Journal of Information and Knowledge (Formerly SRELS Journal of Information Management)

Open Access Open Access  Restricted Access Subscription Access
Open Access Open Access Open Access  Restricted Access Restricted Access Subscription Access

URL Degeneration: A Warning to Scholarly Community


Affiliations
1 Department of Library and Information Science, University of Mysore, Manasagangotri, Mysuru – 570006, Karnataka, India
     

   Subscribe/Renew Journal


The present study examines the degeneration of web citations in scholarly journals of Library and Information Science, and Communication and Media Studies. The journals were selected based on their high impact factor published between 2008 and 2017. A PHP script was used to crawl the Uniform Resource Locators collected from the references. A total of 8,767 articles were downloaded and 3,97,140 references were extracted. A total of 71,289 URLs were checked for their availability. Further, the characteristic features of URL like file extension, path depth, character length and the toplevel domain were determined. The findings indicated that more number of URLs in LIS journal articles decayed than in Communication and Media Studies journal articles. The majority of errors in both the disciplines were HTTP 404 error code (Not found error). The findings of the study imply that authors, publishers and editorial staff need to ensure the availability of web resources before citing them.

Keywords

Communication and Media Studies, Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs), HTTP Error, Library and Information Science, References, Web Citations, PHP, URLs.
User
About The Authors

B. Niveditha
Department of Library and Information Science, University of Mysore, Manasagangotri, Mysuru – 570006, Karnataka
India

Mallinath Kumbar
Department of Library and Information Science, University of Mysore, Manasagangotri, Mysuru – 570006, Karnataka
India


Notifications

  • Chikate, R. V. and Patil, S. K. (2009). Measuring impact of web sources in ILA Conference Proceedings: A citation analysis. Library Herald, 47(2):142-154.

  • Dimitrova, D. V. and Bugeja, M. (2007). The half-life of internet references cited in Communication Journals. New Media and Society, 9(5):811-826. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444807081226.

  • Doraswamy, M. and Janakiramaiah, M. (2011, March 2-4). Measuring Impact of Web Resources in Conference Proceedings: A Citation Analysis [Paper presentation]. 8th International CALIBER, Goa University, Goa. http://ir.inflibnet.ac.in:8080/jspui/handle/1944/1645.

  • Goh, D. H. and Ng, P. K. (2007). Link decay in leading Information Science Journals. Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, 58(1):15- 24. https://doi.org/10.1002/asi.20513.

  • Isfandyari-Moghaddam, A. and Saberi, M. K. (2011). The life and death of URLs: The case of Journal of the Medical Library Association. Library Philosophy and Practice (E-Journal). http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/libphilprac/592.

  • Isfandyari-Moghaddam, A., Saberi M. K. and Mohamadesmaeil, S. (2010). Availability and half-life of web references cited in Information Research Journal: A citation study. International Journal of Information Science and Management, 8(2):57-75.

  • Jalalifard, M., Norouzi, Y. and Isfandyari‐Moghaddam, A. (2013). Analyzing web citations availability and half‐life in Medical Journals: A case study in an Iranian University. Aslib Proceedings, 65(3):242-261. https://doi.org/10.1108/00012531311330638.

  • Lawrence, S. (2001). Online or invisible. Nature, 411(6837):521. https://doi.org/10.1038/35079151. PMid:11385534.

  • Maharana, B., Nayak, K. and Sahu, N. K. (2006). Scholarly use of web resources in LIS research: A citation analysis. Library Review, 55(9):598-607. https://doi.org/10.1108/00242530610706789.

  • Mardani, A. (2012). An investigation of the web citations in Iran’s chemistry articles in SCI. Library Review, 61(1):18- 29. https://doi.org/10.1108/00242531211207398.

  • Markwell, J. and Brooks, D. W. (2003). “Link rot” limits the usefulness of web-based educational materials in biochemistry and molecular biology. Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Education, 31(1):69-72. https://doi.org/10.1002/bmb.2003.494031010165.

  • Niveditha, B. and Mallinath Kumbar (2020). Accessibility and characteristics of web citations in Journal of Computer- Mediated Communication during 2008-2017. Journal of Indian Library Association, 56(2):39-50.

  • Niveditha, B. and Mallinath Kumbar (2020). Availability of web citations in Scholarly Library and Information Science Journals: A study. PEARL - A Journal of Library and Information Science, 14(2):202-208. https://doi.org/10.5958/0975-6922.2020.00024.8.

  • Niveditha, B. and Mallinath Kumbar (2020). Web citation analysis of Library and Information Science and Communication and Media Studies Journals: A comparative study. COLLNET Journal of Scientometrics and Information Management, 14(2):335-348. https://doi.org/10.1080/09737766.2021.1915721.

  • Prithviraj, K. R. and Sampath Kumar, B. T. (2015). Web citation trends in Indian LIS Journals: A citation analysis. COLLNET Journal of Scientometrics and Information Management, 9(2):295-310. https://doi.org/10.1080/09737766.2015.1069968.

  • Sadat‐Moosavi, A., Isfandyari‐Moghaddam, A. and Tajeddini, O. (2012). Accessibility of online resources cited in Scholarly LIS Journals: A study of Emerald ISI‐ranked Journals. Aslib Proceedings, 64(2):178-192. https://doi.org/10.1108/00012531211215196.

  • Sampath Kumar, B. T. and Manoj Kumar, K. S. (2012). Persistence and half‐life of URL citations cited in LIS Open Access Journals. Aslib Proceedings, 64(4):405-422. https://doi.org/10.1108/00012531211244752.

  • Sampath Kumar, B. T. and Prithviraj, K. R. (2012). Availability and persistence of web citations in Indian LIS Literature. The Electronic Library, 30(1):19-32. https://doi.org/10.1108/02640471211204042.

  • Sampath Kumar, B. T. and Vinay Kumar, D. (2013). HTTP 404-page (not) found: Recovery of decayed URL citations. Journal of Informetrics, 7(1):145-157. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joi.2012.09.007.

  • Sampath Kumar, B. T., Vinay Kumar, D. and Prithviraj, K. R. (2015). Wayback machine: reincarnation to vanished online citations. Program, 49(2):205-223. https://doi.org/10.1108/PROG-07-2013-0039.

  • Spinellis, D. (2003). The decay and failures of web references. Communications of the ACM, 46(1):71-77. https://doi.org/10.1145/602421.602422.

  • Vinay Kumar, D. and Sushmitha, M. (2019). Recovery of missing URLs cited in Annals of Library and Information Studies: A study of time travel. Annals of Library and Information Studies, 66(1), 24-32.

  • Vinay Kumar, D. and Sampath Kumar, B. T. (2017). Finding the unfound: Recovery of missing URLs through Internet Archive. Annals of Library and Information Studies, 64(3):165-171.

  • Vinay Kumar, D., Sampath Kumar, B. T. and Parameshwarappa, D. R. (2015). URLs link rot: Implications for electronic publishing. World Digital Libraries - An International Journal, 8(1):59-66. https://doi.org/10.18329/09757597/2015/8105.

  • Wu, Z. (2008). An empirical study of the accessibility of web references in two Chinese academic Journals. Scientometrics, 78(3):481-503. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-007-1951-1.

  • Zhang, Y. (2007). The effect of open access on citation impact: A comparison study based on web citation analysis. Libri, 56(3):145-156. https://doi.org/10.1515/LIBR.2006.145.

  • Zhao, D. and Logan E. (2002). Citation analysis using scientific publications on the Web as data source: A case study in the XML research area. Scientometrics, 54(3):449-472. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1016090601710.


Abstract Views: 368

PDF Views: 9




  • URL Degeneration: A Warning to Scholarly Community

Abstract Views: 368  |  PDF Views: 9

Authors

B. Niveditha
Department of Library and Information Science, University of Mysore, Manasagangotri, Mysuru – 570006, Karnataka, India
Mallinath Kumbar
Department of Library and Information Science, University of Mysore, Manasagangotri, Mysuru – 570006, Karnataka, India

Abstract


The present study examines the degeneration of web citations in scholarly journals of Library and Information Science, and Communication and Media Studies. The journals were selected based on their high impact factor published between 2008 and 2017. A PHP script was used to crawl the Uniform Resource Locators collected from the references. A total of 8,767 articles were downloaded and 3,97,140 references were extracted. A total of 71,289 URLs were checked for their availability. Further, the characteristic features of URL like file extension, path depth, character length and the toplevel domain were determined. The findings indicated that more number of URLs in LIS journal articles decayed than in Communication and Media Studies journal articles. The majority of errors in both the disciplines were HTTP 404 error code (Not found error). The findings of the study imply that authors, publishers and editorial staff need to ensure the availability of web resources before citing them.

Keywords


Communication and Media Studies, Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs), HTTP Error, Library and Information Science, References, Web Citations, PHP, URLs.

References