WELDASEARCH,
MORE THAN WELDING INFORMATION?
Smaller
and more specialised databases are often overlooked by users. Weldasearch seems
to have the same fate, if we look at the usage data of this database on EINS.
One may too quickly assume that a larger database like Metadex will contain the
same material and will therefore offer the same answer. We will proof in this
article that this is not always the case and that Weldasearch has definitely an
added value
We will concentrate on the database as implemented by EINS, but include also the
version as implemented by STN, which is available to EINS users in the cluster
Supermaterials (file 120). File 120 offers the option to use deduplication,
which is not available for databases directly offered by EINS.
BASIC
INFORMATION
Weldasearch
is produced according to the info sheet of EINS by TWI Ltd in Cambridge in Engeland.
The website is www.twi.co.uk, if you need
further information. TWI is the abbreviation of The Welding Institute. On its
website you will find a.o. the list of core journals. This list will be
important to us, especially if we want to compare Weldasearch to Metadex. You
will find the list of core journals in the table below.
|
Journal name |
ISSN |
|
Australasian Welding Journal |
1039-0642 |
|
Buletinul Institutului National de
Cercetare-Dezvoltare in Sudura Si Incercari de Materiale - ISIM Timisoara |
1453-0392 |
|
China Welding |
1004-5341 |
|
Connect |
|
|
DVS Berichte |
0418-9639 |
|
Hitsaustekniikka |
0437-6056 |
|
Indian Welding Journal |
0046-9092 |
|
International Journal for the Joining of
Materials (JOM) |
0905-6866 |
|
Journal of Light Metal Welding and
Construction |
0368-5306 |
|
Journal of Thermal Spray Technology |
1059-9630 |
|
Lastechniek |
0023-8694 |
|
Paton Welding Journal [translation of
Avtomaticheskaya Svarka] |
0957-798X |
|
Practical Welding Today |
1092-3942 |
|
Praktiker |
0554-9965 |
|
Przeglad Spawalnictwa |
0033-2364 |
|
Quarterly Journal of the Japan Welding
Society |
0288-4771 |
|
Revista de Soldadura |
0048-7759 |
|
Rivista Italiana della Saldatura |
0035-6794 |
|
Schweiss- und Pruftechnik |
1027-3352 |
|
Schweissen und Schneiden |
0036-7184 |
|
Science and Technology of Welding and
Joining |
1362-1718 |
|
Soldadura y Tecnologias de Union |
1130-0280 <1> |
|
Soldagem e Inspecao |
0104-9224 |
|
Soldering and Surface Mount Technology |
0954-0911 |
|
Soudage et Techniques Connexes |
0246-0963 |
|
Souder |
0246-1900 |
|
Sudura |
1453-0384 |
|
Surface Engineering |
0267-0844 |
|
Surface Mount Technology (SMT) |
0893-3588 |
|
Svarochnoe Proizvodstvo |
0491-6441 |
|
Sveiseaktuelt |
0804-2489 |
|
Svejsning |
0108-8564 |
|
Svetsaren (English edition) |
0346-8577 |
|
Svetsen |
0039-7091 |
|
Technica |
0040-0866 |
|
Transactions of JWRI |
0387-4508 |
|
Transactions of the China Welding
Institution |
0253-360X |
|
Varilna Tehnika |
0505-0278 |
|
VTE Aufbau- und Verbindungstechnik in der
Elektronik <2> |
0946-7777 |
|
Welding and Cutting |
|
|
Welding and Metal Fabrication |
0043-2245 |
|
Welding Design and Fabrication |
0043-2253 |
|
Welding in the World / Soudage dans le Monde |
0043-2288 |
|
Welding International |
0950-7116 |
|
Welding Journal |
0043-2296 |
|
Welding Research Council Bulletin |
0043-2326 |
|
WRI Journal |
0970-4477 |
|
Zavarivanje |
0044-1902 |
|
Zvaranie / Svarovani |
0044-5525 |
According
to the information from STN, the database is produced by Cambridge Scientific
Abstracts (CSA). CSA is collaborating with TWI in a certain way and seems to
offer the database on behalf of TWI to third parties like STN. EINS receives the
data directly from TWI
The database starts in 1967, but it is our experience that many
database-producers are adding since the last five years continuously older
material. Weldasearch is not an exception. In
the table below we have used 1956 as starting date, but the publication year
1966 is really the first year in which a substantial input is added to the
database. From 1980 onwards we see a steady input of around 5000 publications
per year. This ends in 1999, when the input decreases to an all time low in
2006, where only 1865 publications have been added. Considering
that this article has been written in February 2008, it is difficult to
understand that in 2007 only 48 publications have been added to the database.
Either there is a substantial back log or the database is in serious problems.
7
1956/PY
13 1957/PY
3
1958/PY
32 1959/PY
15 1960/PY
44 1961/PY
11 1962/PY
34 1963/PY
72 1964/PY
226 1965/PY
1292 1966/PY
2777 1967/PY
3493 1968/PY
2846 1969/PY
3641 1970/PY
3467 1971/PY
4405 1972/PY
4679 1973/PY
4656 1974/PY
4562 1975/PY
4518 1976/PY
5058 1977/PY
5451 1978/PY
6611 1980/PY
6205 1981/PY
6104 1982/PY
5726 1983/PY
5913 1984/PY
5484 1985/PY
6156 1986/PY
5940 1987/PY
5433 1988/PY
5391 1989/PY
5083 1990/PY
5130 1991/PY
5119 1992/PY
6129 1993/PY
6789 1994/PY
4870 1995/PY
5093 1996/PY
5066 1997/PY
5426 1998/PY
5181 1999/PY
4134 2000/PY
4501 2001/PY
3607 2002/PY
3187 2003/PY
3796 2004/PY
3790 2005/PY
1865 2006/PY
48 2007/PY
If we look at the period 2001-2007 via the database on EINS, we find some substantial differences.
Items
Index-Term
4644 2001
3913 2002
3463 2003
3829 2004
4036 2005
3776 2006
815 2007
There
are differences in the number of publications per year, especially in 2006.
There are more publications in 2007, but the number is still extremely low. We
have to look into this problem a bit more later on.
We have two other possibilities to compare the two databases and to find out
whether these two databases (loaded on STN and EINS) are really so different.
We can compare the number of items in each update and we can compare the
distribution of input among the document types.
When comparing the updates, we look first at the total number of documents added
via the updates. We get the following result:
· STN
has in total 199200 items up to the update of November 2007
· EINS
has a total of 200015 items up to the update of December 2007.
If
we compare the updates of both databases from 2007 onwards, we can conclude that
STN runs two updates behind EINS (see table below).
|
EINS |
|
STN |
|
|
457 |
612 |
|
|
|
455 |
701 |
457 |
20070125/UP |
|
444 |
702 |
455 |
20070216/UP |
|
445 |
703 |
444 |
20070313/UP |
|
447 |
704 |
445 |
20070420/UP |
|
403 |
705 |
446 |
20070514/UP |
|
408 |
706 |
402 |
20070619/UP |
|
437 |
707 |
408 |
20070711/UP |
|
342 |
708 |
436 |
20070816/UP |
|
400 |
709 |
342 |
20070927/UP |
|
405 |
710 |
400 |
20071023/UP |
|
403 |
711 |
|
|
|
404 |
712 |
|
|
The presentation of the date by EINS is peculiar. The year 2007 is represented 07, but at the end of 2007 we get immediately 7000, which refers to update 0 of the year 1970. When using dates in the update field, one has to be aware of this irregularity.
Items Index-Term
405
0710
403
0711
404
0712
16199 7000
It
we add the missing updates of STN, we find that the total number of records is
more or less the same.
When comparing the division in document types, we will see again large
differences, which can’t be explained by two missing updates.
|
|
STN |
EINS |
Difference |
|
BOOK/DT |
8427 |
47744 |
39317 |
|
CONFERENCE/DT |
44899 |
46329 |
1430 |
|
DISSERTATION/DT |
1668 |
1948 |
280 |
|
JOURNAL/DT |
111652 |
81740 |
-29912 |
|
PATENT/DT |
14833 |
15371 |
538 |
|
REPORT/DT |
6263 |
5962 |
-301 |
|
STANDARD/DT |
2079 |
7489 |
5410 |
|
TOTAL |
189821 |
206583 |
16762 |
What
in EINS might have been categorised as book might have been indexed in STN as
journal. We find here the major differences. Books can also be published in a
series (e.g. conferences) and listed as journal. The document type ‘books’
has in EINS the description books/other. The qualification ‘other’ is rather
indistinct. There is also a difference in the number of standards, but standards
are also published in journals.
The difference between EINS and STN is over 16000 records, which can only be
explained if certain documents have no document type field. Whether these
differences will have any effect on our searching is doubtful, since we either
search in the database via EINS or in the cluster via STN.
The basic information of any database includes also the searchable fields. We
find here again differences between EINS and STN. We present the differences in
the table below.
|
Search |
Search |
Search |
Search |
|
code STN |
code EINS |
code STN |
code EINS |
|
|
/AB |
|
/JN |
|
/AN |
/NN |
/ISN |
|