Why IraLIS
Submitted by editor on Sun, 2007-01-21 17:10.
In Spain and in Latin American countries, unlike Anglo-Saxon, Portuguese, Nordic and Slavic countries, the surname of the father is used in first place with that of the mother next, and in many cases there is also a compound first name.
Authors signing with their complete official name (as appears on their identity card, passport, driving licence, Social Security documentation, etc.) are often faced with the unpleasant surprise that their works published in journals appear in the references of browsers, in the OAI stores, and in the international databases in different ways –according to the interpretation of the compiler of the database or the source in hand- as a result of which on occasions the compilation of a personal bibliography becomes complicated. The fact that a signature can be made up of a number of elements also adds to the author signing his works in different ways.
One of the main pillars for the recovery of information is the author’s names. For this reason, normalization is a highly relevant aspect for the Web. The problem is of special importance for academics whose recognition is based on their personal curriculum.
IraLIS aims to help to reduce this serious distortion in the compilation of bibliographies as far as possible in three ways:
1. By creating a register of names of authors to help to locate the different variants. The register will incorporate both those that an author may have used, and those that may have been interpreted by the producer, compiler, browser, etc., of the different sources of information.
2. By making the Hispanic authors aware of the problem so that they always sign their works in the same way, thinking of how they will be referenced by the international databases, the OAI archives and the automated browsers which, as a practically irreversible 'fait accompli', are under the influence of the English culture and habits (Science Citation Index, Scopus, Chemical Abstracts, Medline, Google Scholar, etc.).
3. By creating the simple IraLIS form of signature which allows a suitable and unconfused recognition even by the Anglo-Saxon sources of cultural information.
The aim of IraLIS is to create a register of authorities of the names of all of authors who publish scientific works.
In Spain and in Latin American countries, unlike Anglo-Saxon, Portuguese, Nordic and Slavic countries, the surname of the father is used in first place with that of the mother next, and in many cases there is also a compound first name.
Authors signing with their complete official name (as appears on their identity card, passport, driving licence, Social Security documentation, etc.) are often faced with the unpleasant surprise that their works published in journals appear in the references of browsers, in the OAI stores, and in the international databases in different ways –according to the interpretation of the compiler of the database or the source in hand- as a result of which on occasions the compilation of a personal bibliography becomes complicated. The fact that a signature can be made up of a number of elements also adds to the author signing his works in different ways.
One of the main pillars for the recovery of information is the author’s names. For this reason, normalization is a highly relevant aspect for the Web. The problem is of special importance for academics whose recognition is based on their personal curriculum.
IraLIS aims to help to reduce this serious distortion in the compilation of bibliographies as far as possible in three ways:
1. By creating a register of names of authors to help to locate the different variants. The register will incorporate both those that an author may have used, and those that may have been interpreted by the producer, compiler, browser, etc., of the different sources of information.
2. By making the Hispanic authors aware of the problem so that they always sign their works in the same way, thinking of how they will be referenced by the international databases, the OAI archives and the automated browsers which, as a practically irreversible 'fait accompli', are under the influence of the English culture and habits (Science Citation Index, Scopus, Chemical Abstracts, Medline, Google Scholar, etc.).
3. By creating the simple IraLIS form of signature which allows a suitable and unconfused recognition even by the Anglo-Saxon sources of cultural information.