if you want to get the week number with the year use: "%Y-W%V"
:
e.g yearAndweeks <- strftime(dates, format = "%Y-W%V")
so
> strftime(c("2014-03-16", "2014-03-17","2014-03-18", "2014-01-01"), format = "%Y-W%V")
becomes:
[1] "2014-W11" "2014-W12" "2014-W12" "2014-W01
"