ANALYTICAL AND EXPERIMENTAL STUDY OF A METHOD FOR LITERATURE SEARCH IN ABSTRACTING JOURNALS

摘要

A new method for literature search using abstracting journals developed by Lykoudis, Liley and Touloukian (1) is extended. The method consists of searching an abstracting journal for a certain period of time and then obtaining new information by going through the bibliography section of the papers located by the direct search of the abstracting journal. This procedure can be repeated in cycles.nThe integration technique is employed in the derivation of parametric equations throughout the work instead of the finite summation method. The refinements incor¬porated in the Lykoudis-Liley-Toulqukian model are: consideration of duplications that result from the proposed method of search and variation of available literature on a subject as a function of time. Mathematical relations are derived to represent the above mentioned cases. A comparison between the Lykoudis-Liley-Touloukian model and the present one is given in all pertinent cases. The scope of the applicability of this method is discussed at some length and an alternate model is suggested for cases where the present one becomes ineffective.nAccording to the model of the new method of literature search, a direct search of Chemical Abstracts is made to locate publications on seven thermophysical pro¬perties (thermal conductivity, specific heat, viscosity, diffusion coefficient, emissivity, thermal diffusivity, and Prandtl number) for all matter. This search is done for the period between January 1954 and December 1957. The references cited by each publication thus uncovered are searched to obtain further new information on the above mentioned properties. The quantitative results obtained from the experi-ment are compared with the ones found using the analytical relations developed by Lykoudis, Liley, and Touloukian including the refinements presented in the first part of this work.nAs a consequence of the experimental work performed the following statistical data and results pertinent to the literature on thermophysical properties are also obtained:n1. The rate of growth of research on thermophysical properties.n2. The comparative research activities in various countries in the field of thermophysical properties.n3. The top fifty scientific journals of the world based on papers on thermophysical properties research.n4. The time lag between the publication dates of papers in scientific journals and their appearance in abstracting journals.n5. The extent and duplication of coverage of three abstracting journals con¬cerning thermophysical properties information.n6. Average number of authors and average number of references per paper on thermophysical properties.