Custom Reports

Custom Reports enables users to create customized research impact and bibliometric analyses in Web of Science Research Intelligence. Custom Reports provide a flexible way to visualize, explore, and share research performance and impact insights using charts, tables, and underlying records. Users can analyze and compare data across:

Organizations
Researcher Profiles
Countries and Regions
Funding Agencies
Research Areas
Publication Sources
Departments (coming soon)

Getting Started with Custom Reports

Create Your First Custom Report

There are two ways to create a Custom Report:

Create a report directly in Custom Reports
Create a report through the Research Intelligence Assistant (Impact Evaluation)

Method 1: Create a Report Directly

Step 1: Create a New Report

From the left navigation menu, select Reports > Custom Reports.
Click Create New Report.
Enter a Report Name and Description (optional).
Click Create Report.

Your new report will be created as an empty report, ready for customization.

Step 2: Add Your First Chart

Click Add Chart.
Select the entity you would like to analyze, such as:
- Organizations
- Researcher Profiles
- Countries and Regions
- Funding Agencies
- Research Areas
- Publication Sources

After creating your first chart, you can edit your chart and report further customize your analysis by:

Modifying filters and indicators
Changing chart type and settings
Viewing results in Chart View
Viewing results in Table View
Exploring the underlying records supporting the analysis

For more information about chart configuration and available visualizations, see the related sections below.

Method 2: Create a Report Through the Research Intelligence Assistant

Custom Reports provide a flexible way to turn charts generated in the Research Intelligence Assistant into tailored, reusable reports.

You can start with a natural-language question in the Impact Evaluation agent, generate a chart, and add it directly to a report. From there, you can combine multiple charts, build a narrative across different aspects of research assessment, and refine your analysis to match your reporting needs.

To get started:

Go to the Research Intelligence Assistant Impact Evaluation agent
Ask a research assessment related question to generate a chart
Click Add to Report next to the chart
Choose to:
- Add to a new report, or
- Add to an existing report

Once created, the report is available for viewing and editing.

Viewing a Custom Report

When viewing a Custom Report, you can:

Work with up-to-date data
Reports refresh daily, ensuring you are always working with the latest available data rather than a fixed snapshot.
Switch between chart and table views
View the same analysis as a visualization or as a structured table.
Download data
Export both:
- Aggregated results
- Record-level data
Access source documents
Open supporting records directly in Web of Science.

Editing a Custom Report

Custom Reports can be edited to refine layout, analysis, and content.

Report Layout and structure

Resize charts
Add new rows to organize content

Chart and Analysis editing in the Analysis Workbench

The Analysis Workbench is the primary workspace for building, refining, and exploring charts in Custom Reports. It is divided into two main areas:

Settings Panel (left) – Configure the analysis, including filters, group by settings including breakdown by year, table indicators, chart settings, and baselines.
Analysis Panel (right) – View and interact with the results through Chart View, Table View, and underlying Publications View.

Settings Panel

The Settings panel controls how data is selected, grouped, and displayed.

Filters

Use Filters to narrow your analysis to specific subsets of data. Filters allow you to refine the dataset used in your analysis by focusing on specific attributes such as organizations, research areas, collaboration, or publication characteristics.

Filters can be applied individually or combined. Filtered results are reflected on the entire analysis in both:

Charts
Tables (aggregated table view, and source records publication view)

Select + Add Filter to add filter criteria.

Examples:

Publications from 2021-2025
Research in a specific schema and subject area
Publications associated with selected organizations
etc.

Adding filters helps focus the analysis on the data most relevant to your research question.

Group By

The Group By tab determines how the data will be aggregated and compared. Examples: Organization; Researcher Profile; Country or Region; Research Area; Funding Agency; Publication Source.
For example, grouping by Organization compares publication output across institutions.

Within the Group By tab, you can choose to include a Year breakdown in your analysis. This option displays results by year across the selected time period defined in your filters, allowing you to perform trend analysis and examine how performance, output, or impact changes over time.

Table Indicators

The Table Indicators tab allows you to customize which metrics are displayed in Table View.

Note: The Table Indicators tab is only available when Table View is selected.

Adding Indicators

To add metrics to your table:

Open the Table Indicators tab.
Select + Add Indicator.
Browse the available indicator categories or use the search box to quickly find a specific indicator.
Select one or more indicators to add them to the table.

The selected indicators will appear as columns in the table, allowing you to compare multiple metrics side by side.

Available Indicators include:

Impact Indicators
Productivity Indicators
Normalized Indicators
Collaboration Indicators
Open Access
Author Position
Citations from Patents
Funding Indicators
Essential Science Indicators
Journal Citation Reports Indicators

The indicators available may vary depending on the entity type, and analysis configuration.

Note: Indicators selected for a chart in Chart View are automatically included in Table View. However, indicators added through the Table Indicators tab are displayed only in Table View and do not automatically appear in the chart. To visualize an indicator in Chart View, it must be added as a chart indicator within the chart configuration settings.

Chart Settings

The Chart Settings tab allows you to configure how your analysis is visualized in Chart View. Here you can define the chart title, choose a chart type, choose the indicators to display, and control how results are sorted and ranked.

Note: The Chart Settings tab is only available when Chart View is selected.

Chart Title and Subtitle: Use the Chart Title and Chart Subtitle fields to provide a meaningful name and description for your chart. A clear title helps others quickly understand the purpose of the analysis when viewing the report.

Select a Chart Type:

Choose the visualization that best suits your analysis. Available chart types include:

Bar Chart: Compare values using horizontal bars.
Line Chart: Display trends and changes over time. Note: Within the Group By tab, make sure to include the Year breakdown in your analysis.
Pie Chart: Show the proportional distribution of values.
Column Chart: Compare values using vertical columns.
Bubble Chart: Explore relationships between three metrics.
Radar Chart: Compare performance across multiple indicators.
KPI Chart: Highlight key performance indicators and summary metrics.
Treemap: Visualize data using nested rectangles.

Select the chart type that best communicates the insights you want to highlight.

Metrics:

Use the Metrics field to select the indicators displayed in the chart.

Select Search for indicators.
Browse or search for one or more indicators.
Select the indicators you want to visualize.

Selected metrics determine the values displayed in the chart and included in the chart legend.

Note: Indicators added to a chart are automatically included in Table View. However, indicators added through the Table Indicators tab are displayed only in Table View and do not automatically appear in the chart.

Number of Entries

Use Number of Entities to control how many results are displayed in the chart.
For example: Top 10 organizations; Top 25 researchers; Top 50 funding agencies
Displaying fewer entities can make charts easier to read and focus attention on the most relevant results.

Sort By

Use Sort By to determine which metric is used to rank the entities displayed in the chart.
For example, you can sort organizations by: Web of Science Documents; Times Cited; CNCI; etc.
The selected metric determines the order in which entities appear in the chart.

Sort Order

Choose how the results should be ordered:

Descending – Highest values appear first.
Ascending – Lowest values appear first.

Descending order is commonly used to display top-performing entities, while ascending order can help identify lower-performing or emerging entities.

Baselines

The Baselines tab allows you to compare your selected entities against a reference benchmark. Baselines provide important context for interpreting performance by showing how the entities in your analysis compare against broader averages or the full dataset.

Note: Baselines are displayed in both Chart View and Table View. When a baseline is enabled, the baseline value is automatically added to the analysis and can be used as a point of comparison alongside your selected entities.

Available Baselines

Global Baseline
The Global Baseline compares your analysis against worldwide averages.
This baseline is useful when you want to understand how an organization, researcher, country, or other entity performs relative to the global research landscape.
Examples: Compare an institution's citation impact to the world average; Evaluate publication performance against global output levels; Benchmark collaboration or open access metrics against worldwide averages.
Baseline (All)
The Baseline (All) compares your selected entities against all items contained within the selected dataset.
Unlike the Global Baseline, which references worldwide averages, this baseline represents the average performance of all entities available in the current dataset and analysis context.
Examples: Compare a research institution against all organizations in the dataset; Compare a researcher against all researchers included in the selected data source; Evaluate whether selected entities perform above or below the dataset average.

Analysis Panel

The right side of the workspace displays the results of your analysis. Three views are available, allowing you to explore the same data in different ways.

Chart View
Table View
Publications View

In the Analysis Workbench, you can:

Chart View

Chart View provides a visual representation of the analysis.

Use Chart View to:

Quickly identify top-performing entities
Compare relative performance
Spot trends and outliers
Create visualizations for reporting and presentations

Chart View is often the best starting point for exploring results.

Table View

Table View displays the same analysis in a tabular format.

This view is useful when you need:

Exact numerical values
Multiple indicators side by side
Sorting and ranking
Easier comparison across entities

Unlike Chart View, which emphasizes visual insights, Table View focuses on precise data and detailed comparisons.

Use Table View when validating results or preparing data for reporting.

Publications View

Publications View provides access to the underlying records that support the analysis.

This view allows you to:

Explore the publications behind aggregated metrics
Verify data included in the chart
Review individual publication records
Understand what contributes to an organization's or researcher's performance

Publications View helps provide transparency and evidence for the results displayed in charts and tables.

For example, if an organization appears near the top of a ranking, Publications View allows you to examine the publications contributing to that result.

Saving Your Changes

At the top-right of the analysis workspace you can:

Auto-save: Automatically save updates as changes are made.
Save Changes: Update the existing chart within the report.
Save as New: Create a new chart while preserving the current one.
Use Save as New when experimenting with different indicators, filters, or visualizations and you want to retain the original chart.