Recent discussion of Bradford's law of scatter has been founded on two formulations that are not mathematically equivalent. A method of comparing the two formulations against empirical data is developed, and the results using four sets of existing data are discussed. (12 references) (Author/NH)

The analysis and application of manpower statistics to identify some long-term international research trends in economic entomology and pest conrol are described. Movements in research interests, particularly towards biological methods of control, correlations between these sectors, and the difficulties encountered in the construction of a…

The uses to which analysis of bibliographical references and citations can be put are categorized. Five sources of references and citations are identified, and their advantages and disadvantages for various purposes assessed and compared. Comparative studies of different sources are urged. (6 references) (Author)

Information transfer among scientists can be regarded as analoguous to a complex rate process highly dependent on the characteristics of the information forms. A general model is presented and an attempt made to quantify certain pathways. (25 references) (Author)

A survey was conducted to test the coverage of search engines and to decide whether their partial coverage is an obstacle to using them to calculate Web impact factors. Results indicate that search engine coverage, even of large national domains, is extremely uneven and would be likely to cause misleading calculations. (Author/AEF)

Outlines the importance of chemical patents as an information source, highlighting the area of structural information and some of the special characteristics of the generic (Markush) type of description. Summarizes important research at Sheffield University (United Kingdom) performed from 1979 to 1995 by a team led by Mike Lynch. (PEN)

Describes an experiment in automatic categorization, which is based on the vector model, widely used in information retrieval. Shows how the construction of the class patterns was carried out. Discusses the evaluation measures adopted and results obtained in the automatic categorization of a collection of documents in Spanish. Describes the manual…

Symbols for bibliometric concepts like "half life,""impact factor,""normalized impact factor," and "immediacy index" are proposed and formulas for the determination of their values are provided. The features of the bibliometric concepts are also highlighted. (Author/AEF)

Information needs are defined in relation to conceptual incongruities and the satisfaction of such needs is discussed in terms of access to varying ranges of information sources, from individual learning resources to large-scale databases. (Author/SW)

Examines bibliographic control issues regarding socioeconomic development information in Africa by describing activities of the Pan African Development Information System in Ethiopia, the Southern African Research and Documentation Center in Zimbabwe, the South African Bibliographic and Information Network in South Africa, and the National…

Describes emerging metadata practice and standards. Gives an overview of the environments in which metadata is used, before focusing on metadata for information resources. Outlines an approximate typology of approaches and explores different strands of metadata activity. Discusses trends in format development, metadata management, and use of…

Introduces new procedures being used to extract knowledge from databases and discusses rationales for developing knowledge discovery methods. Methods are described for such techniques as classification, clustering, and the detection of deviations from pre-established norms. Examines potential uses of knowledge discovery in the information field.…

Presents hyper-lib, a model for an electronic library. Defines the hyper-lib model in terms of structural and functional components; discusses the book collection, the librarian, the library rooms, user resources, and general and specific library services. Describes various operators, which allow the user to change the system state. (AEF)

Describes the building of a list of constructed-impact factors (CIF) for biomedical journals not included in the 1996 editions of the "Journal Citation Reports." The online retrieval from the host DIMDI of the data needed for impact-factor calculation is described. The top 100 (of 338 titles, ranked according to their CIFs) are…

Examines a new professional practice in higher education that supports learning through computer-mediated communication; offers a preliminary model for its development. The model involves users' participation in collaborative networked learning for exploring and developing resource knowledge and support strategies. (AEF)