Application of Bradford's Law to Citation Data

Abstract

This study serves as a test of the 2 formulations of Bradford's law, verbal and graphical, using 5,628 citations to periodical literature references in College and Research Libraries and Special Libraries 1940-74. The data are divided into 7 5-year spans so that comparisons can be made between the calculated percentage errors for each periodical during each 5-year period. Also identifies trends in citation patterns. Neither the verbal nor the graphical formulation provides results that are clearly more consistent with the practical situation.