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The purpose of this research is to analyze the volume of full‐text coverage for 50 marketing‐focused and marketing‐related serial sources in the Ebsco Business Source Premier (BSP) and ProQuest ABI/INFORM Global (ABI) databases, focusing on the significant differences in the full‐text availability of 21 journals which are common in the two databases.

The target serials were the ones rated –in response to a large scale, very well‐designed and implemented research project (Hult et al.)– by more than 600 marketing specialists, working at the marketing departments of universities around the world (the Hult050 set).

The test searches found that BSP had full‐text coverage for 29, and ABI for 34 sources. BSP had 70,740 and ABI had 63,405 full‐text items. However, the detailed analysis at the individual source level of the Hult‐50 set revealed anomalies in the reported volume of full‐text coverage for several top tier marketing journals in ABI, such as single year and even decade‐long gaps and inflated hit counts.

The paper provides empirical evidence for anomalies, which should be considered in comparing the real volume and value of full‐text availability when making licensing decisions.

This article discusses full‐text source lists used by full‐text finding tools, such as serials management systems, OpenURL link resolvers, and imported e‐journal MARC records. Although the vendors of full‐text finding tools claim that they frequently update their full‐text source lists with changes in full‐text titles, ISSNs, coverage dates, and other information, they actually rely on content providers to offer title lists and coverage information. Not all content providers offer accurate and updated full‐text source lists in terms of full‐text titles included, coverage dates and embargo periods, and formats and file types. As a result, librarians and users using serials management systems, OpenURL link resolvers, or OPACs for finding full‐text periodicals are sometimes taken to dead ends. Vendors of both full‐text finding tools and full‐text content need to improve the accuracy and currency of their services.

The increasing availability of digital editions of journals, and/or the incorporation of the full‐text versions of their papers in the largest aggregator databases, have been the highlights in the coming of age of digital libraries from many perspectives, ranging from collection development to preservation, from ready reference services to creating digital carrels. Full‐text availability of research papers through several digital resources is not merely a great convenience for distributing knowledge, but also an indirect indicator of the acknowledgement of the popularity and importance of journals and other serial publications (such as conference proceedings) in many disciplines where such sources are the primary venues for scholarly and professional publishing. One of the purposes of the author's current research project was to find out how well three business databases reflect the popularity and familiarity of peer ranking and rating through 50 top rated marketing‐focused and marketing‐related periodicals in the full‐text coverage of those journals. This paper seeks to present some results.

The target journals were selected from the list of 50 marketing‐focused and marketing‐related journals ranked by nearly 630 faculty members from marketing departments of US and international universities in an outstanding large scale survey and research project by Hult et al. The presence and time‐span of coverage of 50 journals and conference proceedings was analysed in three of the largest (partially) full‐text business databases.

The research found that many highly rated and ranked journals in the sample were absent or very modestly present in the full‐text subset even in the largest and most widely licensed three business databases tested.

The research adds a new dimension to evaluating databases by the specific criteria of full text availability of journals and other serial publications.

This paper aims to assess relative full-text coverage of core nursing and allied health journals in three databases: CINAHL Complete, ProQuest Nursing and Allied Health Source and Lippincott Wilkins and Wilson (LWW)’s Nursing & Health Professionals Premier Collection.

The 2012 Nursing and Allied Health Resources Section (NAHRS) of the MLA list of 213 core nursing journals and the 1996 Brandon Hill list of 75 important allied journals were checked against full-text coverage of the three databases.

CINAHL Complete provided 126 of 213 titles or 59 per cent of NAHRS titles and 31 of 75 or 41 per cent of the Brandon Hill titles; ProQuest provided 74 of 213 titles or 35 per cent of NAHRS titles and 27 of 75 or 36 per cent of the Brandon Hill titles; LWW provided 42 of 213 or 20 per cent of NAHRS titles and 5 of 75 or 6 per cent of the Brandon Hill titles.

If researchers have access to CINAHL Complete, they have access with that single database to significant coverage of quality nursing and allied health titles. The other two databases provide additional coverage and some unique title coverage, but their offerings are more limited.

As no studies comparing full-text coverage of core nursing and allied health journals in three databases, CINAHL Complete, ProQuest Nursing and Allied Health Source and LWW’s Nursing & Health Professionals Premier Collection, exist, this study fills that need for librarians.

Librarians increasingly encounter decisions related to the use and/or purchase of an expanding body of bibliographic databases. This article examines the coverage of anthropology literatures in major academic indexes widely available in electronic format. Eight databases were selected for comparison, including three subject‐specific indexes, two multidisciplinary social sciences indexes, and three general academic indexes. Indexes were compared for their coverage of a core list of 135 anthropology journals as well as journals relevant to anthropology in other social science disciplines. In addition to journal coverage, several index characteristics were also compared: years of coverage; timeliness; extent of indexing; record structure; search software; and availability of controlled vocabulary, abstracts and full text. It is concluded that each database has relative merits and weaknesses and that these multiple factors must be considered within the context of local conditions in order to determine which database products are appropriate for meeting local information needs.

The experience of a multi‐site higher education library consortium in purchasing electronic journals and databases is described. The criteria and guidelines developed to assist in the decision‐making process for the purchase of multidisciplinary electronic products and services can be of value to other libraries whether in a single or consortial environment. Factors such as database features, coverage, search features, and delivery options were considered.

Providing convenient access to journals for users in a geographically dispersed university was a challenge for the Pennsylvania State University Libraries’ Full‐Text Implementation Group. The group established and implemented procedures for providing full‐text access to general interest periodicals to all Penn State users, both in the libraries and remotely. This paper discusses the formation of the group, addresses the decisions made about providing full‐text, the procedures established to implement and promote full‐text, the problems encountered during implementation, and the future of full‐text access at Penn State.

Support sought for changes to copyright law EIIA members have been asked to support a change in the copyright laws to permit some ‘fair use’ copying of software. A proposal is likely to go to the European Commission this month. Meanwhile, Memoranda of Mutal Understanding have been signed with the United States' HA and Japan's JICOA, to co‐operate in activities such as supporting the free flow of information.

NEXIS and DIALOG both offer full‐text online coverage of the magazine Business Week, while ABI/INFORM Global Edition on CDROM provides abstracts. A comparison of all three systems shows mixed results. DIALOG had the most records for two narrow topics, while NEXIS was superior when the search topic was broader. Although retrieving fewer items than the full‐text systems, ABI/INFORM had a considerable amount of material. With the difficulty of choosing between costly full‐text systems, settling for abstracts on CDROM may be an alternative for the researcher.

The methodology and findings are presented of an empirical study comparing local citation patterns with the holdings lists of a number of sources of journal articles. These sources were the British Library Document Supply Centre (BLDSC) and the BL inside service, library holdings, ProQuest Direct, SearchBank, EiText and a linking system including both the Geobase database and the BLDSC. The value of local citation figures is discussed, as is the concept of a “core” of journal titles, from both theoretical and practical perspectives. Using these figures to represent the local use of journal articles, the coverage of the document sources was found to vary widely. Unsurprisingly, the BLDSC was found to offer the widest coverage. Newer, electronic systems generally fared less well, but may offer other advantages.