The problem of recovering information due to the variability of authorship registration in scientific articles

Abstract

Bibliographical databases are an indispensable tool to recover scientific information and carry out bibliometric studies. However, errors and inconsistencies in data registers lead to the loss of relevant information in research and interfere in the access to documents (1) .The name of the author is one of the main fields to recover information, as users frequently search scientific journal databases and electronic libraries through this field. Thus, the lack of standardization to register the name of the author makes it difficult to find studies and can interfere in the articles' and authors' citation ratios. These indicators are increasingly used in the assessment of scientific journals, selection processes, to advance in the academic career and to obtain research grants.Despite the strict control measures based on international publishing policies, editors often do not apply rules and standards coherently. In addition, authors' names are registered in different ways in journals published in Spanish and in English. Journals published in English usually present the surname followed by the first name and middle names, if applicable. As an example, my name would be cited "Marziale, Maria HelenaPalucci". In journals published in Spanish, the reference of my name becomes "Palucci -Marziale, MariaHelena", that is, the first and second surnames are followed by the first and middle names, although there can be other variations.