Your query regarding ISI's handling of R. Harper's recent
paper in CURRENT OPINIONS IN BIOTECHNOLOGY has been passed
along to us. Yes, his electronic reference section
held great interest for us. It provided our internal
committee with some very specific examples to refer to in
meetings.
This committee, which includes representatives from various
departments within ISI, has identified several study
objectives. These include: 1) setting evaluation guidelines
for electronic literature; 2) identifying how to
systematically integrate the indexing of electronic
literature with current processes; 3) creating a unified
format for citations to electronic literature; and 4)
recommending a preferred citation format to publishers and
authors of electronic literature.
Needless to say, accomplishing these four objectives is not
trivial. As you are well aware, tracking the electronic
literature is a huge task, and there are many internal
systems issues to be resolved. Our study is progressing
well, and we expect to have the major pieces of it in place
in 1995.
We are learning a lot as we go along and would welcome the
opportunity to dialogue with you about some of the
challenges that we have encountered in indexing this
emerging body of literature.
Thank you again for your thoughts and for providing us with
the opportunity to begin an interchange of ideas.
Merle Jaffe
Senior Manager, Editorial Development
ISI
mjaffe at isinet.com
215/386-0100 x.1227
