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The use of a library's collection should be monitored and the results should be taken into consideration in order to establish an effective and efficient collection development and collection management policy. This paper analyzes a total of 884,593 document delivery requests submitted to the National Academic Network and Information Center (ULAKBİM) to identify a core journals collection, and to find out if there is a relationship between the frequency of use of a journal and its impact factor and half-life (obsolescence). A total of 127 core journals satisfied one third of all document delivery requests (both remote and in-house requests). The number of core journals satisfying one third of all requests submitted to the Document Delivery Unit (DDU) and Reference Services Reading Room (RDRR) desk (in-library use) was 184 and 97, respectively, and 87 of which were common. The mean half-life of all journals used in DDU was 10 years while it was 10.3 years for core journals only. The corresponding mean half-life for the same journals calculated on the basis of the number of citations taken from the Journal Citation Reports (2004) was 7.8 years. The mean half-life for all journals used in RDRR was 10 years while it was 7.6 years for core journals only. The corresponding citation-based mean half-life was also 7.6 years. No statistically meaningful relationship was observed between the frequencies of use of core journals and their impact factors. Yet, a low but statistically significant relationship was observed between the use frequencies and total citation counts of RSRR core journals (Pearson's r = .280, p < .01). Findings indicate that the frequencies of the local use of journals are more important than their impact factors and total citation counts when developing and managing a journals collection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bibliometric findings obtained through the analyses of articles published in journals are used to create scientific and technological road maps and to develop collection management policies in libraries. Yet such analytical studies reviewing the bibliometric characteristics of Turkish articles are scarce. This paper tests if the distribution of some 518,000 Turkish articles to journals conforms to the Bradford Law. Data comes from the Bibliography of Articles of the Republican Era 1923-1999 (BARE) that was recently published on CD-ROM by the Turkish National Library. Although a significant percentage of all articles in a given subject appeared in a relatively few numbers of journals, the distribution of articles to journals did not quite fit the Bradford Law. Eighty "core" journals constituting only 3.2% of all journals contained one third of all published articles while 182 journals contained half, and 358 journals contained two thirds of all articles. A library collection containing the core Turkish journals will likely satisfy the significant percentage of the information needs of users in scientific subjects. Some 2,151 journals constituting 86% of all journals contained a mere one third of all articles. The number of the most productive core journals in each subject was higher than that predicted by the Bradford Law. Articles in linguistics fitted the law best while articles in technology, medicine, social and natural sciences and mathematics fitted the least. Bibliographies with homogeneous subjects seem to fit the classical Bradford Law better. Findings of bibliometric studies should be used to measure the performance of Turkish science and research, and to develop a science and technology "road map". Core Turkish journals based on bibliometric findings should be acquired by libraries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reports the preliminary findings of a study on a scattering of journals and obsolescence based on 2-years' worth of empirical data obtained from a national document delivery service. The distribution of article requests to journal titles confirmed the findings of earlier studies. Heavily used core journal titles satisfied large numbers of document delivery requests while large numbers of infrequently used titles satisfied relatively fewer numbers of requests. Half the requests were made to articles of 8 years of age or younger. It takes slightly longer for core journal titles to get obsolete. The frequency of journal use for document delivery purposes was not related to ISI journal impact factors or citation half-lives, although a weak negative correlation was found between impact factors and citation half-lives. Median use age of journals was not related to impact factors either. A weak correlation was observed between frequency of use and total citation counts and between citation half-life and use half-life of core journals.

Presents an introductory statement to the January 2005 issue of "Information Services and Use."