Evaluation of the RANK command as a tool for the bibliometric analysis

Abstract

The present paper describes the techniques used in the evaluation of the rank command available in the Dialog System, as a tool of bibliometric analysis to be applied to the patent documents in the area of horizontal drilling, of the World Patent lndex database. This command can show statistical trends from the search results, which were analyzed during 1980 - 1994. Fields were selected according to the type of information required; countries, companies and researchers with the major R & D efforts in the horizontal drilling technology, as well as the most important technological area were identified; and the most cited patent was analyzed. The analysis of selected fields indicates the possibility of combining and ordering alphabetically and decreasingly the partial results of the rank command. Likewise, it is possible to obtain the desired records in a continuous manner and to work at the same time with two of the options mentioned before. With regard to some of the limitations, this command can be only applied to certain fields of the database and not to two fields simultaneously.