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The difficulty of achieving full coverage of international social science literature and the bibliometric consequences

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  • Diana Hicks

    (CHI Research, Inc.)

Abstract

This review of social science bibliometric literature seeks to establish characteristics of the social science literature and to understand their consequences for the coverage of literature databases and for interpretation of bibliometric social science indicators based on such databases. The paper reviews what we know about social science publishing and database coverage of it. It examines the main reasons why social science bibliometrics are problematic, namely: the centrality of books in social science literature and their high citation rate; and the national orientation of social science literatures. The paper then looks at reasons why social science bibliometrics holds increasing promise, namely: increasing internationalization; and good coverage of scholarly journals.

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  • Diana Hicks, 1999. "The difficulty of achieving full coverage of international social science literature and the bibliometric consequences," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 44(2), pages 193-215, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:scient:v:44:y:1999:i:2:d:10.1007_bf02457380
    DOI: 10.1007/BF02457380
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Anthony F J van Raan, 1998. "Assessment of social sciences: The use of advanced bibliometric methods as a necessary complement of peer review," Research Evaluation, Oxford University Press, vol. 7(1), pages 2-6, April.
    2. Nederhof, A. J. & van Raan, A. F. J., 1993. "A bibliometric analysis of six economics research groups: A comparison with peer review," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 22(4), pages 353-368, August.
    3. A. J. Nederhof & R. A. Zwaan, 1991. "Quality judgments of journals as indicators of research performance in the humanities and the social and behavioral sciences," Journal of the American Society for Information Science, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 42(5), pages 332-340, June.
    4. Peter M Burnhill & Margarete E Tubby-Hille, 1994. "On measuring the relation between social science research activity and research publication," Research Evaluation, Oxford University Press, vol. 4(3), pages 130-152, December.
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