Born in 1896, Hans Peter Luhn worked for IBM as a computer scientis...
In the KWIC method Keywords are defined as those which characterize...
It's interesting to note the similarities between the way authors w...
The benefits of KWIC and the fact that it could be easily run using...
It's important to note that one of the problems a user of a KWIC In...
The difference between the results before and after 1958 is clear i...
Today the KWIC index is less relevant as people use other methods t...
Are Titles of Chemical Papers Becoming More Informative?
The efficiency of key-word-in-context (KWIC) permuted-
title indexes and their numerous variations
is
highly
dependent upon authors’ choices of titles for their
papers. Titles are important not only in commercial
services, such as Chemical Titles,
BASIC,
Current Con-
tents, and CA Condensates, but also in scanning pri-
mary journals, and in traditional library services, such
as bibliographies. It
is
generally believed and often
stated that titles of chemical papers are becoming
more informative as authors become increasingly
aware of the importance of titles as “carriers” of in-
formation. The present study was undertaken to test
whether (1
1
titles of chemical papers are becoming
more informative and
(2)
whether uninformative titles
of chemical papers are being eliminated since the
advent of the KWIC index in 1958.
Introduction
The key-word-in-context
(KWIC)
permuted-title index
was introduced by
H.
P.
Luhn in
1958
as
a
prompt,
relatively inexpensive means of building
a
temporary
bridge between the contents
of
the current literature and
readers, awaiting the completion of the more slowly
prepared conventionnl indexes. Luhn himself recognized
that the quality of the
KWIC
index could not equal that
of some
of
the more carefully prepared conventional
indexes. However, because of its low cost and ease
of
preparation, the
KWIC
index and its variations have
replaced the conventional index in many cases.
One
of
the strongest objections voiced against such
indexes is that titles of papers are unsatisfactory as
a
basis
for
subject index entries because titles are not com-
posed with indexing in mind. The adequacy
of
titles as
a
source of subject content clues has been given much
attention
in
the Iast decade, and many studies have
been published on the subject.
t
Present address:
UNESCO,
Paris,
France.
The first hypothesis was tested by comparing titles
published in 1948, 1958, and 1968 by the following
criteria: (1) a count of substantive words in the title;
(2)
a count of
all
word matches between title and
abstract, with and without the use of a thesaurus; and
(3)
a count of word matches between title and 10 lead-
ing substantive words selected from the abstract, with
and without the use of a thesaurus. The second hy-
pothesis was tested by comparing a count of short
titles (with
3
or
less substantive words) published in
1948, 1958, and 1968.
Results confirm that uninformative titles of chemical
papers are being eliminated and that informative
titles are becoming more informative since the advent
of the KWIC index.
JACQUES J. TOCATLIAN
t
Merek
Sharp
&
Dohme
Research Labordories
West
Point,
Pennsylvnnin
The results and conclusions
of
these studies
on
the
adequacy
of
titles vary. There
is,
however, a recognition
of the obvious: The efficiency
of
a
KWIC
index is depen-
dent upon authors’ choices of titles. In fact, the impor-
tance of informative titles has been stressed in the litera-
ture
for
many years.
There developed
a
frequently stated conviction that the
very existence
of
permuted-title indexes would stimulate
authors to use better titles for their papers, as exemplified
by
J.
D.
Black’s statement in
1062:
“Before long the
engineer, scientist,
or
mathematician will realize that
if
his title is not descriptive enough his paper will not
be used
as
much as it might be.”
The belief that titles would become more informative
is sometimes translated into statements that they actually
did. However, none of the statements made verbally
at
professional meetings or in writing were based
on
statisti-
cal evidence.
Recognition that evidence in support
of,
or in contra-
diction to, the belief that titles are becoming more infor-
mative could be important in future index building led
to the undertaking of the present study.
Journal
of
the American Society for Information Science
-
September-October
1970
345
Titles are important
im
“carriers” of information not
only in permuted-title indexes, such as
Chemical Titles
and
BASIC
(the index to
Biological Abstracts),
but also
in tape services, such as
CA
Condensates,
and in widely
read alerting services, such as
Current Contents,
Titles
are important for readers who scan the primary journals,
and in traditional library services, such
as
bibliographies
and lists of references.
It
seemed important to ask at this point, Are titles of
chemical papers really becoming more informative
?
The present study tests the following two hypotheses:
1.
As
rated by the criteria adopted and validated,
titles
of
chemical papers are becoming more informative
since the advent of the
KWIC
index.
2.
As rated by the criterion adopted, uninformative
titles of chemical papers are being eliminated since the
advent of the
KWIC
index.
Both hypotheses
play
a part in how informative titles
are: Elimination of uninformative titles results in a
proportional increase in informative ones; independently,
informative titles may become more informative.
Hypothesis
No.
1
The first hypothesis (titles are becoming more infor-
mative) was tested by using
5
criteria,
or
measurements,
to compare titles
of
chemical papers published in 1948,
1958, and 1968.
CRITERIA
Measurement
A:
all substantive
words-a, count
of
all
substantive words in the title.
For
the purpose
of
this work it was found practical to
isolate substantive words by rejecting all nonsubstantive
words. These were defined as noninformative words that
convey little
or
no information by themselves, such
as
articles, preposit,ions, conjunctions, pronouns, and auxili-
ary
verbs. An example will be given shortly.
Measurement
B:
all matches-a
count of the number
of
substantive words in the title that match corre-
sponding words in the abstract, using
a
thesaurus
concept in making matches.
The thesaurus allowed
a
matach between the singular
form of
a
word and its plural form; between synonyms;
beheen specific and generic terms; between
a
chemical
compound and its formula; between verbs in different
ten.ses; and, in general, between terms conveying the
same concept. Multiple appesrances of key words in
titles were counted
as
one appearance.
Measurement
C:
level matches-a
count
of
the number
of suhstant,ive words in the title that match identical
substant,ive words in the abstract, without using
a
thesaurus.
In this case nouns in singular and plural forms
or
verbs
in different tenses were not counted
as
matc,hes; neither
were synonyms nor chemical compounds and their
formulas.
The difference between measurements
B
and
C
is the
use in
B
of
a
thesaurus in making mntches.
Before subjecting
a
title
to
measurements
D
and
E,
each abstract was rend and
10
substantive words that
seemed t,o describe best t,he subject content
of
the ab-
stract were selected (referred
t’o
as
10
“leading” terms).
The choice was subjective, in much the same way an
indexer selects indexing terms to describe
a
paper.
Measurement
D:
all leading matches-a
count of the
number of substantive words in the title that match
any of the
10
“leading” terms, using
a
thesaurus.
Measurement
E
:
level leading matches-a
count of the
number
of
substa,ntive words in the title that match
my of the
10
“leading” t,erms, without using
a
thesaurus.
The results of the following title subject.ed
to
mea.sure-
ments
A
through
E
are shown in Table
1.
TABLE
1.
Results
of
measurements
A
through
E
made
on
a
sample
title
A
C
D
E
All
B
All
10
All Level
substantive All level leading leading leading
words matches matches terms matches matches
A=6
BE5
c=2
D
z=
zt
Ex2
-
Field Field
Method Test,
Rapid
-
Field
-
-
Analysis
Test
Color
Determination
Determining
-
Determination
Hydrogen cyanide Hydrogen cyanide Hydrogen cyanide Hydrogen cyanide
Air Atmospheres Atmospheres
Industrial
Paper
Ferrous sulfate
Sodium hydroxide
-
Method
Determination
Hydrogen cyanide
Air
-
_.
-
-
-
-
-
-
Determination
Hydrogen
cyanide
-
-
-
-
-
346
,Journal
of
the American Society for Information Science
-
September-October 1970