Short-lived Technical Literatures: A Bibliometric Analysis

Abstract

Much work has been completed on the application of quantitative measures to literatures dealing with the subject area devoted to ideas or concepts. Little or no work has been reported on the use of these techniques in an applied situation, on a literature devoted to a scientific product. This study attempts to apply the quantitative measures to such a literature and examine some of the implications of the results in terms of professional action on the part of the librarian or information scientist. Bibliometric techniques developed on long-lived literatures are applicable to short-lived literatures devoted to a sample of two pharmaceutical products.

Patterns of Research Productivity in the Business Ethics Literature: Insights from Analyses of Bibliometric Distributions

“…Our study covers both the leading journals in the business ethics discipline, viz., Business Ethics Quarterly and Journal of Business Ethics. We use a comprehensive data set that includes all research Bino et al (2005) Economics a Estimated concentration pattern relatively more diffused than predicted Chung and Cox (1990) Finance Estimated and predicted patterns very close Accounting Estimated and predicted patterns very close Chung and Puelz (1992) Risk Management Estimated and predicted patterns very close Cox and Chung (1991) Economics Estimated and predicted patterns very close Gupta et al (1998) Physics b Estimated and predicted patterns very close Murphy (1973) Humanities Estimated and predicted patterns very close Radhakrishnan and Kernizan (1979) Computer Science Estimated concentration pattern relatively more diffused than predicted Schorr (1975) Map librarianship Estimated and predicted patterns very close Schorr (1974) Library Science Estimated concentration pattern relatively more diffused than predicted Subramanyam (1979) Computer Science Estimated and predicted patterns very close Voos (1974) Information Science Estimated concentration pattern relatively more diffused than predicted Worthen (1978) Medicine Estimated concentration pattern relatively more diffused than predicted a Studies only economics journals based in India. b Studies only physics journals based in India.…”

Lotka's law and the literature of computer science

“…For information science literature, a new exponent (3.5) was required to provide a good fit with empirical data [15]. in another investigation [16], Worthen reported that Lotka's law did not fit the literature describing pharmaceutical products, especially in the upper and lower levels of author productivity. The center of the range showed a closer correlation between expected author productivity and the actual number of papers produced.…”

Patterns of Productivity in the Finance Literature: A Study of the Bibliometric Distributions

“…Schorr (1974) finds that Lotka's inverse square law is not applicable to the literature of library science and proposes an inverse quadruple law whereby, for each 100 contributors of a single article, about six will contribute two papers, about one will contribute three papers, etc. Worthen (1978) reports that Lotka's Law does not fit the literature in medicine. Radhakrishnan and Kernizan (1979) find that Lotka's Law does not apply well to computer science literature.…”