Rafael Ball

Science indicators revisited – Science Citation Index versus SCOPUS: A bibliometric comparison of both citation databases

Although the evaluation of knowledge in the form of a quantitation of scientific output is not uncontroversial, it is a widely practised form of science evaluation. For more than 30 years, the Science Citation Index (SCI) has been alone in fulfilling this purpose. But since 2005 Scopus is a direct competitor to the SCI-databases. Comparing the two databases should help to answer questions that could have repercussions for the future generation of bibliometric analyses. The results of the comparison will allow us to more reliably rate Scopus, as a new data source, against the established SCI. In future, people who generate bibliometric analyses must be able to justify why they chose to use one database and not the other. It will not be enough to simply claim that SCI is the established source.

Bibliometric analysis - A new business area for information professionals in libraries? Support for scientific research by perception and trend analysis

SummarySupplying library users with literature by a seamless linking of media is the goal of (scientific) libraries. By the digitization of primary and secondary data and the convergence of products and providers, libraries have already come very close to achieving this ideal. A digital library is the realization of this goal. However, many librarians are in danger of running out of imagination. What will come after the digital library? Will information professionals still be needed? What services can libraries offer? Bibliometric analysis is an example of new business areas in libraries. This paper will discuss what shape this service could take in practice, who needs it and what target groups exist in the scientific environment. Concrete examples of bibliometric analysis from the Central Library of Research Centre Jülich will round off the overview.

Scholarly communication in transition: The use of question marks in the titles of scientific articles in medicine, life sciences and physics 1966–2005

The titles of scientific articles have a special significance. We examined nearly 20 million scientific articles and recorded the development of articles with a question mark at the end of their titles over the last 40 years. Our study was confined to the disciplines of physics, life sciences and medicine, where we found a significant increase from 50% to more than 200% in the number of articles with question-mark titles. We looked at the principle functions and structure of the titles of scientific papers, and we assume that marketing aspects are one of the decisive factors behind the growing usage of question-mark titles in scientific articles.

Creation of journal-based publication profiles of scientific institutions — A methodology for the interdisciplinary comparison of scientific research based on the J-factor

A form of normalisation is presented for the evaluation of citation data on multidisciplinary research. This method is based on the existing classification according to the publishing journals and not on the classification of output according to ISI subject categories. A publication profile is created for each institution to be investigated. This profile accounts for the weight of publications in a journal, represented by the number of publications as a proportion of the total output of the institution. In accordance with this weight, the citation rate of each journal is compared to a qualified relative indicator. The final result is a relative citation rate J, which is the relative perception of the performance of an institution accounting for its publication and citation habits and makes a transdisciplinary comparison possible.

E-books in practice: the librarian's perspective

It has become unimaginable to provide information – particularly scientific information – without e‐books. They have become part of todays combination of media, which includes printed books and journals, e‐journals, e‐books, and databases. When e‐books first appeared on the market, librarians very quickly formulated their key requirements. The most important requirement is functionality: it must be possible to look through a book chapter by chapter, and also to get a quick overview of a comprehensive monograph. Usage arrangements, including concurrent usage and use for interlibrary loans, are also important. The use of uniform technical standards increases the acceptance of e‐books.

Libraries and Distance Education - a German View

On our way to an information-based society, the volume of data, of information and of knowledge will become ever greater. At the same time a technology is developing which, on the one hand, facilitates data processing but, on the other hand, requires competent handling and efficient management of information and knowledge. The existence of digital, multimedia information resources also support distance education and decentralized learning in our society. The library as a physical location for knowledge and wisdom is becoming increasing replaced by a library of electronic information, multimedia teaching and learning. As a consequence, clients and users must acquire sufficient information literacy and at the same time libraries must become actively involved and provide an appropriate range of services for distance learning. This article reviews the position of libraries and continuing distance education programs especially in Germany. Finally it provides a vision of a successful integration of distance education and library information environment as a qualitatively new form of learning and teaching.

The scientific information environment in the next millennium

The evolution of the information environment in research and development at the beginning of the next millennium is dominated by the change of medium from printed to digital information and by the diversification of the information environment. This change of paradigm (the so‐called end user revolution) is accompanied by extended efforts for literature and information searches. The lack of transparency in the information environment, the bewildering variety of media and the enormously expanded methodological efforts for literature searches by scientists have to be balanced by information specialists in the libraries. In the next millennium, scientists will only search for information in one single electronic search user‐interface for all available sources and media at one time. Knowledge and information have always been the most important resource in science. However, the change in the methods of science has also been accompanied by a change in the method of scientific information retrieval. This article shows how a scientist’s efforts, tools and methods have changed in the past few decades for the verification and retrieval of literature and information required against the background of changing media. An outlook shows possible constellations in the next millennium.

History of photoinhibition research

Abstract At the beginning of our century few scientists paid attention to the phenomenon of inactivation of photosynthesis by high light intensities which was later called photoinhibition. In the period 1925–1950, the idea was established that photoinhibition is a reversible inactivation, determined by light intensity and exposure time, followed by irreversible damage of the photosynthetic apparatus. However, the absence of a uniform terminology demonstrates that photoinhibition was not completely perceived and understood. In 1956, B. Kok gave the first definition of photoinhibition as a photochemical inactivation of pigment complexes.

Bibliometrie : einfach - verständlich - nachvollziehbar

Die Quantifizierung von Wissen ist ein aktueller Trend fur die Evaluation eines einzelnen Wissenschaftlers oder beim Ranking ganzer Institutionen, Forschungsstandorte und Lander. Dieser Band fuhrt in knapper Form an das Thema heran, beschreibt gut verstandlich die wichtigsten Masgrosen und erlautert das selbstandige Erstellen sowie die Beurteilung und Interpretation bibliometrischer Analysen. Damit bietet er eine leicht les- und anwendbare Unterstutzung fur Entscheidungstrager, Wissenschaftsmanager, Wissenschaftler sowie Bibliothekare und Informationsprofis.

NUCLiB - The virtual nuclear engineering library on the Internet

The majority of publications in the field of nuclear engineering appear as reports and are therefore classed as grey literature. They are not usually available in bookshops and in general can only be obtained directly from the publishing institution. To the best of our knowledge, indexed collections do not exist in Germany. The libraries of both research centres in Julich and Karlsruhe have been building up collections of primary and secondary literature within the field of nuclear technology and related sub-disciplines, as well as related subject areas, for decades. In order to help maintain competence in nuclear engineering, they are currently developing a virtual nuclear engineering portal, NUCLiB (Nuclear Library), which they will use to make a unique repository of full texts available to science, research and practical applications in the future. The reports are successively digitized and after optical character recognition is performed, they are then automatically indexed with metadata. This objective indexing will allow scientists and technicians to search through and make use of the collections. Furthermore, a sophisticated portal with all of the modern functions will be developed and made available. A demo version of the portal can be accessed online at www.nuclib.de.