Use of Information Sources by the Soil Scientists in Kerala: A Case Study of the Citations in the Master’s Degree Theses of the Kerala Agricultural University

Abstract

The Department of Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry, College of Agriculture, Vellayani, Thiruvananthapuram, one of the constituent colleges of the Kerala Agricultural University, has been offering M Sc Degree in Soil Science since 1963. As part of the programme the students have to carry out research on an approved topic and submit the thesis. During the period of 1963 to 2010, 129 theses have been submitted in soil science. A study of the citations in a sample of 18 theses, selected at 10 year intervals is carried out with a view to ascertaining the characteristics of the information sources used by the scholars. The 18 theses selected as sample, altogether carries 1794 references distributed among different categories such as monographs and reference books (8.58%), papers in learned journals (68.84%), conference papers/ proceedings (4.12%), government publications (4.35%), theses (6.4%) and other (7.69%) which include technical reports, statistical bulletins and research reports. Analysing the age of cited items, the obsolescence rate of literature in soil science was calculated. Median citation age is found to be 11.13 years. Chronological variation in the various characteristics of the cited literature was also examined.