Dynamic thesaural systems: A bibliometric study of terminological and conceptual change in sociology and economics with application to the design of dynamic thesaural systems

Abstract

Thesauri have been used in the library and information science field to provide a standard descriptor language for indexers or searchers to use in an information storage and retrieval system. One difficulty has been the maintenance and updating of thesauri since terms used to describe concepts change over time and vary between users. This study investigates a mechanism by which thesauri can be updated and maintained using citation, co-citation analysis and citation context analysis. Data in twenty-six specialty areas in economics and sociology from the Social Sciences Citation Indexes, 1966–1967, 1973–1974, and 1980–1981 was used. Candidate thesaurus terms were developed semi-automatically from the citation contexts of papers citing in these specialty areas. Experts in these disciplines concluded that these terms were appropriate terms to describe these specialty areas. These candidate thesaurus terms compared favourably to terminology found in a standard subject heading list (L.C. subject headings). The terms generated provided a rich source of alternate terminology.