Skip to main content
Springer Nature Link
Log in

The distribution of bibliographic records in databases using different counting methods for duplicate records

  • Published:
Scientometrics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Knowing how records on a particular topic are distributed over databases is useful for both practical and theoretical reasons; however little work in this area appears to have been done. This paper examines the distribution of records on the topic of “Fuzzy Set Theory” in over 100 bibliographic databases and determines whether the distribution of records over databases is similar to the traditional Bradford hyperbolic distribution of records over journals. Different methods for counting duplicate records between and within databases have been developed. A comparison of the various distributions based on these counting methods is presented; and the distributions are compared to results of earlier studies. The results also give an indication of the number of databases necessary to search for coverage of a literature to specified percentages using the different counting techniques developed in this study.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Subscribe and save

Springer+ Basic
$34.99 /Month
  • Get 10 units per month
  • Download Article/Chapter or eBook
  • 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
  • Cancel anytime
Subscribe now

Buy Now

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Bradford, S.C. (1934), Sources of information on specific subjects.Engineering, 137: 85–86.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dialog (1998a),DIALINDEX. [http://library.dialog.com/pktguide/dindex.html]. Accessed 10th September, 1998.

  • Dialog (1998b),Duplicate Detection. [http://library.dialog.com/pktguide/dupdet.html]. Accessed 10th September, 1998.

  • Dialog (1998c),OneSearch. [http://library.dialog.com/pktguide/onesr.html]. Accessed 10th September, 1998.

  • Hood, W. W. (1998),An informetric study of the distribution of bibliographic records in online databases: a case study using the literature of Fuzzy Set Theory (1965–1993). Sydney: PhD thesis, The University of New South Wales. Also available electronically at [http://www.library.unsw.edu.au/thesis/thesis.html].

  • Ingwersen, P. (1998), Personal communication. 25th August, 1998.

  • Ingwersen, P., Christensen, F. H. (1997), Data set isolation for bibliometric online analyses of research publications: fundamental methodological issues.Journal of the American Society for Information Science, 48: 205–217.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lancaster, F. W., Lee, J.-L. (1985). Bibliometric techniques applied to issues management: a case study.Journal of the American Society for Information Science, 36: 389–397.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tenopir, C. (1982), Distributions of citations in databases in a multidisciplinary field,Online Review, 6: 399–419.

    Google Scholar 

  • Williams, M. E. (1997), The state of databases today: In:E. E. Holmberg (Ed.),Gale directory of databases, Volume 1: Online databases, xvii-xxix. Detroit: Gale Research Inc.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilson, C. S. (1995),The formation of subject literature collections for bibliometric analysis: the case of Bradford's Law of Scattering. Sydney: PhD thesis, The University of New South Wales.

  • Zadeh, L. A. (1965), Fuzzy sets.Information and Control, 8: 338–353.

    Article  MATH  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Information Systems, Technology and Management, The University of New South Wales, 2052, Sydney, New South Wales, (Australia)

    W. W. Hood & Concepción S. Wilson

Authors
  1. W. W. Hood
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar

  2. Concepción S. Wilson
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Hood, W.W., Wilson, C.S. The distribution of bibliographic records in databases using different counting methods for duplicate records. Scientometrics 46, 473–486 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02459605

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02459605

Keywords