Analysis is a useful tool in studies of Social Sciences and Humanities

Torres-Salinas, Daniel and Moed, Henk F. Analysis is a useful tool in studies of Social Sciences and Humanities., 2008 . In 10th International Conference on Science and Technology Indicators, Viena (Austria), 17-20 September 2008. [Presentation]

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English abstract

This paper explores the use of Library Catalog Analysis (LCA), defined as the application of bibliometric or informetric techniques to a set of library online catalogs, to describe quantitatively a scientific-scholarly field on the basis of published book titles. It focuses on its value as a tool in studies of Social Sciences and Humanities, especially its cognitive structures, main book publishers and the research performance of its actors. The paper proposes an analogy model between traditional citation analysis of journal articles and library catalog analysis of book titles. It presents the outcomes of an exploratory study of book titles in Economics included in 42 academic library catalogs from 7 countries. It describes the process of data collection and cleaning, and applies a series of indicators. It illustrates how LCA can be fruitfully used to assess book production and research performance. It discusses a number of issues that should be addressed in follow-up studies and concludes that LCA of published book titles can be developed into a powerful and useful tool in studies of Social Sciences and Humanities.

Spanish abstract

Se presenta una nueva metodología denominada Análisis de Catálogos de bibliotecas definida como la aplicación de las técnicas bibliométricas a un conjunto de catálogos On-line para describir cuantitativamente un campo científco en función de los libros publicados. Se centra este en la evaluación específica de las Ciencias Sociales. El trabajo propone una analogía entre el modelo tradicional de análisis de citas y el análisis de catálogos. Se presenta resultados aplicados al ámbito de la economía a partir del análisis de 42 bibliotecas describiéndose el proceso de recolección de datos y su procesamiento.

Item type:	Presentation
Keywords:	Library catalogs; scientific-scholarly books; research performance; social sciences and humanities; bibliometric indicators; economics.
Subjects:	B. Information use and sociology of information
Depositing user:	Daniel Torres-Salinas
Date deposited:	13 Oct 2008
Last modified:	02 Oct 2014 12:13
URI:	http://hdl.handle.net/10760/12375

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