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Reprint requests. How and why they were made
1Department of Pediatrics, University of Calgary, Alberta Children's Hospital, Canada.
American Journal of Diseases of Children (1960)
|January 1, 1989
Summary
Most reprint requests were received via postcard, primarily for single articles, with unavailability of the journal being a key driver. Researchers found these reprints highly useful for their work.
Area of Science:
- Bibliometrics
- Scholarly Communication
Background:
- Analyzing reprint request patterns provides insights into scholarly information dissemination.
- Understanding researcher needs is crucial for effective scientific publishing.
Purpose of the Study:
- To characterize the nature and origin of reprint requests.
- To identify the motivations behind researchers requesting article reprints.
Main Methods:
- Analysis of 457 reprint requests received over two years.
- Distribution of a questionnaire to 457 requesters, with 259 replies analyzed.
Main Results:
- 94.5% of requests were via postcard, 98.5% for a single copy.
- Key reasons for requests included journal unavailability and reprint quality.
- 81.1% learned about the article/address from Current Contents; 98.8% found reprints very useful.
Conclusions:
- Reprint requests are predominantly single-copy, postcard-based, driven by accessibility and quality.
- Current Contents is a major source for discovering and requesting scientific articles.
- The high utility reported underscores the continued importance of reprints in research.