ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries February 1989 / 145 T he in terd iscip lin ary use o f physics jou rn als By Katharine E. Clark Science Reference Librarian Texas A & M University and William R. Kinyon Business Reference Librarian Texas A & M University Online searching as a collection management tool. Online search systems have traditionally been used to provide patrons w ith journal citations on a specific topic. Such systems can, however, be used for other purposes within the library. Evaluating the im portance and potential demand for journals before moving them to a branch library or cancel ing subscriptions can be a difficult, labor intensive process. Often such evaluations must be produced in a short period of time. Online searching is one fast and efficient way to gather the information needed to make such an evaluation. Journals that are heavily indexed in several major databases for example, may not be good candidates for moving to a branch library or canceling subscriptions. W hen such a situation arose at Texas A&M Univer sity, two approaches were used to determine where the journal titles were indexed and w hat percent age of the articles in those journals were actually covered in each database. One approach was to search for specific articles; the other was to search for journal titles. The information gathered was provided in report form to the library administra tion, the university administration, and the Li brary Council, which is composed of representa tives from each college. The Situation At present the library system on the main cam pus of Texas A&M University has a single central library and no branch libraries. Recently the Evans Library was requested by a group on campus to re locate 36 physics journals to start a separate branch library. This group argued th at the journals were used only by physicists and not by other depart ments. The reference staff was asked by the library administration to provide information about the interdisciplinary nature of these journals. U nfortu nately there was less than a week to complete the task. Obviously it was necessary to find the fastest way to compile this information while at the same time covering all the regular duties of the Refer ence D ivision. O nline searching was the only method which would be fast enough and require only a few staff members. Methodology The first step was to compile a list of potential databases. Two staff members, using Ulrich’s In ternational Periodicals Directory and O CLC, pro duced a list of the indexes in which the 36 periodi cals in q u estio n w ere covered. T h e in itia l compilation turned up a list of 36 different indexes. From these 36, eight which had online counter parts were selected for the online searching project. These eight were: Chemical Abstracts, Computer ó- Control Abstracts, Electrical & Electronics A b stracts, Engineering Index, International A ero space Abstracts, M athem atical Reviews, Metals Abstracts, and Science Citation Index. These p a r ticular databases represent a wide variety of disci- 146 / C&RL News TABLE 1 Coverage of Physics Journals by Chemical Abstracts Articles Indexed Articles Published Journals 1983-1985 1983-1985 Percentage1 Annals o f Physics 245 334 73% Applied Physics Letters 2,534 2,686 94% Contemporary Physics 44 60 73% Fortschritte der Physik 31 58 54% Journal o f A pplied Physics 3,944 4,511 87% Journal o f Low Temperature Physics 340 402 85% Journal o f Physics A: Mathematical & General 380 1,034 37% Journal of Physics B: Molecular Physics 1,169 1,169 100% Journal o f Physics C: Solid State Physics 1,731 1,731 100% Journal o f Physics F: Metal Physics 701 701 100% Journal o f the Optical Society of America B 331 346 96% Nuclear Physics A 1,825 1,839 99% Nuclear Physics B 1,324 1,646 80% Optics Letters 431 626 69% Physica (A, B, C, D) 1,796 2,464 73% Physical Beview A: General Physics 1,825 2,979 61% Physical Beview B: Condensed Matter 5,532 6,481 85% Physical Beview C: Nuclear Physics 1,920 1,920 100% Physical Beview D: Particles and Fields 1,925 2,480 78% Physical Review Letters 3,486 3,895 90% Physics Letters A 1,307 2,636 50% Physics Letters B 4,013 4,543 88% Physics Reports 153 207 74% Progress o f Theoretical Physics 535 777 69% Review o f Scientific Instr. 819 1,269 65% Reviews o f Modern Physics 43 61 70% Zeitschrift fü r Physik A 824 824 100% Zeitschrift fü r Physik C 763 802 95% Total 39,971 48,481 82% 1 Articles indexed (1983-1985) divided by articles published (1983-1985) plines, are heavily used and are of major im por tance. Physics Abstracts was specifically excluded because the basic premise was th at these journals were used by nonphysicists as well as physicists; their appearance in Physics Abstracts would only demonstrate the obvious fact th at physicists use these journals. Because of the shortage of tim e, tw o online searchers were assigned to work on the project full time. The first approach used was article specific; one issue from each journal was selected and the entire contents of the title page were searched in each database. This was done by searching for the author’s name and limiting the search by year. The February 1989 / 147 TABLE 2 Summary of Coverage by Eight Major Indexing and Abstracting Services Articles Indexed Articles Published No. of journals Index 1983-1985 1983-1985 Percentage1 Indexed by Service2 Chemical Abstracts 39,971 48,481 83% 28 Computer 6- Control Abstracts 178 4,693 4% 4 Electrical & Electronics Abstracts 5,987 30,981 19% 15 Engineering Index 6,450 11,678 55% 6 International Aerospace Abstracts 7,607 36,366 21% 19 Mathematical Reviews 5,329 39,658 13% 25 Metals Abstracts 3,064 19,348 16% 12 Science Citation Index 49,266 52,241 94% 32 Total 117,852 243,446 48% 1 “Articles Indexed 1983-1985” represents the total num ber of articles, from the 36 physics journals, cited in each indexing and abstracting service. “Articles Published 1983-1985” represents the total num ber of articles published in journals th at were cited in each indexing and abstracting service (see the last column for num ber of journals indexed by service). “Percentage” represents “Articles Indexed 1983-1985” divided by “Articles Published 1983-1985.” 2 Total journals studied = 36. objective of this approach was to determine how a typical issue of the journal might be represented in indexes from other disciplines. After a day of almost constant searching, it be came apparent th at searching for specific articles was not practical and another method would have to be used. There were several reasons for this deci sion. First of all, one issue could have as many as 60 article titles to look up; this took far too long. Sec ondly, it was difficult to retrieve one specific article when an author published extensively during the year, thereby adding significantly to the time spent online. Finally, many of the databases required different forms of author searching which made it more difficult for the searchers. The tremendous am ount of tim e spent online caused a two-fold problem: time and money. The cost was getting out of hand and w ith only a week to complete the project, time was running short. Also, one issue of a journal is not necessarily a good measure of the cov erage of the journal itself in various indexes. The next approach was to search by journal title. Each of the 36 journal titles was searched in each of the 8 databases for the years 1983-1985 to deter mine the num ber of times the journal was indexed. This demonstrated how the journal as a whole, rather than just a single issue, was covered in vari ous disciplines. In addition, it indicated th at the in dexes used by other disciplines also cover physics journals. Therefore it was a better indication th at these 36 journals were used by non-physicists. The journal title approach also solved the problems en countered earlier w ith time and cost because it was faster and simpler for the searchers. Results A table was created for each of the eight online databases giving a detailed analysis of each journal and its coverage in that database (see Table 1). The first column lists the num ber of articles indexed in the database from 1983-1985 for each of the jour nals being studied. These figures were obtained from the online searches. The second column lists the total num ber of articles published in each jour nal for the same time period. These figures were taken from the “Journal Citation Reports” in Sci ence Citation Index. In the third column, “articles indexed” is divided by “articles published” to give a percentage. Table 1 is just one example of such de tailed analyses. As shown in this table, 28 of the physics titles examined had at least 37 % of their ar ticles cited in Chemical Abstracts. In fact, 57 % of the titles indexed had more than 75% coverage. Similar tables were compiled for each of the other seven databases. Table 2 summarizes coverage by the eight index ing and abstracting services. Chemical Abstracts, for example, cited 83 % of the articles published in 28 of the journals. Science Citation Index, which is used by all science and engineering disciplines, cited 49,266 articles of the 52,241 (94%) articles published in 32 journals. Forty-eight percent of the articles published in the 36 physics journals exam- TABLE 3 Coverage of 36 Physics Journals by 8 Major Indexes Titles CA CCA EEA EI Annals o f Physics 73% * 1% — — A pplied Physics Letters 94% — 73% 38% Classical and Quantum Gravity — — — — Contemporary Physics 73% — 12% — Europhysics Letters — — — — Fortschritte der Physik 53% — — — JETP Letters — — 5% — Journal o f Applied Physics 87% — 44% 58% Journal o f Low Temperature Physics 85% — 6% 98% Journal o f Physics A: M athematical and General 37% — — — Journal o f Physics B: Atom ic, Molecular & Optical 100% — — — Journal of Physics C: Solid State Physics 100% — 5% — Journal o f Physics F: Metal Physics 100% — — — Journal o f the Optical Society o f America B 96% — 31% 44% Nuclear Physics A 99% — — — Nuclear Physics B 80% — — — Nuovo Cimento — — 7% — Optics Letters 69% 2% 64% — Physica (A ,B ,C ,D ) 73% 1% 11% 62% Physical Beview A: General Physics 61% — 4% — Physical Review B: Condensed Matter 85% 3% — Physical Beview C: Nuclear Physics 100% — — — Physical Beview D: Particles and Fields 78% — — — Physical Review Letters 90% — 3% — Physics Letters A 50% — — — Physics Letters B 88% — — — Physics Reports 74% — — — Progress of Theoretical Physics 69% — — — Review o f Scientific Instruments 65% 11% 42% 55% Reviews o f Modern Physics 70% — — — Soviet Journal o f Nuclear Physics — — — — Soviet Journal o f Particles and Nuclei — — — — Soviet Physics: JETP — — 3% — Zeitschrift fü r Physik A 100% — — — Zeitschrift fü r Physik B — — — — Zeitschrift fü r Physik C 95% — — — CA = Chemical Abstracts CCA= Computer and Control Abstracts EEA= Electrical and Electronics Abstracts E l = Engineering Index * percentage (articles indexed 1983-1985/articles published 1983-1985) ined are cited in at least one of the eight major in dexes. Conclusion The physics journals examined in this project are major components in the field of physics literature and are obviously im portant to physicists. How ever, a large percentage of the articles published in these journals are also critically im portant to re searchers in other disciplines. Engineers, chemists, computer scientists, mathematicians, and scien tists from virtually every other field find relevant rticles in these key physics journals. To illustrate his point, Table 3 shows how these 36 physics titles re heavily cited in eight major indexes th at em hasize disciplines other than physics. For exam le, 94 % of the articles in Applied Physics Letters re indexed in Chemical Abstracts, and 73% are ited by E lectrical and Electronics A bstracts. eventy-three percent of the articles in Physica ,B ,C ,D are included in International Aerospace bstracts and 62% are in Engineering Index. a t a p p a c S A A 148 / C &R L News TABLE 3 (cont’d) Coverage of 36 Physics Journals by 8 Major Indexes Titles IAA MR MA SCI Annals o f Physics — 65% — 99% Applied Physics Letters 42% * — — 100% Classical and Quantum Gravity 60% 100% — 100% Contemporary Physics 15% — 10% 100% Europhysics Letters — — — — Fortschritte der Physik — 50% — 95% JETP Letters 20% — 7% 91% Journal o f Applied Physics 24% — 19% 100% Journal o f Low Temperature Physics — — 28% 100% Journal o f Physics A: M athematical and General 6% 100% — 100% Journal o f Physics B: Atom ic, Molecular & Optical 21% 2% — 100% Journal of Physics C: Solid State Physics — — 22% 100% Journal o f Physics F: Metal Physics — — 98% 100% Journal o f the Optical Society o f America B 35% 6% — — Nuclear Physics A — 1% — 82% Nuclear Physics B — 27% — 100% Nuovo Cimento 31% 11% 2% 100% Optics Letters 45% — — 100% Physica (A ,B ,C ,D ) 73% 10% — 100% Physical Beview A: General Physics 19% 8% — 100% Physical Beview B: Condensed Matter .4% 1% — 63% Physical Beview C: Nuclear Physics — .6% — 100% Physical Beview D: Particles and Fields .2% 26% — 100% Physical Beview Letters 20% 9% 11% 100% Physics Letters A 21% 25% 8% 99% Physics Letters B — 12% — 100% Physics Beports — 25% — 94% Progress o f Theoretical Physics — 37% — 100% Beview o f Scientific Instruments 17% — 4% 98% Reviews o f Modern Physics 3% 16% — 100% Soviet Journal o f Nuclear Physics — 5% — 95% Soviet Journal o f Particles and Nuclei — 16% — — Soviet Physics: JETP — 3% 12% — Zeitschrift fü r Physik A — .1% — 100% Zeitschrift fü r Physik B — .7% 14% 98% Zeitschrift fü r Physik C — 8% — 100% IAA = International Aerospace Abstracts MR = Mathematical Reviews MA = Metals Abstracts SCI = Science Citation Index *percentage (articles indexed 1983-1985/articles published 1983-1985) 150 / C&RL News been given to starting duplicate subscriptions be impossible to obtain by hand in time to meet the deadline. This same approach could also serve well in similar situations th at dem and th at journal col lections be evaluated. One question must first be answered: is the evaluation im portant enough to offset the cost in time and money of doing the on line searches? If the answer is yes, online searching will generate meaningful results quickly. ■ ■ cause the journals were obviously needed by other researchers. However, there appeared to be no ready source of library or university funding for the duplicate subscriptions. Online searching used in a non-traditional m an ner provided a fast and efficient solution under tight time constraints. Information gathered from the searches done on this project would have been Scientific literature: P rod u cers an d consum ers By Vicky Reich Chief, Serials D epartm ent Stanford University Is there a crisis in science publishing? T here is much smoke these days about a crisis in academ ic and scientific publishing. From some quarters, especially from librarians, but occasion ally from scientists and publishers, the w ord is there is too much literature that is too expensive and too little used. From other quarters, including many publishers and scientists, comes word that all is fine. Is there need for a brigade to put out the fire generating all this smoke, or is it just a smoke screen? L et’s listen to w hat librarians, publishers and scientists are saying and then formulate some questions. Many prom inent librarians say we are experi encing a crisis caused by, among other things, a half-dozen profiteering publishers who are goug ing a captive academic library market. The publishers say that price increases have oc curred for good reasons. Higher subscription rates are due to the devaluation of the dollar, or because a title has grown in size providing more words and information for more dollars, or because of inflat ing production costs. High subscription rates also subsidize new titles th at are losing money. Pub lishers say th at new and expanded titles are needed because scientists w ant to be published and if pub lisher X doesn’t accept the manuscript, publisher Y will. Very occasionally publishers say they need to increase subscription rates to make more money! (Commercial publishers return a profit to stock holders, non-commercial publishers provide ser vices to association members.) The library profession has responded to this per ceived crisis in a num ber of ways. ARL prepared a statem ent which summarizes the library profes sion’s concerns and proposes some long term solu tions. Institutions have strengthened resource shar