Abstract
The present research attempts to evaluate the level of bibliographic control, and the consequent international visibility of the periodical publications of three countries in different stages of development. India, Latin America and Ireland. A search was performed on the December 1990 CD-ROM version of The Serials Directory, a commercially produced international reference source on periodical publications. A random sample of 758 periodical publications was downloaded to a local data base. Publications were sorted thematically and indicators of bibliographic control, and of international visibility were recorded.
The indicators of bibliographic control and international visibility per country were contrasted. India has established for a number of years a consistent policy of bibliographic control, particularly in the case of scientific periodical publications. Latin America has followed on the other hand, a rather erratic approach to bibliographic control, and information policy. Ireland on the other hand shows a high level of bibliographic control, and the establishment of a commercial publishing industry specialized in the medical sciences. This development was not found in any of the other countries studied. Suggestions for the improvement of the international visibility and bibliographic control of periodicals from peripheral countries are presented.
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Virginia Cano spent 2 years as Visiting Professor of Information Management at the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Spain. Her main research interests are in the application of scientometric methodologies to the measurement of the infrastructure for science in developing countries.
A preliminary version of this paper appeared in the “Proceedings of the 1992 International Federation for Information and Documentation, (FID) 46th Conference” (1993). Amsterdam:Elsevier
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Cano, V. International visibility of periodicals from Ireland, India, and Latin America. Knowledge and Policy 6, 55–78 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02696282
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02696282