Avaliação da indexação em repositórios institucionais brasileiros: uma análise comparada entre USP, UNESP e UNICAMP

The digital environment presents several challenges for information practices. In institutional repositories this situation is seen in the representation and retrieval by subject, where the dynamism of these information retrieval systems operates for a new approach to indexing, in which it does not always figure as a central element in promoting equitable access to digital information. To respond to this demand, studies dedicated to the methodology of indexing evaluation are essential, as they reveal the quality of indexing practiced in institutional repositories and point out the deficiencies and improvements needed in these systems. The objective of this study is to evaluate the consistency of indexing in Brazilian repositories using 100 journal article records from institutional repositories of the University of Sao Paulo, Paulista State University, and Campinas State University. Conducted through the procedures of the quantitative intrinsic evaluation approach through inter-consistency, the analysis of the subject metadata of each record revealed low consistency rates, indicating inconsistencies among the indexations performed in the three institutional repositories for the same journal article. It is observed that the representation by subject is an issue to be observed in the context of the investigated institutional repositories, being opportune that Brazilian institutional repositories direct efforts and resources to improve the quality of the subject metadata having as parameter the periodic performance of the indexing evaluation.