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

Obsolescence of Physics Literature Cited in the Doctoral Dissertations of University of Kerala


Affiliations
1 Department of Communication and Journalism, University of Kerala, Kariavattom Campus, Thiruvananthapuram –695 581, Kerala, India
     

   Subscribe/Renew Journal


The obsolescence and aging studies are important areas of citation analysis in Library and Information science. The paper attempts to examine the obsolescence of literature in Physics by citation analysis and reviewed various studies already done in the field and outlined the results. The study is based on the 3,180 citations, cited in the 12 doctoral dissertations of Physics awarded from Department of Physics, University of Kerala, India during the period of 1999-2003. It is observed that journals and books are the most preferred bibliographic form of citations used by the Physicists, and they occupy 82.08% and 12.92% respectively. The findings show that the half-life of journal citations was 14 years and for books it was 25 years. The mean year of journals was calculated as 17.58 and 23.09 years for the books.

Keywords

Obsolescence, Half-Life, Physics Theses, University of Kerala.
User
About The Author

K. G. Pillai Sudhier
Department of Communication and Journalism, University of Kerala, Kariavattom Campus, Thiruvananthapuram –695 581, Kerala
India


Notifications

  • Wolfram (Dietmar). Applied informatrics for information retrieval Research. Libraries Unlimited, Westport, 2003, p.56

  • Kannappanavar (B U); Savadatti (S G); Nulvi (C N). Obsolescence of literature in chemical Psychology. Lucknow Librarian. Vol. 23(3-4); 1991; p86.

  • Line (M B); Sandison (A) (1974) Obsolescence and changes in the use of literature with time. Journal of Documentation. Vol. 30(3); 1974; p289.

  • Egghe (Leo); Rousseau (Ronald). Aging, obsolescence, impact, growth and utilization: definitions and relations. Journal of American Society for Information Science. Vol. 51(11); 2000; p1008. http://www.hdl.handle.net/1942/786.

  • Burton (R E); Kebler (R W). The half-life of some scientific and technical literature. American documentation. Vol. 11(1); 1960; p20.

  • Line (M B). The half life of periodical literature: apparent and real obsolescence. Journal of Documentation. Vol. 26; 1970; p 49.

  • Lancaster (F W). Bibliometric methods in assessing productivity and impact of research. Sarada Ranganathan Endowment for Library Science, Bangalore, 1991, p25. 8. Wolfram (Dietmar). Op Cit. p59.

  • Wilson (Concepcion S). Informetrics. In: Williams, Martha E. (Ed.), Annual Review of Information Science and Technology (ARIST), Vol. 34, 2001, p.137

  • Gross (Paul L K); Gross (E M). College libraries and chemical education. Science. Vol. 66(1713); 1927; p385-389.

  • Line (M B); Sandison (A). Op Cit. p312.

  • Line (Maurice B). Changes in the use of literature with time obsolescence revisited. Library Trends. Vol. 41(4); 1993; p 665-683.

  • Gapen (D Kaye); Milner (Sigrid P). Obsolescence. Library Trends. Vol. 30(1); 1981; p107-124.

  • Ravichandra Rao (I K). Obsolescence and utility factors of periodical publications: a case study. Library Science with a slant to Documentation. Vol. 10; 1973; p297-307.

  • Pichappan (P); Sangaranachiyar (S). Aging approach to scientific eponyms. IASLIC Bulletin. Vol. 41(1); 1996; p37-38.

  • Brookes (B C). The growth, utility and obsolescence of scientific periodical literature. Journal of Documentation. Vol. 26; 1970; p283-294.

  • Nakamoto (H). Synchronous and diachronous citation distributions. In: Egghe, L and Rousseau, R. (Ed.), Informetrics. 87/88, Elsevier, Amsterdam, 1988, p157-163.

  • Ravichandra Rao (I K). Growth, obsolescence, collaboration and circulation statistics. In: Workshop on Informetrics and Scientometrics, DRTC, Bangalore, 1998.

  • Egghe (Leo). Study of several factors that influence aging. In: Neelameghan, A (Ed.), Lectures informetrics and scientometrics. Sarada Ranganathan Endowment for Library Science, Bangalore, 2000, p1-15.

  • Egghe (Leo); Rousseau (Ronald). Op Cit. p1004-1017

  • Glanzel (Wolfgang). Towards a model for diachronous synchronous citation analysis. Scientometrics. Vol. 60(3); 2004; p 511-522.

  • Gupta (D K). Periodical literature of exploration geophysics: obsolescence factors and patterns. Library Science. Vol. 21; 1984; p205-226.

  • Sangam (S L). Obsolescence of literature in Economics. ILA Bulletin. Vol. 25(2); 1989; p59-61.

  • Sangam (S L). Obsolescence of literature in the field of Psychology. Scientometrics. Vol. 44 (3); 1999; p581-583.

  • Arunachalam (S); Manorama (K). Are citation based quantitative techniques adequate for measuring science on the periphery? Scientometrics. Vol. 15; 1989; p393-408.

  • Gupta (Usha). Obsolescence of Physics literature: exponential decrease of the density of citations to physical review articles with age. Journal of American Society for Information Science. Vol. 41(4); 1990; p 282-287.

  • Vimala (V); Reddy (V Pulla). Obsolescence of literature in Zoology. Malaysian Journal of Library and Information Science. Vol. 1(2) ; 1997; p31-39.

  • Gupta (B M). Growth and Obsolecsence of literature in Theoretical Population Genetics. Scientometrics. Vol. 42(3); 1998; p335-347.

  • Jagannath (Uma). Obsolescence of reading materials. Library Science with a slant to Documentation and Information Studies. Vol. 36(1); 1999; p 55-60.

  • Jagannath (Uma). Obsolescence of reading materials in academic libraries due to changes in research projects/ programmes- a case study at J R D Tata memorial library collection. Library Science with a slant to Documentation and Information Studies. Vol. 36(2); 1999; p103-112.

  • Kannappanavar (B U); Vijayakumar (M). Periodical literature of Plant and Cell Physiology: A citation analysis study to determine obsolescence factors and patterns. SRELS Journal of Information Management. Vol. 38(1); 2001; p 81-90.

  • Biradar (B S); Sampath Kumar (B T). Chemical technology literature: An obsolescence study. Annals of library and Information Studies. Vol. 50(4); 2003; p156-162.

  • Ijari (S R); Kannappanavar (S U). Periodical literature of Geology: A citation analysis study to determine obsolescence factors and patterns. Indian Journal of Information, Library and Society. Vol. 2(1); 1989; p77-84.

  • Biradar (B S); Vijayalekshmi (T). Pattern of information use of Indian Neurological scientists: a bibliometric study. Annals of library Science and Documentation. Vol. 44(4); 1997; p143-157.

  • Brookes (B C). The aging of scientific literature. Problems of Information Science. 1973; p83.


Abstract Views: 491

PDF Views: 10




  • Obsolescence of Physics Literature Cited in the Doctoral Dissertations of University of Kerala

Abstract Views: 491  |  PDF Views: 10

Authors

K. G. Pillai Sudhier
Department of Communication and Journalism, University of Kerala, Kariavattom Campus, Thiruvananthapuram –695 581, Kerala, India

Abstract


The obsolescence and aging studies are important areas of citation analysis in Library and Information science. The paper attempts to examine the obsolescence of literature in Physics by citation analysis and reviewed various studies already done in the field and outlined the results. The study is based on the 3,180 citations, cited in the 12 doctoral dissertations of Physics awarded from Department of Physics, University of Kerala, India during the period of 1999-2003. It is observed that journals and books are the most preferred bibliographic form of citations used by the Physicists, and they occupy 82.08% and 12.92% respectively. The findings show that the half-life of journal citations was 14 years and for books it was 25 years. The mean year of journals was calculated as 17.58 and 23.09 years for the books.

Keywords


Obsolescence, Half-Life, Physics Theses, University of Kerala.

References