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Death is an inevitable part of life and highly relevant to information management: its approach often requires preparation, and its occurrence often demands a response. Many works in information science have acknowledged so much, and yet death is rarely a focused topic, appearing instead sporadically and disconnected across research. As a result there is no introduction to, overview of, or synthesis across studies on death and information. We therefore conducted an extensive literature search and reviewed nearly 300 scholarly publications at the intersection of death and information (and data) management. Covering seven topics in total, we review two groups of work directly engaging information management in relation to death (digital possessions, inheritance, and legacy; information behavior, needs, and practices around death), three engaging death and technology that require information and its management (death and the Internet, thanatosensitive design and technology‐augmented death practices, and the digital afterlife and digital immortality), and two reflecting the ethical and legal dimensions unique to death and information. We then integrate the collective findings to summarize the landscape of death‐related information research, outline remaining challenges for individuals, families, institutions, and society, and identify promising directions for future information science research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents information on the use of a type of matrix to analyze citations of scientific papers. Scientific papers have a series of citations belonging to the previous literature. It is possible to investigate the internal connections among papers in a group, whose papers are frequently cited by themselves, by examining their citations. The main purpose of this study is to investigate the measurements by which the internal connections of a group of scientific papers are measured. The techniques of using the type of matrix is further developed to carry out the analysis of a certain type of group of scientific papers.

In a conventional library the librarian eliminates individual differences in concepts in queries and maintains the reliability of information. In a digital library, however, the goal is to not involve people, and so queries which eliminate precision problems in query results are in demand as a replacement for the librarian. In current retrieval systems, precision is improved by using a hierarchical method such as synonym notation processing. In methods based on word systems, processing to handle the inadequate expression of the intention of a query or the semantic interpretation of a query are insufficient, and information retrieval from a more hierarchical perspective is needed. In this paper the authors propose a retrieval method using a hierarchical perspective based on a system of concepts, and not a retrieval method based on conventional word systems. By adopting the EDR electronic dictionary as a thesaurus and using concept information, queries and words which appear in papers are not processed merely as character strings, but are used in queries with consideration for the meaning of the words. The authors' method can estimate imprecise information in the intentions of queries and the meaning hidden in words, allowing for appropriate query results to be provided to users without the cooperation of a librarian. © 2001 Scripta Technica, Syst Comp Jpn, 32(8): 40–52, 2001 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the wide application of keyphrases in many Information Retrieval (IR) and Natural Language Processing (NLP) tasks, automatic keyphrase prediction has been emerging. However, these statistically important phrases are contributing increasingly less to the related tasks because the end‐to‐end learning mechanism enables models to learn the important semantic information of the text directly. Similarly, keyphrases are of little help for readers to quickly grasp the paper's main idea because the relationship between the keyphrase and the paper is not explicit to readers. Therefore, we propose to generate keyphrases with specific functions for readers to bridge the semantic gap between them and the information producers, and verify the effectiveness of the keyphrase function for assisting users' comprehension with a user experiment. A controllable keyphrase generation framework (the CKPG) that uses the keyphrase function as a control code to generate categorized keyphrases is proposed and implemented based on Transformer, BART, and T5, respectively. For the Computer Science domain, the Macro‐avgs of P@5, R@5, and F1@5 on the Paper with Code dataset are up to 0.680, 0.535, and 0.558, respectively. Our experimental results indicate the effectiveness of the CKPG models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Main path analysis is a popular method for extracting the scientific backbone from the citation network of a research domain. Existing approaches ignored the semantic relationships between the citing and cited publications, resulting in several adverse issues, in terms of coherence of main paths and coverage of significant studies. This paper advocated the semantic main path network analysis approach to alleviate these issues based on citation function analysis. A wide variety of SciBERT‐based deep learning models were designed for identifying citation functions. Semantic citation networks were built by either including important citations, for example, extension, motivation, usage and similarity, or excluding incidental citations like background and future work. Semantic main path network was built by merging the top‐K main paths extracted from various time slices of semantic citation network. In addition, a three‐way framework was proposed for the quantitative evaluation of main path analysis results. Both qualitative and quantitative analysis on three research areas of computational linguistics demonstrated that, compared to semantics‐agnostic counterparts, different types of semantic main path networks provide complementary views of scientific knowledge flows. Combining them together, we obtained a more precise and comprehensive picture of domain evolution and uncover more coherent development pathways between scientific ideas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The number of authors of papers in four scientific journals is positively correlated with the number of significant words in the titles of the same papers. A fifth journal showed no correlation. Implications for information retrieval are explored and tentative explanations are offered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discussions relating to the identification of courses and the development of curricula for the information- science field cannot yield meaningful results unless the conceptual framework of the field is first delimited and its basic segments defined. Starting with the current ASIS definition of information science, an analysis is made of the rationale of current thinking relevant to the conceptual boundaries and intellectual content of the field. Information science is analyzed to be comprised of the segments of: (1) Conceptualization, (2) Storage/Transmission, and (3) Utilization. Two of the segments are shown to be based on subjective notions, which can be investigated, for the most part, through the employment of statistical and normative survey methodology. One of the segments is shown to be susceptible of the application of more rigorous research methodology capable of yielding empirical proof. Since all three segments form integral parts of the field, they need to be fully represented in the information science curriculum. The technologist as well as the humanist can make significant contributions to the growth and development of the information-science field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research patterns could enhance understanding of the Information Systems (IS) field. Citation analysis is the methodology commonly used to determine such research patterns. In this study, the citation methodology is applied to one of the top-ranked Information Systems conferences—International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS). Information is extracted from papers in the proceedings of ICIS 2000 to 2002. A total of 145 base articles and 4,226 citations are used. Research patterns are obtained using total citations, citations per journal or conference, and overlapping citations. We then provide the citation ranking of journals and conferences. We also examine the difference between the citation ranking in this study and the ranking of IS journals and IS conferences in other studies. Based on the comparison, we confirm that IS research is a multidisciplinary research area. We also identify the most cited papers and authors in the IS research area, and the organizations most active in producing papers in the top-rated IS conference. We discuss the findings and implications of the study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article considers the interdisciplinary opportunities and challenges of working with digital cultural heritage, such as digitized historical newspapers, and proposes an integrated digital hermeneutics workflow to combine purely disciplinary research approaches from computer science, humanities, and library work. Common interests and motivations of the above‐mentioned disciplines have resulted in interdisciplinary projects and collaborations such as the NewsEye project, which is working on novel solutions on how digital heritage data is (re)searched, accessed, used, and analyzed. We argue that collaborations of different disciplines can benefit from a good understanding of the workflows and traditions of each of the disciplines involved but must find integrated approaches to successfully exploit the full potential of digitized sources. The paper is furthermore providing an insight into digital tools, methods, and hermeneutics in action, showing that integrated interdisciplinary research needs to build something in between the disciplines while respecting and understanding each other's expertise and expectations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper reports a longitudinal analysis of the topical and methodological development of Library and Information Science (LIS). Its focus is on the effects of researchers' disciplines on these developments. The study extends an earlier cross‐sectional study (Vakkari et al., Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology, 2022a, 73, 1706–1722) by a coordinated dataset representing a content analysis of articles published in 31 scholarly LIS journals in 1995, 2005, and 2015. It is novel in its coverage of authors' disciplines, topical and methodological aspects in a coordinated dataset spanning two decades thus allowing trend analysis. The findings include a shrinking trend in the share of LIS from 67 to 36% while Computer Science, and Business and Economics increase their share from 9 and 6% to 21 and 16%, respectively. The earlier cross‐sectional study (Vakkari et al., Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology, 2022a, 73, 1706–1722) for the year 2015 identified three topical clusters of LIS research, focusing on topical subfields, methodologies, and contributing disciplines. Correspondence analysis confirms their existence already in 1995 and traces their development through the decades. The contributing disciplines infuse their concepts, research questions, and approaches to LIS and may also subsume vital parts of LIS in their own structures of knowledge production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A brief communication appearing in this journal ranked UK-based LIS and (some) IR academics by their h-index using data derived from the Thomson ISI Web of Science™ (WoS). In this brief communication, the same academics were re-ranked, using other popular citation databases. It was found that for academics who publish more in computer science forums, their h was significantly different due to highly cited papers missed by WoS; consequently, their rank changed substantially. The study was widened to a broader set of UK-based LIS and IR academics in which results showed similar statistically significant differences. A variant of h, hmx, was introduced that allowed a ranking of the academics using all citation databases together. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Web citations have been proposed as comparable to, even replacements for, bibliographic citations, notably in assessing the academic impact of work in promotion and tenure decisions. We compared bibliographic and Web citations to articles in 46 journals in library and information science. For most journals (57%), Web citations correlated significantly with both bibliographic citations listed in the Social Sciences Citation Index and the ISI's Journal Impact Factor. Many of the Web citations represented intellectual impact, coming from other papers posted on the Web (30%) or from class readings lists (12%). Web citation counts were typically higher than bibliographic citation counts for the same article. Journals with more Web citations tended to have Web sites that provided tables of contents on the Web, while less cited journals did not have such publicity. The number of Web citations to journal articles increased from 1992 to 1997. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports that for the first time in history there is now available the technology to produce and publish books on demand and at a reasonable price. With the introduction of the Xerox and its successful application as a practical book-printing machine, there is once again the old excitement of new frontiers and of a solution, at last, to old unsolvable problems--a solution built on all the earlier basic thinking about microfilm. Out-of-print books, often so very difficult to obtain, can now be made on demand. Original manuscripts can be published with the only investment being the cost of a microfilm negative.

In the past several years studies have started to appear comparing the accuracies of various science mapping approaches. These studies primarily compare the cluster solutions resulting from different similarity approaches, and give varying results. In this study we compare the accuracies of cluster solutions of a large corpus of 2,153,769 recent articles from the biomedical literature (2004-2008) using four similarity approaches: co-citation analysis, bibliographic coupling, direct citation, and a bibliographic coupling-based citation-text hybrid approach. Each of the four approaches can be considered a way to represent the research front in biomedicine, and each is able to successfully cluster over 92% of the corpus. Accuracies are compared using two metrics-within-cluster textual coherence as defined by the Jensen-Shannon divergence, and a concentration measure based on the grant-to-article linkages indexed in MEDLINE. Of the three pure citation-based approaches, bibliographic coupling slightly outperforms co-citation analysis using both accuracy measures; direct citation is the least accurate mapping approach by far. The hybrid approach improves upon the bibliographic coupling results in all respects. We consider the results of this study to be robust given the very large size of the corpus, and the specificity of the accuracy measures used. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies how varied damping factors in the PageRank algorithm influence the ranking of authors and proposes weighted PageRank algorithms. We selected the 108 most highly cited authors in the information retrieval (IR) area from the 1970s to 2008 to form the author co-citation network. We calculated the ranks of these 108 authors based on PageRank with the damping factor ranging from 0.05 to 0.95. In order to test the relationship between different measures, we compared PageRank and weighted PageRank results with the citation ranking, h-index, and centrality measures. We found that in our author co-citation network, citation rank is highly correlated with PageRank with different damping factors and also with different weighted PageRank algorithms; citation rank and PageRank are not significantly correlated with centrality measures; and h-index rank does not significantly correlate with centrality measures but does significantly correlate with other measures. The key factors that have impact on the PageRank of authors in the author co-citation network are being co-cited with important authors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study was to examine factors which may explain frequency and nature of use of documents in citing document texts over time. Articles published in the Journal of the American Society for in formation Science in 1972, 1973, and 1974 were searched on SciSearch to derive two sample groups. One group was frequently cited; the other was infrequently cited. The functional uses of the sample document groups were examined by four classification taxonomies in 417 citing contexts. The patterns of frequency of use, multiple use, and functional use were examined over time. The citation levels of documents citing the two sample groups were examined as well. When measured by functional citation taxonomies, frequently and Infrequently cited documents were not used for significantly different functions. Frequently cited documents, however, seemed more tightly linked (essential) than infrequently cited documents to the documents in which they were used. While frequently cited documents were not judged more useful than Infrequently cited documents initially, they were used at a stable higher level over a longer period. Infrequently cited documents were used immediately following publication and then their use rapidly diminished. The repeated use of infrequently cited documents within documents tended to decrease over time while the repeated use of frequently cited documents tended to increase. Frequently cited articles were used for different functions in the period Immediately following publication and a later time period, Infrequently cited articles were used with greater consistency in the two time periods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is the purpose of this paper to explore the use of extracts by reporting the results of a survey of the current acceptability and use of extracts, by a literature review and by suggesting guidelines for selecting extract material. The survey shows that extracts are currently being used in information services, especially for current awareness. Most consider extracting a time-saver. The methods for selecting material from a document are not well defined. A search of the literature produced only thirteen documents which deal with manually produced extracts. As reported in the literature, materials extracted include the author summaries, first and/or last paragraphs, selected sentences, the first page, and material selected by subject specialists from the entire text. The value of extracts as measured by whether they lead the user to relevant documents was experimentally demonstrated. The purpose of the guidelines is to help the librarian and information specialist produce an informative extract. There was no substantial evidence that extracting is less costly than abstracting. The main criteria considers whether to spend the money to resay what the author has said or get a better understanding of the paper and use the author's words to describe it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 1975 Tefko Saracevic declared “the subject knowledge view” to be the most fundamental perspective of relevance. This paper examines the assumptions in different views of relevance, including “the system's view” and “the user's view” and offers a reinterpretation of these views. The paper finds that what was regarded as the most fundamental view by Saracevic in 1975 has not since been considered (with very few exceptions). Other views, which are based on less fruitful assumptions, have dominated the discourse on relevance in information retrieval and information science. Many authors have reexamined the concept of relevance in information science, but have neglected the subject knowledge view, hence basic theoretical assumptions seem not to have been properly addressed. It is as urgent now as it was in 1975 seriously to consider “the subject knowledge view” of relevance (which may also be termed “the epistemological view”). The concept of relevance, like other basic concepts, is influenced by overall approaches to information science, such as the cognitive view and the domain-analytic view. There is today a trend toward a social paradigm for information science. This paper offers an understanding of relevance from such a social point of view. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The amount of knowledge accumulated in published scientific papers has increased due to the continuing progress being made in scientific research. Since numerous papers have only reported fragments of scientific facts, there are possibilities for discovering new knowledge by connecting these facts. We therefore developed a system called BioTermNet to draft a conceptual network with hybrid methods of information extraction and information retrieval. Two concepts are regarded as related in this system if (a) their relationship is clearly described in MEDLINE abstracts or (b) they have distinctively co-occurred in abstracts. PRIME data, including protein interactions and functions extracted by NLP techniques, are used in the former, and the Singhal-measure for information retrieval is used in the latter. Relationships that are not clearly or directly described in an abstract can be extracted by connecting multiple concepts. To evaluate how well this system performs, Swanson's association between Raynaud's disease and fish oil and that between migraine and magnesium were tested with abstracts that had been published before the discovery of these associations. The result was that when start and end concepts were given, plausible and understandable intermediate concepts connecting them could be detected. When only the start concept was given, not only the focused concept (magnesium and fish oil) but also other probable concepts could be detected as related concept candidates. Finally, this system was applied to find diseases related to the BRCA1 gene. Some other new potentially related diseases were detected along with diseases whose relations to BRCA1 were already known. The BioTermNet is available at http://btn.ontology.ims.u-tokyo.ac.jp. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research in information systems (IS) indicates an absence of clear-cut models to assess IS effectiveness. While the costs are easily identifiable it is the benefits which are most difficult to assess due to the scope of impact of information systems. In order to provide structure to the problem this paper presents a hierarchical approach to develop an IS effectiveness model using structured modelling techniques. This study uses the prior research work and a survey to identify and relate factors of IS effectiveness. The results of the model show that ‘improving systems integration’ has the highest influence on information systems effectiveness, followed by ‘facilitating information retrieval’. We were able to validate our results by showing that they are consistent with the widely accepted ‘stages model’ of IS development. Of particular interest is the finding that significantly high levels of IS effectiveness are experienced by organizations in the penultimate or final stage of IS development. The most significant contribution of this study is the development of a comprehensive IS effectiveness evaluation framework that resolves many subjective dilemmas of traditional user-centred evaluation approaches. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Swets model of information retrieval, based on a decision theory approach, is discussed, with the overall performance measure being the crucial element reexamined in this paper. The Neyman-Pearson criterion from statistical decision theory, and based on likelihood ratios, is used to determine an optimal range of Z, the variable assigned to each document by the retrieval system in an attempt to discriminate between relevant and nonrelevant documents. This criterion is shown to be directly related to both precision and recall, and is equivalent to the maximization of the expected value of the retrieval decision for a specific query and a given document under certain conditions. Thus, a compromise can be reached between those who advocate precision as a measure, due partially to its ability to be easily measurable empirically, and those who advocate consideration of recall. Several cases of the normal and Poisson distributions for the variable Z are discussed in terms of their implications for the Neyman-Pearson decision rule. It is seen that when the variances are unequal, the Swets rule of retrieving a document if its Z value is large enough is not optimal. Finally, the situation of precision and recall not being inversely related is shown to be possible under certain conditions. Thus, this paper attempts to extend the understanding of the theoretical foundations of the decision theory approach to information retrieval. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports a technique which expands W. Goffman's Indirect Method search strategy by using means other than index terms to reflect document content. The four basic measures of document relatedness were: (1) Index terms, (2) Journals in which the documents appeared, (3) Closeness of the authors of the documents and (4) Closeness of citations. In the experiment a distance function between documents is defined, based on the properties of the documents themselves. The proximity between pairs of documents is then determined by calculating the Euclidean distance. Based on the results of this experiment, authors or authors with journals are the best measures of document relatedness. This aspect should be explored further. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on several papers providing information on the application of equipment to library operations. The paper "The Economics of Book Catalog Production: A Study Prepared for Stanford University Libraries and the Council on Library Resources," by R.M. Hayes and R.M. Shoffner was intended to assist Stanford University in the economic and procedural questions involved in deciding what form the catalog for a new undergraduate library should take. It is also expected to assist other libraries in making such a decision.

Background: Both PubMed and Ovid MEDLINE contain records from the MEDLINE database. However, there are subtle differences in content, functionality, and search syntax between the two. There are many instances in which researchers may wish to search both interfaces, such as when conducting supplementary searching for a systematic review to retrieve a unique content from PubMed or when using a previously published search strategy from a different interface, but little guidance on how to best conduct these searches. The aim of this project is to describe differences in search functionality between Ovid MEDLINE and PubMed, provide guidance for converting search strategies between the two, and develop an easy‐to‐use, freely available web‐based tool to automate search syntax translations. Case presentation: In this paper, we present a custom‐built freely available online tool, Medline Transpose, to streamline the process of converting search strategies between Ovid MEDLINE and PubMed. With this tool, users can paste a strategy formatted for one interface into the search box and immediately retrieve an output formatted for use in the other interface, with recommendations for changes that users can make to the strategy where an exact translation does not exist. Conclusion: This novel approach has the potential to reduce time and errors that database users spend translating search strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a detailed analysis of the content and format of seven machine-readable bibliographic data bases: Chemical Abstracts Service Condensates, Chemical and Biological Activities, and Polymer Science and Technology, Biosciences Information Service's BA Previews including Biological Abstracts and BioResearch Index, Institute for Science Information Source Tape, and Engineering Index COMPENDEX. Selected issue test tapes of each data base were printed and checked for the types of data that were contained in the issue and the methods in which the data were formatted. This paper compares the physical formats of the tapes and describes the varied treatments given to such data elements as authors, titles, abstracts, etc. Comparison of data bases requires common use of terms. All terms are defined at the beginning of the paper. The authors found great discrepancies in the presentation of essentially similar bibliographic data, and they offer some suggestions for mitigating the discrepancies by use of standards. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is pointed out that if information science is to be considered a "true" science similar to physics or chemistry then it must have a set of concepts and analytical expressions which apply to the flow of information in a general way. Such expressions should be relatively independent of the particular context or application under consideration. Definitions of a rigorous nature for the fundamental quantities involved must be established. These must have general applicability and must be related to other known and measurable quantities. It is desirable also that they be capable of quantification. In several previous papers, the author and a colleague have described a model of a generalized information system which has wide, and perhaps universal applicability. This paper elaborates on this model and indicates the range of its applicability. Several fundamental quantities are defined specifically in a way which allows for quantification. It is pointed out in this paper that this model can be the basis for the development of a "true" science of information with all of the necessary requirements for a science. By the use of this model and the definition of a "true" science, the goals and requirements for a curriculum in information science are thus established. Various applications of information science must then exist in much the same way that many applications of physics exist. In the latter case, the applications usually give rise to various branches of engineering. In the case of information science, one of the applications is librarianship-although many others exist as well. Some of these are referred to in the paper. In particular, science information as a subset of information science is discussed. Within this context, information is defined as data of value in decision making. Quantitative measures of information can be obtained by relating information to specific observable actions which can be measured physically. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents information on coordinate indexing. There are many facets to information retrieval. One of these is the scope which any particular information system is expected to encompass. Several years ago, the Technical Department of the Titanium Division of the National Lead Co. realized the need for more efficient methods of retrieving internal information. The index schedules were organized into a classification system based on Colon principles. The completed classification was coded, using combinations of capital and small letters, and Arabic numerals, to obtain maximum flexibility.

Background: The field of medical education remains poorly delineated such that there is no broad consensus of articles or journals that comprise 'the field'. This lack of consensus indicates a missed opportunity for researchers to generate insights about the field that could facilitate conducting bibliometric studies and other research designs (e.g., systematic reviews) and also enable individuals to identify themselves as 'medical education researchers'. Other fields have utilised bibliometric field delineation, which is the assigning of articles or journals to a certain field in an effort to define that field. Process: In this Research Approach, three bibliometric field delineation approaches—information retrieval, core journals, and journal co‐citation—are introduced. For each approach, the authors describe attempts to apply it in medical education and identify related strengths and weaknesses. Based on co‐citation, the authors propose the Medical Education Journal List 24 (MEJ‐24), as a starting point for delineating medical education and invite the community to collaborate on improving and potentially expanding this list. Pearls: As a research approach, field delineation is complicated, and there is no clear best way to delineate the field of medical education. However, recent advances in information science provide potentially fruitful approaches to deal with the field's complexity. When considering these approaches, researchers should consider collaborating with bibliometricians. Bibliometric approaches rely on available metadata for articles and journals, which necessitates that researchers examine the metadata prior to analysis to understand its strengths and weaknesses, and to assess how this might affect data interpretation. While using bibliometric approaches for field delineation is valuable, it is important to remember that these techniques are only as good as the research team's interpretation of the data, which suggests that an expanded approach is needed to better delineate medical education, an approach that includes active discussion within the medical education community. How do we draw lines around #MedEd? This article introduces 3 #bibliometric approaches: info retrieval, core journals & journal co‐citation to kickstart the conversation and provide a starter set of journals to build upon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the analysis of citations in the scholarly literature is now an established and relatively well understood part of information science, not enough is known about citations that can be found on the Web. In particular, are there new Web types, and if so, are these trivial or potentially useful for studying or evaluating research communication? We sought evidence based upon a sample of 1,577 Web citations of the URLs or titles of research articles in 64 open-access journals from biology, physics, chemistry, and computing. Only 25% represented intellectual impact, from references of Web documents (23%) and other informal scholarly sources (2%). Many of the Web/URL citations were created for general or subject-specific navigation (45%) or for self-publicity (22%). Additional analyses revealed significant disciplinary differences in the types of Google unique Web/URL citations as well as some characteristics of scientific open-access publishing on the Web. We conclude that the Web provides access to a new and different type of citation information, one that may therefore enable us to measure different aspects of research, and the research process in particular; but to obtain good information, the different types should be separated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: To review the literature on the positive impact of information services, or information resources, on patient care in primary care. Objectives: To identify and summarize key papers on which librarians might draw in making the case for investment, and to highlight gaps in the research evidence Methodology: A rapid literature review was conducted in the summer of 2005. Results: There is a small body of evidence to demonstrate the positive impact of library and information services on the direct care of patients as well as a beneficial impact on the care of future patients through the application of evidence to multiple patients. Conclusions: There is relatively limited research evidence of the impact of information, and library services, in primary care, in comparison with hospital settings and the research available is generally reliant on small samples. There is a lack of impact studies conducted with non-clinical staff. The review highlights the value of critical incident technique (CIT). It is possible to gather evidence of the potential for information services to deliver cost savings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new document representation model is presented in this paper. This model is based on the idea of representing a document by two or more pictures of the document taken from different perspectives. It is shown that by applying the stereo representation model, enhanced textual retrieval performance is achieved because the new model improves the capability of capturing individual features of the document. Experiments have been conducted on two standard corpora, TIME and ADI, using the standard term vector method and the latent semantic indexing (LSI) method based upon both the stereo representation model and the traditional representation model. Statistical t-tests on the experimental results have convincingly illustrated that these methods achieve significant improvements in retrieval performances with the stereo representation model over those with the traditional representation model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As retrieval set size in information retrieval (IR) becomes larger, users may need greater interactive opportunities to determine for themselves potential relevance of the resources offered by a given collection. A parts-of-document approach, coupled with an interactive graphic interface and control panel, permits end users to tailor the information seeking (IS) session. Applying the model described by the author in a previous paper in this journal, this paper explores two issues: whether a group of information seekers in the same research domain will want to use this type of IR interaction, and whether such interaction is more successful than relevancy ranked lists, based on the general vector model. In addition, the paper proposes the use of gradient space as a means of capturing end users' cognitive states-decision-making points- during a parts-of-document-based lR session. It concludes that, for a group of biomedical researchers, a parts-of-document approach is preferred for certain IR situations and that gradient space provides designers of systems with empirical evidence suited for systems analysis.

This paper revises David Ellis's information-seeking behavior model of social scientists, which includes six generic features: starting, chaining, browsing, differentiating, monitoring, and extracting. The paper uses social science faculty researching stateless nations as the study population. The description and analysis of the information-seeking behavior of this group of scholars is based on data collected through structured and semistructured electronic mail interviews. Sixty faculty members from 14 different countries were interviewed by e-mail. For reality check purposes, face-to-face interviews with five faculty members were also conducted. Although the study confirmed Ellis's model, it found that a fuller description of the information-seeking process of social scientists studying stateless nations should include four additional features besides those identified by Ellis. These new features are: accessing, networking, verifying, and information managing. In view of that, the study develops a new model, which, unlike Ellis's, groups all the features into four interrelated stages: searching, accessing, processing, and ending. This new model is fully described and its implications on research and practice are discussed. How and why scholars studied here are different than other academic social scientists is also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a list of reports on proposed library facilities. In the paper "Machine Processing in a Special Library," the range of application of EAM and EDP techniques to the technical operations and service mission of the special library is typified by several summaries. In "Establishment of a Coordinate Indexing Retrieval System for the Air Force Materials Laboratory," a coordinate indexing system for a library containing over 10,000 documents has been established. This report discusses in detail the indexing of documents using deep indexing with links and roles.

The article focuses on several case studies of mechanized systems of documentation. The paper "IBM 1401 Computer Produced and Maintained Weapon Data Subject Authority Document," by James H. Kennedy describes a rapid print-out method for updating a constantly changing authority file. Economical even if more than ten original copies are made. Checking headings, keypunching and editing tapes are performed by humans but card and printed catalog production is by machine. The paper "Computer Search of the U.S. Chemical Patent Literature," by Paul W. Howerton appeared in the 1963 issue of the journal " Automation and Scientific Communication."

The article presents information on the supplement "Perspectives" published along with the May 1, 1980 issue of the Journal of the American Society for Information Science. Without doubt, one of the most important developments in the information field today is the widespread application of electronic methods of transfer. The first nationwide online system became available in 1971; within eight years, on-line systems have become standard means for accessing information in libraries and are now moving into the home. The supplement consists of several papers from distinguished scholars.

The science-profession dyad of ichthyology and fisheries biology was examined through a citation analysis of the journal literature. It was found that these two fields overlap greatly in journals cited. Further, it was found that ichthyologists tended to cite more sources with a greater proportion of these citations to journals, more foreign journals, and a greater diversity of journal sources than did fisheries biologists. Also, investigators holding academic positions in both disciplines tended to cite a greater diversity of journals than did those employed by government agencies. Despite differences in citation behavior, there seems to be at least some exchange of information within this dyad. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As electronic text files increase in number and diversity, the problem of devising a more effective information retrieval interface grows more important. Future designs may draw upon cognitive theories of categorization and metaphor to understand how users interact with text-both paper and electronic. Relevant literature in cognitive psychology and information science suggests the importance of the users physical environment in thinking about abstract entities, such as categories of documents. Empirical studies have established a basis for understanding how we think about, file, remember, and locate text. Results from a study of 20 historians-an exemplary group in terms of their close studies of texts and the broad scope of their inquiries-imply the importance of metaphors for storage and retrieval of documents. The study found that metaphors and subjective categories were frequently applied to documents collected and created by these scholars. Two physical factors-spatial configuration and document form-were often considered before topic in determining document storage locations in the office. Developers of information systems should consider qualitative aspects of cognition in their designs. System developers might also consider segmenting the audience for computer interfaces, as well as designing generic tools that apply to all users. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Online Public Access Catalogues (OPACs), despite their recent arrival in the library and information science world, have had a great impact because they have to be designed for the library user. In the few years of their existence the body of literature created cannot be regarded as insignificant. The analysis of the 1970-1985 OPAC literature shows that it could be a very good ex- ample of logistic growth. The literature had an initial growth rate of b = .556 (or 74.4% per year), with a corresponding doubling time of 1.25 years, which was probably due to the prolific CLR study. Then, approximate point of inflection in 1984, It started levelling off. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent research has sought to build document-retrieval systems on top of database management systems (DBMS) in order to increase the power of document retrieval. While the use of DBMS allows a more flexible approach to designing search strategies, the underlying representation of the information is inflexible and does not correspond to either the structure or the meaning of real-world objects. This limitation can be overcome through the use of conceptual modeling techniques. The array model presented here is based on these techniques and has been designed specifically for application in document retrieval. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The first part of this paper reports a comparative study of the document classifications produced by the use of the single linkage, complete linkage, group average, and Ward clustering methods. Studies of cluster membership and of the effectiveness of cluster searches support previous findings that suggest that the single linkage classifications are rather different from those produced by the other three methods. These latter methods all produce large numbers of small clusters containing just pairs of documents. This finding motivates the work reported in the second part of the paper, which considers the use of clusters consisting of a document together with that document with which it is most similar. A comparison of the use of such clusters with conventional best match searches using seven document test collections suggests that the two types of search are of comparable effectiveness, but they retrieve noticeably different sets of relevant documents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using the Random Graph Hypothesis, the statistical validity of co-citation graphs has been investigated as a function of co-citation strength for a given value of citation frequency. The results show that for both high and low values of co-citation strength the partition of cited documents produced by the co-citation relationship may be statistically invalid. Critical thresholds can be identified that define the limits of statistical validity. Within these limits, there is a narrow region of statistical validity where the associated structures are not an artifact of the clustering procedure and can be interpreted. It is concluded that the choice of citation and co-citation thresholds can be influenced by formal considerations which insure statistically meaningful partitions rather than arbitrary decisions which can produce meaningless interpretations. Experimental and theoretical implications for the co-citation graph and other bibliometric structures are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The relative effectiveness of indexing using full-text or less than full-text was tested using a non-Boolean, chaining type of file structure and searching method. Indexing was done using titles, abstracts, full-text, references, and various combinations of these surrogates and then Goffman's indirect method of information retrieval was used to structure and search the tile. The database consisted of 733 documents and 38 queries were searched. The hypothesis of the study was that by using a particular non-Boolean method as a file structuring and searching technique, full-text indexing is not essential to optimum information retrieval effectiveness. The outcome of the study was positive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the application of symmetry principles to bibliometric laws, using Lotka's law for illustration. A general model describing scientific productivity is defined and modified to be consistent with a generalized form of Lotka's law; the model in this form is shown to be stable with regard to at least two forms of social change. Then the ansequences of invariance under change of time span are investigated, and it is shown that the function occurring in Lotka's law, with an arbitrary exponent, is essentially the only one with desireable properties that is consistent with the symmetry constraint. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Following a general discussion of reviews and of the problems of identification and definition, the literature on user studies, both of reviews and scientific literature in general, is briefly and selectively surveyed. Given the apparent usefulness of reviews and their high cost of production, there has been surprisingly little research into the uses made of reviews. A theoretical framework for future research in this area is proposed. Reviews appear to fulfill two interlocking roles: that of forming an integral part of the development of science (historical functions) and that of supplying individual workers with information about the current development of science and its literature (contemporary functions). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers the optimal storage of books by size in libraries. A network model is developed to determine the optimum number of shelf heights to use which will minimize the shelving cost for a given collection of books. The model is analyzed and solved by a well known operations research technique of finding the shortest path in a directed network. Results of an experimental study to apply this model to a sample collection of books from the Purdue University Library are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper defines a hash coding model for non-unique search keys and derives the expected number of accesses needed to retrieve all desired records from a computer storage device. The assumption that the records are stored on the basis of a non-unique key is often realized in information retrieval environments. The model assumes that the hashing algorithm and, should a collision occur, the skipping algorithm, both distribute the records randomly in memory. The results of this analysis are compared with those from a simulation in which the randomness criterion is not strictly met. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article the author remarks states that motion pictures are often treated as if they had been admitted into the record family by some accident. They do not fall properly into place in any conventional classification scheme. The accepted guidelines and ground-terms applicable to orthodox record materials and in records administration programs cannot be adapted to them without radical modification. There are some valuable papers concerning some technical aspects of motion picture storage and preservation, and a piece or two which deal with the characteristics of motion picture records from the standpoint of the researcher in history.

The much-vaunted information explosion seems to be the manifestation of a rather generalized publication inflation. Multipublication and pretentious writing have become obstacles to "communication between human minds." To counteract their harmful effects it will be necessary to reduce the quantity and improve the quality of the printed records by filtering the material before it is stored for retrieval. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

(I) Better understanding of subject document retrieval might result if different functions of subject document retrieval systems are studied separately. This paper is concerned with retrieval of documents, in response to a question, from which answers to that question can be inferred ("answer-providing documents"). "Answer can be inferred from document" has many possible meanings, one of which must be selected (an "inference specification"). Inasmuch as scientists in a field sometimes disagree about the correctness of inferences, have somewhat different background knowledge, etc., any inference specification can only approximate scientific inference practices. Two sources of systematic knowledge of document-statement inference practices in a scientific field are described. (II) If a content word occurs in a question, then it occurs in any answer to that question (with some apparently tractable exceptions). An indexing procedure based on that fact is described which would permit retrieval of all answer-providing documents for a question. However, because the indexing is "nonrelational," it could cause false retrievals as well. Various ways of dealing with such false retrievals are briefly indicated, and a study is sketched that would provide data for helping selection among them. Two special points concerning indexing for retrieval of answer-providing documents are discussed separately. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]