. The drop-down boxes allow the user to choose the following settings: -which citation index to search (MathSciNet, Zentralblatt MATH, or Web of Science) -which journal to search for (see limitations below) -the earliest publication year to search -the last publication year to search So, for example, if you choose MathSciNet, "Algebraic & Geometric Topology, and 2011 − 2012, the tool will search on MathSciNet for entries where the journal/publication name is "Algebraic & Geometric Topology" and the publication year is 2011 or 2012. The available journals are determined by the chosen citation index, and the year/range of years is determined by both the citation index and the journal. The tool should allow us to configure it for this. The two buttons execute two different tasks. Button I When you click one button, the tool generates a list of articles published in the chosen journal during the chosen publication year(s). Each row of the list contains the following corresponding information: -journal name -article title -authors -volume and issue -year published -page numbers This information can be pulled from the msp database. The list is displayed on the tool page. An extra column on the end is added, for use as described below After generating this list, the tool automatically moves down the list and searches the selected index site for records that match each row of information. If the search returns a perfect match, the tool adds a check mark next to that row on the list. If the search returns a partial match, the tool instead marks on the list the specific items of information that did not match (so if the article "My brilliant mathematics" can be found on the index site, but the authors listed are different from those in our database, in place of a check mark the tool notes "authors"). If the search returns no match at all, the tool marks "no match" next to that row on the list. NOTE: If the chosen citation index is Web of Science, the list should contain all of the information listed above, PLUS another column for the article's DOI. The DOI should then be included in the search and results just like the other columns. Button II The second button does the following: As before, the user selects a journal, an index site, and a range of years, and a list of articles is generated. This time, only the following information is in the list: -journal name -article title -year published After generating this MSP list, the tool automatically searches the chosen index site using the journal and year parameters that the user chose. The tool generates a list of the results, with the following information: -journal name -article title -year published The tool then checks to see whether any article titles on the index site list are missing from the MSP list, or vice versa. The results are shown in two tables: "Not Indexed" and "Not MSP Article." If an article title is present in both lists, the article title is not displayed. If an article title is present in the MSP list but NOT the index site list, it is displayed in "Not Indexed." If an article title is present in the index site list but NOT the MSP list, it is displayed in "Not MSP Article." Proposals for an alternative UI that would offer equivalent functionality are welcome.