Abstract
1460 items of literature in English on alcohol fuel, both technical and non-technical between 1901 and 1980 (only first quarter) collected and published as a bibliography by NAFIC, SERI (USA) were analysed. It was found that the growth pattern is befitting qualitatively with the epidemic growth model. Of the 1460 items, 828 are scattered in 288 journals. The pattern of scatter has been fitted in an empirical formula, a linear equation of the formR(r)=ar-b, whereR(r) is the Mean Relative Scatter (MRS) of the articles over a class of ranked journals in increasing productivity andr is the rank of the class,a andb are the arbitary constants. The formula, if deductively established, can serve as an effective alternative to Bradford's law.
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References
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Sen, S.K., Kundra, R. Bibliometrics of English language alcohol fuel literature. A new empirical equation of scatter. Scientometrics 10, 43–54 (1986). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02016859
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02016859