Bibliometric cartography of information retrieval research by using co-word analysis

The aim of this study is to map the intellectual structure of the field of Information Retrieval (IR) during the period of 1987-1997. Co-word analysis was employed to reveal patterns and trends in the IR field by measuring the association strengths of terms representative of relevant publications or other texts produced in IR field. Data were collected from Science Citation Index (SCI) and Social Science Citation Index (SSCI) for the period of 1987-1997. In addition to the keywords added by the SCI and SSCI databases, other important keywords were extracted from titles and abstracts manually. These keywords were further standardized using vocabulary control tools. In order to trace the dynamic changes of the IR field, the whole 11-year period was further separated into two consecutive periods: 1987-1991 and 1992-1997. The results show that the IR field has some established research themes and it also changes rapidly to embrace new themes

Linked Data Meets Big Data: A Knowledge Organization Systems Perspective

The objective of this paper is a) to provide a conceptualanalysis of the term big data and b) to introduce linked dataapplications such as SKOS-based knowledge organizationsystems as new tools for the analysis, organization, representation, visualization and access to big data

FOOD COMPOSITION DATABASE IN MACEDONIA- NEED AND IMPORTANCE

Food Composition Databases (FCDBs) represent fundamental information resources for nutrition science. The information is used for wide spectrum of purposes i.e. for food labelling, product development and innovation, dietary treatment, consumer information and research. Thus, high quality food composition data are fundamental to most issues related to nutrition and health and their importance is increasingly being recognized for agriculture, trade and economics. INFOODS is the International Network of Food Data Systems. It is a worldwide network of food composition experts aiming to improve the quality, availability, reliability and use of food composition data. Twenty-Eight European countries has developed the Food Composition Databases. The development of Food composition databases depends on the combination of the expertise of a diversity of specialists with professional background from agronomy, analytical and food chemistry, food technology, dietetics and nutrition to database and quality management and information technology. To support this European Food Information Resource (EuroFIR) has developed various training tools for the production and use of food composition data. However, many countries in Balkan region do not have any form of national food composition data or have been using borrowed information. This is a problem because people need essential information on food composition as well as an access to the information in order they can influence their own dietary patterns. Republic of Macedonia needs to move forward and improve the contribution to development of the FCDB and share it with different stakeholders. There is a need to prepare and implement measures like: increasing capacity development in generating and compiling food composition data; strengthen collaboration with other national and international bodies, organizations and projects working on food composition issues; incorporation of food composition into formal education curricula of schools and universities in nutrition, food science, dietetics and grants to various training and capacity building activities

Information retrieval in systematic reviews: a case study of the crime prevention literature

OBJECTIVES: A defining feature of a systematic review is the data collection; the assembling of a meticulous, unbiased, and reproducible set of primary studies. This requires specialist skills to execute. The aim of this paper is to marshal tacit knowledge, gained through a systematic search of the crime prevention literature, to develop a ‘how-to guide’ for future evidence synthesists in allied fields. METHODS: Empirical results from a recent systematic search for evidence in crime prevention are supplied to illustrate key principles of information retrieval. RESULTS: Difficulties in operationalizing a systematic search are expounded and possible solutions discussed. Empirical results from optimizing the balance between sensitivity and precision with the criminological literature are presented. An estimation of database overlap for crime prevention studies is provided to guide other evidence synthesists in streamlining the search process. CONCLUSIONS: A high-quality search will involve a substantial time investment in honing the research question, specifying the precise scope of the work, and trialing and testing of search tactics. Electronic databases are a lucrative source of eligible studies, but they have important limitations. The diversity of expression across the criminological literature needs to be captured by the use of many search terms—both natural language and controlled vocabulary—in database searches. Complementary search tactics should be employed to locate eligible studies without common vocabulary. Grey literature should be ardently pursued, for it has a central role in the crime prevention evidence base

Integration of distributed terminology resources to facilitate subject cross-browsing for library portal systems

With the increase in the number of distributed library information resources, users may have to interact with different user interfaces, learn to switch their mental models between these interfaces, and familiarise themselves with controlled vocabularies used by different resources. For this reason, library professionals have developed library portals to integrate these distributed information resources, and assist end-users in cross-accessing distributed resources via a single access point in their own library. There are two important subject-based services that a library portal system might be able to provide. The first is a federated search service, which refers to a process where a user can input a query to cross-search a number of information resources. The second is a subject cross-browsing service, which can offer a knowledge navigation tree to link subject schemes used by distributed resources. However, the development of subject cross-searching and browsing services has been impeded by the heterogeneity of different KOS (Knowledge Organisation System) used by different information resources. Due to the lack of mappings between different KOS, it is impossible to offer a subject cross-browsing service for a library portal system. [Continues.