Information-seeking behavior of health sciences faculty: the impact of new information technologies.

This paper reports on an ongoing investigation into health sciences faculty's information-seeking behavior, including their use of new information technologies. A survey was administered to all faculty in medicine, nursing, and pharmacy at the University of Illinois at Chicago. It was similar to one administered to the same population in 1991. The survey asked about faculty's use of electronic resources, documented any shift from the use of print to electronic formats, and measured the utilization of library training. The response rate was 48.5% for medicine faculty, 45.0% for nursing, and 62.5% for pharmacy. The study found that use of the print Index Medicus among faculty was in transition: While 30.5% continued to use the print resources, 68.0% of faculty accessed MEDLINE through electronic means. Faculty preferred accessing electronic databases from their offices to doing so from the library. Health sciences faculty used a wide variety of databases, in addition to MEDLINE, to fill their information needs. Most faculty did not take advantage of either in-house or electronic training sessions offered by librarians. The study concluded that the training preferences of faculty need to be further explored.

A comparison of authors publishing in two groups of U.S. medical journals.

This study compared the editorial peer review experiences of authors who published in two groups of indexed U.S. medical journals. The study tested the hypothesis that after one journal rejects a manuscript an author selects a less well-known journal for submission. Group One journals were defined as those indexed in 1992 MEDLINE that satisfied several additional qualitative measures; Group Two journals were indexed in the 1992 MEDLINE only. Surveys were sent to the first authors of 616 randomly selected articles, and 479 surveys were returned, for a response rate of 78.1%. A total of 20.8% of Group One and 15.7% of Group Two articles previously had been rejected. Group One authors were more likely to select a journal for its prestige and article quality, while Group Two authors were more likely to have been invited to submit the manuscript. More than 60% of both groups felt the peer review had offered constructive suggestions, but that it had changed article conclusions less than 3% of the time. Both groups thought the review process only marginally improved content, organization, or statistical analysis, or clarified conclusions. Between 3% and 15% of all authors received considerable conflicting advice from different reviewers. Authors from both groups differed as to their reasons for journal selection, their connections with the publishing journal, and patterns of resubmission after rejection.

Information-seeking behavior: a survey of health sciences faculty use of indexes and databases.

This study investigated information-seeking behavior, including use of major bibliographic tools by medical, pharmacy, nursing, and science faculty at the University of Illinois at Chicago. The study assessed the impact of availability of locally mounted databases, determined needs for modification of instructional programs, identified the need for promotional material, and established a baseline for subsequent studies. Results reflected a wide variation in the number and format of secondary services used by faculty. Over 70% of all faculty from the colleges of medicine, pharmacy, and nursing used Index Medicus or MEDLINE. There were statistically significant differences between colleges in their use of mediated and end-user searching of MEDLINE. Colleges exhibited significant differences in use of Current Contents, PsycLIT, ERIC, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL), Chemical Abstracts, and Science Citation Index. Statistically significant differences also were found among several clinical departments. The study concluded that, as new formats to bibliographic tools become available, traditional formats continue to be used; training sessions must be tailored to the audience; and the availability of local resources and their use by faculty needs to be understood.

Editorial peer review: methodology and data collection.

This study reports on the editorial peer review practices of two categories of U.S. medical journals indexed in Index Medicus. Journals in group 1 were included on each of three lists of recommended journals, had a circulation of 10,000, and were cited at least 5,000 times per year. Group 2 journals, also indexed in Index Medicus, met none of the criteria. After being pretested, data were collected through a series of interviews and questionnaires. A summary of the methodology and an analysis of the differences between data collected through questionnaires and interviews is reported. The study concluded that initial interviews are very helpful in designing a questionnaire; a high percentage of editors agreed to be interviewed (100% for sixteen group 1 editors and 93.8% for sixteen group 2 editors); a 69.4% response rate to the mailed questionnaire indicates either sufficient follow-up or a high rate of interest in the subject matter; no trends identified by the questionnaire were reversed by changes in answers given during the interviews; approximately 11% to 15% of the answers differed between the questionnaire and interview methodology; and for some sensitive issues, editors were more likely to give answers on the questionnaire according to what was perceived as the most appropriate answer, rather than the actual practices of the journal.

Editorial peer review in US medical journals.

This study determined if the process of editorial peer review is the same for all medical journals. Two categories of indexed US medical journals were examined: group 1 consisted mainly of well-known, clinically oriented journals, while group 2 was composed primarily of interdisciplinary or specialized journals. Data were collected through a series of interviews and questionnaires. All 16 group 1 editors or managing editors were interviewed. Questionnaires were mailed to 124 group 2 editors (69.4% were returned). Results showed that, although some of the practices of editorial peer review are the same, the two groups of journals had distinct editorial peer review practices. Group 1 made less use of editorial peer review than group 2 by relying on the editorial staff at several important decision points.

Editorial policy and the assessment of quality among medical journals.

Many factors are weighed in judging the quality of a journal. Editorial policies in the instructions to authors section offer an important, though often neglected, source of information. In addition to directions on formatting and style, this section often includes financial disclosures and policies on coverage, peer review, confidentiality, human experimentation and duplicate submissions. This study analyzes the contents of instructions sections from several categories of medical journals to determine their usefulness in making collection development decisions. Included are journals currently considered the most prestigious, indexed in Index Medicus and Abridged Index Medicus, and not indexed in Index Medicus or subscribed to by a typical large academic health sciences library. It was found that in a statistically significant number of journals, the instructions to authors section is more likely to be included and substantive in highly regarded journals than in less prestigious journals. It is concluded that the amount of information in the instructions section is related to the quality of the journal and that these sections are a useful collection development tool.

A study of remote users' satisfaction with online services before and after procedural modifications.

As libraries evolve into database management centers with network capabilities, they increasingly serve users who are remotely situated from them. This paper explores some of the problems encountered by a national association library in serving the remote user. User satisfaction is evaluated, procedures are subsequently modified, and satisfaction is again measured to determine variables that affect user response to the services.