Using the literature of human and medical genetics, the results of a synchronous citation study of obsolescence over a 19-year period were compared with the results of a di achronous citation study. If the first two years of synchronous data are excluded, the rate of obsolescence measured synchro nously is statistically equivalent to the rate of obsolescence measured diachronously. The assumption that synchronous studies need to be cor rected to account for the growth of the literature was tested. The data collected support the hypothesis put forward by Brookes that the growth of the literature and the growth of the number of contributors to that literature have opposite effects in the measurement of obsolescence. The results of a synchro nous study corrected for the growth of the literature and also for the growth in number of contributors were statistically equivalent to synchronous data with no corrections whatever.
A comprehensive program to evaluate the performance of MEDLARS was conducted by the National Library of Medicine in 1966 and 1967. This report describes the methodology used and presents a summary of the principal results, conclusions, and recommendations.
References from a single scientific journal were analyzed to show how the persuasive communities created by scientific references change over time. Articles that appeared in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London were sampled over the journal's 325-year history of publication, to identify and characterize the references made in them. The data highlight changes in the practice of scholarly reference, and provide quantitative measures of the evolution of scientific publication. Types of publications, and the origin, language and age of the materials cited, were analyzed for the period studied. These measures show how persuasive communities have changed, and provide insights into the character of the scientific communities in question.
Online data bases can be used to track the growth of the literature on some topic and to follow the diffusion of the topic through data bases of various types. This type of tracking may be valuable in identifying topics likely to become significant socOnline data bases can be used to track the growth of the literature on some topic and to follow the diffusion of the topic through data bases of various types. This type of tracking may be valuable in identifying topics likely to become significant social or technological “issues”; it might therefore become a useful tool in issues management. A case study on the subject of acid rain is describe it might therefore become a useful tool in issues management. A case study on the subject of acid rain is described.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.