Information Retrieval Services

The Max Planck Society supports a scientific information retrieval service (IVS) for the fields of chemistry, physics, and technology (IVS-CPT in Stuttgart). Until 2017, there was also an IVS for the fields of biology and medicine (IVS-BM in Martinsried).

The main topics of the service are research evaluation using newest methods and indicators as well as acquisition and evaluation of scientific information. The service duties are always combined with the current knowledge of information and evaluation research so that the best possible methodology is employed. The research evaluations mainly consist of publication and citation analyses in cooperation with the administrative headquarters and the Max Planck Digital Library (MPDL). These research-political analyses are requested by the management level (president, directors, committees) of the Max Planck Society. Different aggregation levels from individual persons, via research groups to the point of world-wide subject areas are analyzed.

In Stuttgart, existing indicators and methods are improved and new ones are developed (bibliometrics, scientometrics, and altmetrics) in cooperation with the administrative headquarters and the MPDL. The permanent discussion with world-wide connected researchers ensures that suitable criteria for research evaluation are further improved. Additional service offers consist of literature search with the requirement of completeness as well as support for patent searches in special databases (STN).

At the IVS in Martinsried, the main focus was on research evaluation in addition to trainings, supporting tools for bioinformatics and data mining. MPG scientists were instructed in the correct use of literature databases and reference management systems in webinars or on-site trainings and were made aware of new programs for the analysis of large amounts of data.

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