Digital Science’s linked-data platform — the database that connects publications to the grants, patents, clinical trials, and policy documents around them.
At a Glance
| Publisher | Digital Science |
| Coverage | 164M+ publications, 8.1M+ grants, 170M+ patents, 938K+ clinical trials, 2.5M+ policy documents, and 42M+ datasets, with 280M+ linked citations (70%+ of publications full-text indexed) |
| Access | freemium — the free Dimensions app covers publications and datasets for individuals; grants, patents, clinical trials, policy documents, Analytics, and the API require a subscription |
| Free alternative | OpenAlex (for the publications layer) |
| Regional | global; strong on funding and policy linkages worldwide. |
Our Take
Dimensions answers a different question than Scopus or WoS. They tell you what was published and who cited it; Dimensions tells you what funded it, what it became, and who’s acting on it. The linked grants-to-patents-to-policy chain is the reason to reach for it — competitive landscaping, technology scouting, and tracing research-to-impact pathways are where it shines, and the free tier alone gives you a serviceable publication search. Citation tooling is lighter than WoS’s, and the most valuable layers (grants, patents, policy, API) sit behind a subscription. Use it as your context-and-impact engine; pair it with a citation-first index for deep bibliometrics.
Power Tips
- Check linked grants and patents to map an emerging technology’s funding and IP footprint in one view (Issue 1)
- use the policy-document citations to see when WHO, the European Commission, or central banks cite a paper — coverage the academic indexes miss (Issue 2)
- filter by Preprint and read the altmetric badge: heavy attention on an unreviewed preprint is a flag to verify, not cite (Issue 4).
Alternatives & Complements
Scopus · Web of Science · OpenAlex · Lens.org · OpenAIRE.
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