Citation analysis of Ph.D. dissertation references as a tool for collection management in an academic chemistry library

A bibliometric study was carried out on the citations within the chemistry field Ph.D. dissertations to ascertain what types of documents are the most frequently used In the research process, the most frequently consulted journals and obsolescence rate of the journals. The analysis covered 46 doctoral theses presented at the Institut Químic de Sarriá (IQS) from 1995 to 2003. The results obtained from the 4,203 citations revealed that the most frequently used documents were scientific papers, which accounted for 79 percent of the total; 33 journals met 50 percent of the informational needs; and the age of 50 percent of the citations was no older than 9 years. Finally, the results can be used as a tool for the collection management of the library.