Going, Going, Gone: Lost Internet References
Top Cited Papers
- 31 October 2003
- journal article
- policy forum
- Published by American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in Science
- Vol. 302 (5646) , 787-788
- https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1088234
Abstract
The use of Internet references in academic literature is common, and Internet references are frequently inaccessible. The extent of Internet referencing and Internet reference activity in medical or scientific publications was systematically examined in more than 1000 articles published between 2000 and 2003 in the New England Journal of Medicine, The Journal of the American Medical Association, and Science. Internet references accounted for 2.6% of all references (672/25548) and in articles 27 months old, 13% of Internet references were inactive. Publishers, librarians, and readers need to reassess policies, archiving systems, and other resources for addressing Internet reference attrition to prevent further information loss.Keywords
This publication has 5 references indexed in Scilit:
- “Link rot” limits the usefulness of web‐based educational materials in biochemistry and molecular biology*Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Education, 2003
- Where Are They Now? A Case Study of Health-related Web Site AttritionJournal of Medical Internet Research, 2002
- Broken Links: The Ephemeral Nature of Educational WWW HyperlinksJournal of Science Education and Technology, 2002
- The PURL ProjectJournal of Library Administration, 2001
- Research resources in medical history: a new funding schemeHealth Information and Libraries Journal, 2001