A bibliometric study of taxonomic botany

WALTON, C. J. A Bibliometric study of taxonomic botany / C. J. Walton. — Loughborough : Loughborough University, 2011. — v, 59 p. ; cm. — Dissertation (M.Sc.)– Loughborough Univ., Dept. of Information Science, 2011. — Includes bibliography and index. 1. Bibliometrics—botanical literature. 2. Bibliographical citations. 3. Botany— documentation Aims—The aims were: to investigate the citation-patterns of monograph books in taxonomic botany (looking mainly at publications and publishers, and the age of current literature); to provide information for collections management and reference services in libraries that hold botany materials. Method—454 citations were collected from 47 botanical monographs; Impact Factors of journals based on these citations were calculated and compared with conventional Impact Factors from ISI Web of Science; age-distributions of citations were drawn up; other analyses were also carried out. Results—A small Bradfordian core of highly-cited journals was established; monograph Impact Factors were not useable; the important publishers of monograph books were identified; monographs were more often cited than journal articles; older materials were more important than in other sciences; monographs were used by botanists for current awareness purposes; coverage of botanical journals by citation indexes was inadequate. Conclusions—Librarians should: note the core botanical journals identified here; note the importance of British journals to British botanists; continue to acquire botanical monographs and to retain older materials; display new botanical monographs prominently and include them in current awareness services. Problems—The small size of the sample means that results were merely indicative. Further studies should: take larger samples; look at citations in journal articles, theses, conference proceedings, etc.; look at citations made over several years. Originality—The bibliometrics of taxonomic botany have previously been little studied; likewise citations from monographs. Some of the bibliometric methods of J. M. Cullars were applied to botanical literature. A Bib liometr ic S tudy o f Taxonomic Botany iii