Using Citation Analysis to Explore the Collection Needs of Atmospheric Scientists/Researchers Affiliated with the Atlantic Oceanographic Meteorological Laboratory

Abstract

This article reports on a bibliographic and citation analysis of 79 journal publications from 41 journals produced in a one-year period by atmospheric science researchers in the Atlantic Oceanographic Meteorological Laboratory, an affiliate of National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The study used citation analysis to determine the cited publication format, age dispersion, frequency of cited journal titles, and availability of the information resources that researchers publish in and cite, and to determine how well the library supports the needs of these scientists and researchers. This type of analysis can inform collection development decisions and can be used to assess the strength of the library collection. The study found that journal articles represented 77% of all cited references and that 74% of the cited journal titles were available through the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Regional Library. The study also found that the sample set of 2,516 cited journal articles from 464 journals upheld the 80/20 rule in that 85% of the citations come from the top 20% of the journal titles. Previous citation studies of science and engineering researchers have been conducted using academic library collections, whereas this study focuses on a special library collection.