Essential Science Indicators and its editorial features such as Fast-Breaking Papers (in www.esi-topics.com) represent an expansion of similar past endeavors well known to long-time readers of Current Contents or The Scientist. My essays, containing descriptions of these efforts, appeared regularly in Current Contents. These essays and all my other publications over a 45-year period can be accessed free at www.eugenegarfield.org.
It was not obvious in the early days of ISI that the Science Citation Index could be used to identify significant "current" research. Due to time lags in publication and citation, it was generally assumed that this was not possible because of a seemingly inherent lack of currency in citation data. Among science journals, the average cited reference is about six years old and somewhat less for life science journals.
What was overlooked, however, was the fact that, even just after World War II, citation of significant breakthroughs usually was ...
