A Reference Study on International Literature of Classification Systems During the Period 1981-1990

분류체계에 관한 인용분석 - 국제서지를 바탕으로 -

The present study examines the characteristics of the international literature of classification systems published in the period 1981-1990. The references in the 'Classification Literature' sections of International Classification and the references in these source items were examined. The present study focused on analyzing each of the following characteristics: format, subject, language, geographical origin, age, authorship and number of references. The findings from the data analyses show clearly that in the literature of classification systems, I) books were the most frequently cited format; 2) library and information science was the most frequently cited subject; 3) English was the major language; 4) the literature of each classification system was written predominently in English except for Library Bibliographic Classification; 5) the language of each source item was the same as that of the greatest number of references of that source item: 6) the U.S., Germany, India, Russia, and the U.K. were the major geographic origin of publication; 7) there was a very close relationship between country of publication and language: 8) the country of origin of the documents was cited more than any other country except for the U.S.: 9) Price's Index of the literature revealed that the literature was a soft science and the half-life of the literature was about 7.5 years; 10) there was a preponderance of single authorships; 11) the literature was not a scholarly or scientific literature, according to the average number of references in source items and the percentage of unreferenced items. The findings of this reference study provide a better understanding of the characteristics of the classification systems literature. They prove useful for the collection development and assist classification systems researchers to prepare linguistically for their careers and encourage international communication efforts.