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A bibliometric study of taxonomic botany

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journal contribution
posted on 2012-10-10, 14:13 authored by Christopher WaltonChristopher Walton, Anne Morris
PURPOSE – The aims of this paper are to: investigate the citation-patterns of monograph books in taxonomic botany (looking mainly at publications and publishers, and the age of current literature); and make recommendations for collections management and reference services in libraries that hold botany materials. DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH – In total, 454 citations were collected at random from 47 botanical monographs published in 2009; a Bradford distribution of cited journals was produced; age-distributions of citations were devised; and other bibliographical characteristics were tabulated. FINDINGS – A small Bradfordian core of highly-cited journals and important publishers of monograph books were identified; monographs are cited more often than journal articles; older materials are more important than in other sciences; monographs are used by botanists for current awareness purposes; coverage of botanical journals by citation indexes is poor. RESEARCH LIMITATIONS/IMPLICATIONS – The small size of the sample means that results were indicative. Further studies could: take larger samples; look at citations in journal articles, theses, conference proceeding; look at citations made over several years. PRACTICAL LIMITATIONS – Librarians should: note the core botanical journals identified here; continue to acquire botanical monographs and to retain older materials; display new botanical monographs prominently and include them in current awareness services. ORIGINALITY/VALUE – The bibliometrics of taxonomic botany have previously been little studied; likewise citations from monographs. This paper fills some of the gaps. Some of the bibliometric methods of J. M. Cullars were applied to botanical literature.

History

School

  • University Academic and Administrative Support

Department

  • University Library

Citation

WALTON, C.J. and MORRIS, A., 2013. A bibliometric study of taxonomic botany. Journal of Documentation, 69 (3), pp. 435 - 451.

Publisher

© Emerald

Version

  • AM (Accepted Manuscript)

Publication date

2013

Notes

This article has been published in the Journal of Documentation [© Emerald] and the definitive version is available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/JD-09-2012-0121

Language

  • en

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