| Author |
 Topic  |
|
|
cristian.colliander
2 Posts |
 Posted - 11/09/2007 : 14:04:24
|
Hi,
I have tested the evaluation version of HistCite, a very interesting application for sure. As always when one is dealing with citation data, the issue of how to deal with errors, misspellings etc is a problem. It seems to me that some sort of rudimentary automatic standardization process is applied. However, I cannot find any information regarding this in the documentation. Can anyone shed some light on this matter?
Regards,
Cristian Colliander
Sweden (hence the spelling..)
|
|
|
Soren
15 Posts |
Posted - 11/12/2007 : 12:23:36
|
Yes, this is a complicated problem and we have developed some tools and strategies to address this.
Ideally all the references to a certain source should look exactly the same. This is a restriction inherent in a computerized, algorithmic process. However, it is rare with a highly cited source that all references to that source are exactly the same. Typically it is one of two problems. Either there is an error in the reference or the reference has not been standardized by the ISI database. Usually when a citation refers to a source that is contained in the ISI database, the references is standardized, therefore references to sources that are not in the ISI database may appear in a multitude of variations. Every variation is considered a separate reference.
There are several tools to help the user deal with this problem. Use the edit tool to standardize several citations at once. Use the move-to tool to find variant references.
Using the Move-to tool
Choose move-to from the tools menu. Set the first box to "authors" and enter the author's name in the second box. This will sort the entire file of citations by author's name and then move to the place in the sorted list where that author's name appears. Since the citations are sorted by author, then year, then source, most of the variations to a single source appear together in the same area. Sometimes, you will have to search a little to find all the variations.
As always... the data you have to work with depends on how you did your search in WoS. The more open your search, the more likely you are to find variations to a specific source in question.
Using the Edit tool
Choose the Edit tool from the tools menu. (*if you used move-to and then opened the edit tool, the move-to place is reset. this is a bug. You must click the "go" button to re-move-to back to your place.*) After the edit tool is opened, you will notice that each reference now has a check box on the left side. Check all the references that you want to standardize. Enter the standardized citation that you wish the variant references to appear as into the grey bar (the edit tool box) at the top of the page. Click "Proceed" and HistCite will change all the checked references to the citation you entered into the grey box.
|
 |
|
|
Soren
15 Posts |
Posted - 11/12/2007 : 15:19:09
|
Cristian,
Does this answer your question or are you asking about something else? (such as what is required for a reference to match-up with a source?) |
|
|
|
cristian.colliander
2 Posts |
Posted - 11/15/2007 : 10:48:12
|
Thank you for the informative answer, the procedure you describe works great. However, my somewhat vague question was related mainly to this issue regarding what is required for a reference to match-up with a source.
For example if I have a source in the collection and the correct cited reference to this source is:
(1) AUTHOR X, 2007, SOME ABBRE J TEC, V50, P1
Then HistCite seems to automatic fix some small variations e.g.,
(2) AUTHOR XY, 2007, SOME ABBR J TEC, V50, P550, or
(3) AUTHOR X, 2007, SOME ABBR J, V50, P550
are both matched to the source. |
|
|
|
Soren
15 Posts |
Posted - 11/19/2007 : 15:30:46
|
Yes, there are certain requirements for matching a reference to the source.
If the source (the item referred to) is an article in a journal, then the reference must match the source on the following criteria: first author last name (and first initial), year, volume, and page #.
If the source is a book, then the reference and the source must match on first author last name (and first initial), year, and source.
Having the exact source name is not required for matching journals because the journal name in the reference can be abbreviated in many different ways, however, since there is so little data to go on for matching references to books, we made it a requirement there. To match a reference to a book, the source record must use "Book" in the Publication type and Document type field, and the reference source name must match the "source" field of the record.
To see this in action see this page for an example: http://garfield.library.upenn.edu/histcomp/lancaster-fw_citing/list/or-pubs.html
The first couple references are books. If you click on one of them, then the source record will open and you can see how the source name is needed to match the reference to the source.
|
|
|
| |
Topic |
|
|
|
Variations in the format of the cited references
