Effectiveness and limits of the Library catalog analysis for research evaluation in Human and Social sciences

Abstract

The paper addresses the potentialities and the limits of the citation analysis used as tool for the evaluation of the scientific research in all the fields and in specific way in the field of the Human and Social sciences. Above all, the paper analyzes the proposal suggested by some authors – Adrianus J. M. Linmans, Howard D. White and Daniel Torres-Salinas together with Henk F. Moed – of using the survey of the number of the monographs in the holding of libraries as index of scientific quality of the works of the authors subjected to evaluation. Regarding the methodologies proposed by three authors – the Libcitation, the Library holding analysis and the Library catalogue analysis – there are put in evidence some critical elements that might make not reliable the reckonings relative to the diffusion of the monographs in the holdings of libraries, verifiable using on-line catalogues. In particular, are analyzed those tied to the composition of the library holdings and to the presence of copies donated and not acquired by the library, elements both underestimated by the authors examined. At last, it is put into prominence how it is inopportune to accept as indicator in the evaluation of research in HSS the count of the presences of monographs in libraries, and how it is instead shareable the use suggested by Torres-Salinas and Moed of online catalografic data as sources for bibliometric analysis on the distribution of monographs and on the publishers’ production.