Automatically indexing documents: content vs. reference

ABSTRACT

Authors cite other work in many types of documents. Notable among these are research papers and web pages. Recently, several researchers have proposed using the text surrounding citations (references) as a means of automatically indexing documents for search engines, claiming that this technique is superior to indexing documents based on their content [1,2]. While we ourselves have made this claim, we acknowledge that little empirical data has been presented to support it. Therefore, in the limited space available we present a terse overview of a study comparing reference to content as bases for indexing documents. This study indicates that reference identifies the value of documents more accurately and with a greater diversity of language than content.

REFERENCES

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INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  H. Information Systems
  H.3 INFORMATION STORAGE AND RETRIEVAL
      H.3.1 Content Analysis and Indexing
          Subjects: Indexing methods

Additional Classification:
  D. Software
  D.2 SOFTWARE ENGINEERING
      D.2.2 Design Tools and Techniques
          Subjects: User interfaces

  I. Computing Methodologies
  I.7 DOCUMENT AND TEXT PROCESSING
      I.7.5 Document Capture
          Subjects: Document analysis

General Terms:
Design, Human Factors, Performance, Theory

Keywords:
indexing precision, reference-based indexing, term diversity