STUDY OF PERIODICALS AND SERIALS IN EDUCATION. FINAL REPORT.

A STUDY WAS CONDUCTED TO IDENTIFY ENGLISH LANGUAGE PERIODICALS RELATING TO EDUCATION, TO ANALYZE THE COVERAGE AND TREATMENT OF THE PERIODICAL LITERATURE PERTINENT TO EDUCATION BY AVAILABLE ABSTRACTING AND INDEXING PUBLICATIONS, AND TO IDENTIFY ANY DEFICIENCIES IN THAT TREATMENT. A BASIC LIST OF 357 PERIODICALS, APPROXIMATELY 55 PER CENT OF WHICH WERE WHOLLY WITHIN THE FIELD OF EDUCATION, WAS COMPILED THROUGH USE OF A QUESTIONNAIRE SURVEY. A SAMPLE OF ARTICLES WAS SELECTED, AND AN ANALYSIS WAS MADE OF THEIR TREATMENT BY TEN SECONDARY PUBLICATIONS, INCLUDING "EDUCATION INDEX,""PSYCHOLOGICAL ABSTRACTS,""EDUCATIONAL ADMINISTRATION ABSTRACTS," AND "SOCIOLOGICAL ABSTRACTS.""EDUCATION INDEX," THE ONLY PURELY INDEXING PUBLICATION STUDIED, COVERED THE LARGEST NUMBER OF PERIODICALS WITHIN EDUCATION, AND CITED ALL ARTICLES PUBLISHED IN THE JOURNALS IT COVERED. THE NINE ABSTRACTING PUBLICATIONS COVERED A WIDER RANGE OF JOURNALS OUTSIDE EDUCATION, BUT WERE SELECTIVE IN THEIR TREATMENT OF ARTICLES IN THE JOURNALS THEY COVERED. AN ADDITIONAL QUALITATIVE ANALYSIS OF THE SECONDARY COVERAGE OF THE EDUCATION LITERATURE WAS MADE, BASED ON SURVEY RESPONDENTS' DESCRIPTIONS OF THEIR USE OF SECONDARY PUBLICATIONS, AND A SERIES OF DESIRABLE FEATURES FOR SECONDARY COVERAGE OF THE LITERATURE WERE DEVELOPED. THESE FEATURES INCLUDED--(1) COVERAGE OF A BROAD RANGE OF JOURNALS FROM EDUCATION AND RELATED FIELDS, (2) CLEAR DEFINITION OF THE PUBLICATION'S SCOPE, WITH CONSISTENTLY APPLIED PROCEDURES FOR THE SELECTION OF ARTICLES TO BE INCLUDED, (3) AVAILABILITY OF INFORMATION THROUGH ONE OR A FEW SECONDARY SOURCES, AND WIDE AVAILABILITY OF THESE SOURCES, (4) IF POSSIBLE, THE INCLUSION IN THE SYSTEM OF MEANS OF ACCESS TO THE ARTICLES COVERED BY THE SYSTEM, (5) INCLUSION OF ABSTRACTS FOR ARTICLES COVERED, (6) CLASSIFICATION OF ENTRIES WITHIN A SECONDARY PUBLICATION, (7) AUTHOR AND SUBJECT INDEXING, USING A FLEXIBLE, FREQUENTLY REVISED INDEXING VOCABULARY, AND (8) RELATIVELY FAST COVERAGE OF ITEMS. (AUTHOR/CM)