College & Research Libraries News
The interdisciplinary use of physics journals
| Titles | IAA | MR | MA | SCI |
| Annals of Physics | — | 65% | — | 99% |
| Applied Physics Letters | 42% * | — | — | 100% |
| Classical and Quantum Gravity | 60% | 100% | — | 100% |
| Contemporary Physics | 15% | — | 10% | 100% |
| Europhysics Letters | — | — | — | — |
| Fortschritte der Physik | — | 50% | — | 95% |
| JETP Letters | 20% | — | 7% | 91% |
| Journal of Applied Physics | 24% | — | 19% | 100% |
| Journal of Low Temperature Physics | — | — | 28% | 100% |
| Journal of Physics A: Mathematical and General | 6% | 100% | — | 100% |
| Journal of Physics B: Atomic, Molecular & Optical | 21% | 2% | — | 100% |
| Journal of Physics C: Solid State Physics | — | — | 22% | 100% |
| Journal of Physics F: Metal Physics | — | — | 98% | 100% |
| Journal of the Optical Society of America B | 35% | 6% | — | — |
| Nuclear Physics A | — | 1% | — | 82% |
| Nuclear Physics B | — | 27% | — | 100% |
| Nuovo Cimento | 31% | 11% | 2% | 100% |
| Optics Letters | 45% | — | — | 100% |
| Physica (A,B,C,D) | 73% | 10% | — | 100% |
| Physical Beview A: General Physics | 19% | 8% | — | 100% |
| Physical Beview B: Condensed Matter | .4% | 1% | — | 63% |
| Physical Beview C: Nuclear Physics | — | .6% | — | 100% |
| Physical Beview D: Particles and Fields | .2% | 26% | — | 100% |
| Physical Beview Letters | 20% | 9% | 11% | 100% |
| Physics Letters A | 21% | 25% | 8% | 99% |
| Physics Letters B | — | 12% | — | 100% |
| Physics Beports | — | 25% | — | 94% |
| Progress of Theoretical Physics | — | 37% | — | 100% |
| Beview of Scientific Instruments | 17% | — | 4% | 98% |
| Reviews of Modern Physics | 3% | 16% | — | 100% |
| Soviet Journal of Nuclear Physics | — | 5% | — | 95% |
| Soviet Journal of Particles and Nuclei | — | 16% | — | — |
| Soviet Physics: JETP | — | 3% | 12% | — |
| Zeitschrift für Physik A | — | .1% | — | 100% |
| Zeitschrift für Physik B | — | .7% | 14% | 98% |
| Zeitschrift für Physik C | — | 8% | — | 100% |
IAA = International Aerospace Abstracts
MR = Mathematical Reviews
MA = Metals Abstracts
SCI = Science Citation Index
*percentage (articles indexed 1983-1985/articles published 1983-1985)
Without ready access to this literature, researchers would be severely hampered in their work.
Science Citation Indexis a special case. The number of articles published is taken from the “Journal Citation Reports” volume which counts only source articles. Source articles are generally defined as “original articles, technical notes and review articles.” Note that online, Science Citation Index often includes such items as letters to the editor in addition to source articles. Therefore, the number of articles indexed often appears to be greater than the number of articles published.
Even if only source items were cited online, the resulting percentage would still be quite high.
The results of this project demonstrated that non-physicists do indeed use physics journals. The final outcome was that the 36 physics journals were not removed from the Sterling C. Evans Library to form a physics branch library. Approximately 100 staff hours and nearly $1,000 in online charges were expended to complete the project. Nonetheless, the final outcome justified the high cost in time and money. Had the 36 titles been moved to a branch library, serious consideration would have been given to starting duplicate subscriptions because the journals were obviously needed by other researchers. However, there appeared to be no ready source of library or university funding for the duplicate subscriptions.
Online searching used in a non-traditional manner provided a fast and efficient solution under tight time constraints. Information gathered from the searches done on this project would have been impossible to obtain by hand in time to meet the deadline. This same approach could also serve well in similar situations that demand that journal collections be evaluated. One question must first be answered: is the evaluation important enough to offset the cost in time and money of doing the online searches? If the answer is yes, online searching will generate meaningful results quickly.
Article Views (Last 12 Months)
Contact ACRL for article usage statistics from 2010-April 2017.
Article Views (By Year/Month)
| 2020 |
| January: 6 |
| February: 14 |
| 2019 |
| January: 0 |
| February: 0 |
| March: 0 |
| April: 0 |
| May: 0 |
| June: 0 |
| July: 0 |
| August: 6 |
| September: 20 |
| October: 17 |
| November: 1 |
| December: 10 |