Is the Emerging Source Citation Index an aid to assess the citation impact in social science and humanities?

Highlights：

• Research assessment agencies are making increasing use of international bibliographic databases to measure output, impact and visibility of both institutions and individual researchers.

• Since the creation of the Emerging Source Citation Index, there is growing interest in determining the implications of its use as an assessment tool.

• The ESCI indisputable enhancement of Social Science and Humanities journal coverage goes to filling a void in the Web of Science core collections.

• Impact, in ESCI, does not appear to have reached the same levels as in other databases.

• At macro level, ESCI fails to furnish information relevant to impact measurement, for indicator values and journal visibility are modest.

• On the micro- and meso-scales, however, as concerns authors, groups or even some institutions specialising in Social Science and Humanities, this index may provide relevant information.