Abstract
A bibliometric study based on the analysis of six Ph. D. thesis in economics. In this study the methodology is based on the distinction we made between two different information sources in each thesis:
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(1)
the bibliography cited either at the end or at the beginning of the thesis; it represents the stock of useful or necessary publications;
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(2)
the citations appearing in each dissertations as a whole; it determines the extent to which the stock is used, because it shows how many times a publication cited in the bibliography is cited in the thesis itself.
The results concern the ratio “number of titles/authors”, the journal/monograph proportion, languages allocation, study of obsolescence. In the bibliography, 95% of books and articles are less than 30 years old. In the citations, articles and 95% of books are less than 20 years old.
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Notes and references
A recent survey inN.A. van House, Output measures in libraries,Library Trends, 38 (1989) 268–279.
For the Dutch part of the country seeH.D.L. Vervliet, Defensieve collectievorming inzake tijdschriftabonnementen: een nationale planning middels journal citation reports,Bibliotheekarchiefgids, 63 (1987) 23–29.
This notation is from an article to meditate:C.R. McCure, Increasing the usefulness of research for Library Managers: propositions, issues and strategies,Library Trends 38 (1989) 280–294.
A clear presentation of these J.C.R. can be found in:L. Egghe,Bibliometrie, Leuven, 1988, 126–144
or in:L. Egghe, R. Rousseau,Introduction to Informetrics, Elsevier, Amsterdam, 1990.
The method is well-known:F. Lancaster, Principes directeurs pour l'évaluation des systèmes et services d'information, Paris, Unesco, 1978, p. 30.
The article ofR.B. Devin, M. Kellog, The serial/monograph ratio in research libraries: Budgeting in light of citation studies,College and Research Libraries, 51 (1990) 46–54, which is one of our bibliographic references, compiles a large number of studies concerning various subject areas such as literature or chemistry. In addition, a recent survey conducted byS. Matsui, C. Asano, Y. Matsuda, A system for generating publications statistics based on bibliographic information (...),Hitotsubashi Journal of Economics, 30 (1989) 121–156, based on economic sciences, insists—among others—on the importance of building stocks along the years.
A recent and original bibliography:E.F. Santavica, Best collection development articles,Library Acquisitions: Practice and Theory, 13 (1989) 319–321. One of the key problems in our European libraries is the difficulty of handling and integrating the gifts in our stocks.
De-acquisition, relegation, weeding, withdrawing... in French, seeF. Gaudet, C. Lieber,Le désherbage, élimination et renouvellement des collections en Bibliothèque, Paris, 1987 (Dossier technique de la Bibliothèque publique d'information du Centre Pompidou).
A similar survey, but on a larger scale (31 thesis, 2805 citations analysis) is a related field:C.J. Popovitch, The characteristics of a collection for research in business management,College and Research Libraries, 39 (1978) 110–117.
See these subtle and important differences in:L. Egghe,Bibliometrie, Op. cit.,, Leuven, 1988, 135–139.
See the very instructive table about the frequency of citations journals versus citations to nonjournal sources according to the economic field in the article ofS. Matsui and al.,Op. cit., 128.
A survey of these methods in, for instance,F.W. Lancaster,Op. cit.,, p. 128. Loan statistics, among others, are often criticized because they ignore the level of consultation in the library itself and because a book which is frequently borrowed doesn't stay long on a shelf. The only solution to get over these problems: collecting a large number of date.
An exemplary approach:J.A. Whisler, Periodicals circulation statistics at a mid-sized academic library: implications for collection management,Ressource-sharing-and information network, 5 (1989) 1–363.
See for instanceA. Abid, Evaluation des ressources documentaires,L'évaluation des bibliothèques universitaires,J.P. Clavel (Ed.), Montreal, 1978, pp. 25–42. Many problems arise, i.e. Collecting data, in applying these methods based mainly on the users' collaboration. About the notion of “practicability” in library inquiries, seeG. Ford, Approaches to performance measurement: some observations on principles and practice,British Journal of Academic Librarianship, 4 (1989) 74–87.
See for instanceJ. Fletcher, A view of the literature of economics,Journal of Documentation, 28 (1972) 289–295.
The measurement of the average time spent by a reader on his book is not easily measurable. Some experiences to be found in the article ofG. Ford,Op. cit..
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Dorban, M., Vandevenne, A.F. Bibliometric analysis of bibliographic behaviours in economic sciences. Scientometrics 25, 149–165 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02016852
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02016852