Download PDF
Methods Inf Med 1974; 13(01): 44-47
DOI: 10.1055/s-0038-1636124
Original Article
Schattauer GmbH

An Evaluation of Index Medicus in Rheumatology: Coverage, Currency and Efficiency

Bewertung Des Index Medicus Im Gebiet Der Rheumatologie: Erfassungsgrad, AktualitÄt und Nutzeffekt
P. Thorpe
Further Information

Publication History

Publication Date:
10 February 2018 (online)

    Permissions and Reprints

This study shows that Index Medicus provides good coverage of the rheumatology periodical literature, and that there is a median time delay of 4.5 months between the appearance of the original article, and the appearance of the index entry. An analysis of the recall and precision ratios applicable to Index Medicus in this field proved rather difficult because of the experimental conditions. However, the results obtained were considered reasonable.

Die vorliegende Untersuchung zeigt, daß der Index Medicus die periodische Rheumaliteratur ziemlich komplett erfaßt mit einer durchschnittlichen Verzögerungszeit von 4,5 Monaten zwischen dem Erscheinen des Originalartikels und seiner Anzeige im Index Medicus. Eine Analyse der Recallund Relevanzraten des Index Medicus erwies sich unter den gewählten Versuchsbedingungen als schwierig; jedoch erscheinen die erhaltenen Resultate angemessen.

Key-Words

Rheumatology Literature - Index Medicus

Schlüssel-Wörter

Rheumaliteratur - Index Medicus
 

  • References

  • 1 Abel J. A. Analgesic nephropathy: a review of the literature, 1967-1970. Clin. Pharmacol. Ther 12 1971; 583-598.
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 2 Cleverdon C. W. Report on the testing and analysis of the investigation into the comparative efficiency of indexing systems. Cranfield: 1962
    Google Scholar
  • 3 Cleverdon C. W. On the inverse relationship of recall and precision. J. Doc 2S 1972; 195-201.
    PubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 4 Kobst J. K. van der Psoriasis and arthritis: a review of recent literature. Folia med. neerl 12 1969; 181-189.
    PubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 5 Lancaster F. W. The evaluation of published indexes and abstract journals: criteria and possible procedures. Bull. med. Libr. Ass 59 1971; 479-494.
    PubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 6 Morton L. T, Bywaters E. G. L. The literature of rheumatism. Ann. rheum. Dis 2S 1969; 669-673.
    PubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 7 National Library of Medicine. List of journals indexed in Index Medicus. Cumulated Index Med 06 1965; L28-L57.
    PubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 8 Orr R. H, Pings V. M, Leeds A. A. Reference retrieval tools: biomedical abstracting and indexing services. Fed. Proc 23 1964; 1164-1176.
    PubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 9 Thorpe P. An evaluation of the rheumatology periodical literature used in Britain and the USA. Meth. Inform. Med 11 1972; 119-121.
    PubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 10 Thorpe P. An evaluation of the rheumatology coverage of Index Medicus: a preliminary report. J. Amor. Soc. Inf. Sei 23 1972; 406.
    PubMedGoogle Scholar