The Scientist's new format represents a turning point in the long evolution of my involvement in the field of scientific communication. Although a major part of my work has been devoted to improving scientific information retrieval and dissemination, I have been identified increasingly with the emergent fields of scientometrics and research evaluation. Citation data have become a normal—though sometimes controversial—part of the evaluation of institutions and individuals. One can only hope that these data will be used wisely by well-informed persons who recognize their strengths and limitations.1

I founded the Institute for Scientific Information (www.isinet.com) in 1954 but did not begin publishing the Science Citation Index regularly until 1964. The Scientist appeared more than two decades later, in 1986, and soon went online as one of the first full-text electronic Web sites. A few years later The Scientist was spun off when I sold my shares...

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