Hood WW, Wilson CS "The scatter of documents over databases in different subject domains: how many databases are needed?" JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR INFORMATION SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY 52 (14): 1242-1254 DEC 2001

[Eugene Garfield]

WILLIAM W. HOOD : W.Hood at unsw.edu.au

CONCEPCION S. WILSON : C.Wilson at unsw.edu.au


TITLE    The scatter of documents over databases in different subject
         domains: How many databases are needed?
AUTHOR   Hood WW, Wilson CS
JOURNAL  JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR INFORMATION SCIENCE AND
         TECHNOLOGY 52 (14): 1242-1254 DEC 2001

 Document type: Article
 Language: English
 Cited References: 22
 Times Cited: 0


Abstract:
The distribution of bibliographic records in on-line bibliographic databases
is examined using 14 different search topics. These topics were searched
using the DIALOG database host, and using as many suitable databases as
possible. The presence of duplicate records in the searches was taken
into consideration in the analysis, and the problem with lexical ambiguity
in at least one search topic is discussed. The study answers questions such
as how many databases are needed in a multifile search for particular
topics, and what coverage will be achieved using a certain number of
Databases. The distribution of the percentages of records retrieved over a
number of databases for 13 of the 14 search topics roughly fell into three
groups: (1) high concentration of records in one database with about 80%
coverage in five to eight databases; (2) moderate concentration in one
database with about 80% coverage in seven to 10 databases; and (3) low
concentration in one database with about 80% coverage in 16 to 19 databases.
The study does conform with earlier results, but shows that the number of
databases needed for searches with varying complexities of search
strategies, is much more topic dependent than previous studies would
indicate.

KeyWords Plus:
INFORMETRIC ANALYSES, COLLECTIONS, RELEVANCE, ISSUES

Addresses:
Hood WW, Univ New S Wales, Sch Informat Syst Technol & Management, Sydney,
NSW 2052,
Australia
Univ New S Wales, Sch Informat Syst Technol & Management, Sydney, NSW 2052,
Australia

Publisher:
JOHN WILEY & SONS INC, NEW YORK

IDS Number:
497HU

ISSN:
1532-2882

Cited Author            Cited Work                Volume      Page      Year

 *DIALOG               DIALOG POCK GUID                                2001
 BRADFORD SC           ENGINEERING-LONDON           137        85      1934
 CAMPBELL FBF          THEORY NATL INT BIBL                            1996
 HJORLAND B            J DOC                         48       172      1992
 HOOD W                INFORM PROCESS MANAG          30       327      1994
 HOOD WW               SCIENTOMETRICS                46       473      1999
 HOOD WW               THESIS U NEW S WALES                            1998
 INGWERSEN P           J AM SOC INFORM SCI           48       205      1997
 LANCASTER FW          J AM SOC INFORM SCI           36       389      1985
 MANZER BM             ABSTRACT J                            1790      1977
 MILLER C              ONLINE                        14        27      1990
 MIZZARO S             J AM SOC INFORM SCI           48       810      1997
 POLLARD AFC           P 7 C ASS SPEC LIB I                    39      1930
 SARACEVIC T           COLIS 2                                201      1996
 SCHAMBER L            ANNU REV INFORM SCI           29         3      1994
 SEGLEN PO             SCIENTOMETRICS                35       355      1996
 TENOPIR C             ONLINE REV                     6       399      1982
 WILLIAMS ME           GALE DIRECTORY DATA            1       R17      2000
 WILSON CS             SCIENTOMETRICS                46       647      1999
 WILSON CS             SCIENTOMETRICS                41       209      1998
 WILSON CS             THESIS U NEW S WALES                            1995
 ZADEH LA              INFORM CONTR                   8        38      1965