Information needs analysis of the aerospace discipline

The purpose of this paper is to identify the core literature of aerospace studies and the databases necessary to ensure its coverage in a collection for aerospace scientists. The paper also aims to examine whether China has different needs from other countries.

A sequence of bibliometric analyses was used. Institutions and countries with high aerospace research productivity were identified from 4,290 papers published in “aerospace engineering” journals in Science Citation Index. Journal papers cited in these papers (14,618 extracted from 17,015 citations in all) were analyzed to discover the core source journals for aerospace research. The availability of the core journals in online databases determined necessary library provision for aerospace research.

The most productive aerospace research institutions are in China and the USA. Journals are the most important information resources. While 20 per cent of cited journals were discipline‐specific, 80 per cent were in related fields. Chinese researchers had similar resource needs to researchers from other countries. To provide for aerospace research, a library collection needs to include the databases of the field, and commercial and open access journals that cover aerospace engineering, related disciplines and the sciences in general.

The paper reveals the characteristics of the literature of the aerospace discipline for the first time. It identifies the core journals used by aerospace researchers and the bundle of online resources necessary to adequately provide for research in the field. The technique used can be applied to other disciplines.