Information Retrieval in Food Science Research: A Bibliographic Database Analysis

AbstractThe aim of the present research was to ascertain the importance of electronic bibliographic database selection and multiple database usage during the information retrieval phase of research in the food sciences. Six commonly recommended databases were compared with respect to overall journal coverage and journal overlap. Databases were also evaluated with respect to coverage of food science ‐based journals and the extent of article coverage therein. A case study approach, focused on bile acid/dietary fiber interactions, was used to illustrate the ramifications of database selection/usage when dealing with specific research topics. Databases differed with respect to the breadth of dis ciplines covered, the total number of journals indexed, the number of food science discipline‐specific journals indexed, and the number of articles included per indexed journal. All of the databases contained citations that were unique to the given database. The data resulting from the case study provide an example of the extent to which relevant information may be missed if pertinent databases are not mined. In the present case, over half of the articles retrieved on the focus research topic were unique to a single database. The combined data from this study point to the importance of thoug htful database selection and multiple database usage when comprehensively assessing knowledge in the food sciences.Practical ApplicationThis paper provides insights into article database usage for...
Source: Journal of Food Science - Category: Food Science Authors: Tags: New Horizons in Food Research Source Type: research