EDITORIAL
The problem of recovering information due to the variability of authorship registration in scientific articles
Maria Helena Palucci Marziale
Editor of Latin American Journal of Nursing, Full Professor, University of Sao Paulo at Ribeirao Preto College of Nursing, WHO Collaborating Centre for Nursing Research Development, Ribeirao Preto, SP, Brazil, e-mail: marziale@eerp.usp.br
Bibliographical databases are an indispensable tool to recover scientific information and carry out bibliometric studies. However, errors and inconsistencies in data registers lead to the loss of relevant information in research and interfere in the access to documents(1).
The name of the author is one of the main fields to recover information, as users frequently search scientific journal databases and electronic libraries through this field. Thus, the lack of standardization to register the name of the author makes it difficult to find studies and can interfere in the articles' and authors' citation ratios. These indicators are increasingly used in the assessment of scientific journals, selection processes, to advance in the academic career and to obtain research grants.
Despite the strict control measures based on international publishing policies, editors often do not apply rules and standards coherently. In addition, authors' names are registered in different ways in journals published in Spanish and in English. Journals published in English usually present the surname followed by the first name and middle names, if applicable. As an example, my name would be cited "Marziale, Maria Helena Palucci". In journals published in Spanish, the reference of my name becomes "Palucci - Marziale, Maria Helena", that is, the first and second surnames are followed by the first and middle names, although there can be other variations.
In a study about the probable causes of the inconsistency in the registration of authors' name in journals published in Spanish, the identified causes were: authors use different forms of their names throughout their career, lack of control by the databases, use of incompatible indexing methods and possible editorial interventions from journals(1).
The editorial standardization used by the journal regarding the name of the author is also highlighted. In Brazil, most Nursing journals use the Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals - Vancouver style. In the United States and in some European countries, the American Psychological Association (APA) standards are used. Adopting the Vancouver style, a few years ago, brought quality and indexing benefits to Nursing journals in Brazil, both in national databases like the SciELO Collection and international bases like SCOPUS and ISI. It has also facilitated the process for authors to prepare their manuscripts, as many journals in this area adopted the mentioned standardization.
Due to the lack of standardization regarding authors' names, and as databases publish and use authors' names in the same way as they are described in journals, authors' names are abbreviated in different ways in databases too. My name, for instance, is registered on ISI - Web Knowledge, Scopus, Medline, Lilacs and SciELO Collection, in the following different ways "Marziale, Maria Helena Palucci"; "Marziale, Maria H P"; "Marziale, M. H."; "Marziale, M. H P"; "Marziale, Maria Helena; "Palucci - Marziale, M H"; "Palucci Marziale, Maria Helena". These variations make it difficult to find and recover published articles and also to calculate the bibliometric indices of authors and articles.
Another aspect highlighted in this editorial is the way journals' names are registered in references in journals indexed in databases and documents published in search websites like Google. The publication of incorrect names of journals represents damages to journals' citation ratios and, in Brazil, it also impairs the assessment of graduate programs, as their scientific production is assessed by CAPES (Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel), a governmental agency that assesses graduate programs in Brazil. The QUALIS index, by CAPES, classifies the journals graduate students and advisors publish in, using mainly citation indexes from ISI - Web Knowledge, through the impact factor published in the Journal Citation Reports, and from Scopus, the H index, published by the SCImago Journal & Country Rank. Citations, in general, imply that highly cited journals should be more relevant, or have more impact, in their area. Thus, it is used to measure the importance or influence of a journal or a group of documents, based on the number of times articles published in this journal are cited in a given period of time(2). Authors and editors should be alert to the proper register of authors' and journals' name in article references.
In view of this problem, authors should be encouraged to sign their articles with the same name during their entire career. Editors of Nursing journals need to work jointly to create a single structure to register the name associated to different source documents. That is, scientific journals should standardize the elements used in the information transfer process, including the order of priority and presentation of articles' authorship. Databases can also help in this important duty.
- 1. Ruiz-Pérez R, Delgado López-Cózar E, Jiménez-Contreras E. Spanish personal name variations in national and international biomedical databases: implications for information retrieval and bibliometric studies. J Med Libr Assoc. 2002;90(4):411-30
- 2. Marziale MHP. Produção científica da enfermagem brasileira: a busca pelo impacto internacional. Rev Latino-am Enfermagem. 2005;13(3):285-90.
Publication Dates
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Publication in this collection
15 June 2009 -
Date of issue
Apr 2009
