SciFinder Scholar (Chemical Abstracts)

University of Oxford Usage statistics: October 2000 - September 2001

Summary

Total SciFinder Scholar usage was up approximately 50% on the previous subscription year (see statistics for Oct 1999 - Sep 2000), while usage patterns (types of search performed, busy periods, percentage use by chemistry sub-departments) remained similar.

Notes

  1. All figures and graphs are for Oct 2000 - Sep 2001 unless otherwise specified.
  2. Where a second figure is shown in brackets, this is for the previous year: Oct 1999 - Sep 2000.
  3. A table showing the data from which the various charts and graphs were derived, and also giving Numbers of different machines used, Total Number of sessions, Total minutes connected and Average session length for each user group, is appended.
  4. Due to an error at Chemical Abstracts Service, not all use during September 2001 was recorded, so the actual use (and percentage increases over previous year) is slightly higher than shown.

Data and graphs below answer the following questions:

How much is SciFinder Scholar being used?

During the second year of Oxford University's subscription SciFinder Scholar was used for a total of 6477 (4402) hours, during 22011 (12279) separate sessions, and from 517 (341) different machines (excluding OUCS dial-in and RSL network connections). The average session length was 17.7 (21.5) minutes.

This represents an increase over the previous year of 47% in time connected, 79% in number of sessions and 51% in number of computers accessing the Chemical Abstracts databases.

monthly usage

Apart from dips during the vacations, the use of SciFinder Scholar continues to rise steadily.

Who is using SciFinder Scholar?

Breakdown of SciFinder Scholar usage (in terms of total minutes connected) is shown below in 4 pie-charts:

  1. Total use
  2. Use within Chemistry Department
  3. Use within Colleges
  4. Use by other Departments

See table for additional data.

1. Total use by location of user:

pie chart - total use

It is likely that most of the use from colleges and via the OUCS dial-up connection (0.3%), and some of the use from within the RSL, was made by members of the Chemistry Department.

2. Chemistry Department use by sub-department:

chmistry dept use

The Dyson Perrins (organic chemistry) Laboratory accounted for 49% (53%) of Chemistry Department use; this represents 43% (48%) of the total use - see table. The proportion of Chemistry Dept. use by the PTCL: 11% (9%), ICL: 31% (29%) and OCMS: 5% (3%) increased slightly.

3. Use within Colleges:

N.B. This accounts for only 5% (5%) of all Oxford University SciFinder Scholar usage.

use by colleges

'Others' comprises a small amount of use from Christ Church, Exeter, Pembroke, Corpus Christi and Worcester Colleges.

4. Use by Other Departments:

N.B. This accounts for only 3% (4%) of all Oxford University SciFinder Scholar usage.

pie chart - other depts use

'Others' comprises a small amount of use from Economics, Geography, JR Hospitals, Molecular Medicine, Psychology and Zoology Departments.

The breakdown shown here is considerably different to last year's, when Plant Sciences (33%) and Engineering (34%) were the largest users, and Materials represented only 8% of Other Departments' use. Archaeology, Economics and Molecular Medicine feature for the first time.

When is SciFinder Scholar being used?

During the period Oct 2000 - Sep 2001 a maximum of 5 simultaneous users were allowed from the Oxford University domain; additional connection attempts were turned away with a "Busy" message.

The graph below shows the times of day when failed connection attempts/busy messages were most common. Mid morning (10 am - 1 pm) and mid afternoon (2pm - 6pm) are the busiest periods.

bar chart showing busiest times of day

Best times to search:

Simultaneous users

The increase to 5 simultaneous users for the year Oct 00 - Sep 01 (3 simultaneous users for Oct 99 - Sep 00) resulted in an overall figure of 14% (34%) of all connection attempts receiving the Busy message. (Compare last year's graph).

monthly busy

What is SciFinder Scholar being used for?

Several different types of types of search can be carried out. Topic searches (using words to describe the required subject) are the most common, followed by author and exact structure searches.

search type

Extended version of this graph for Nov 1999 - Jan 2002.

Table showing use of SciFinder Scholar by various groups within Oxford University.

October 2000 - September 2001

Dept.

No. different machines used

Total No. sessions

Total minutes

% total

Average session length, mins

DP (organic)

66

8854

167257

43.0

18.89

ICL (inorganic)

108

6214

104372

26.9

16.80

PTCL (physical)

68

2214

36742

9.5

16.60

OCMS

24

1115

16762

4.3

15.03

IT Centre

40

397

11826

3.0

29.79

Chem Crystallog.

1

5

131

0.0

26.20

CCL dynamic

1

24

370

0.1

15.40

Total CHEM

308

18823

337460

86.8

17.93

       

Archaeology

1

19

178

0.0

9.37

Biochemistry

9

38

514

0.1

13.53

Economics

1

2

20

0.0

10.00

Engineering

7

293

1962

0.5

6.70

Geography

1

1

53

0.0

53.00

JR Hospitals

3

9

63

0.0

7.00

Materials

11

356

8144

2.1

22.88

Mol Medicine

1

2

24

0.0

12.00

Pharmacology

2

49

865

0.2

17.65

Physics

4

30

534

0.1

17.80

Plant Sciences

2

11

154

0.0

14.00

Psychology

1

1

1

0.0

1.00

Wellcome Trust

2

17

503

0.1

29.59

Zoology

1

1

4

0.0

4.00

Total other depts

46

829

13019

3.4

15.70

       

Balliol

5

43

253

0.1

5.88

Brasenose

5

71

1212

0.3

17.07

Christ Church

2

2

38

0.0

19.00

Corpus

1

1

20

0.0

20.00

Exeter

1

1

4

0.0

4.00

Hertford

15

46

922

0.2

20.04

Jesus

4

52

1071

0.3

20.60

Keble

1

1

0

0.0

0.00

Linacre

1

37

1147

0.3

31.00

Merton

6

117

1418

0.4

12.12

New College

5

50

618

0.2

12.36

Oriel

20

42

361

0.1

8.60

Pembroke

2

2

11

0.0

5.50

Queens

14

83

913

0.2

11.00

Somerville

3

6

144

0.0

24.00

St Catz

1

3

147

0.0

49.00

St Edmund Hall

12

369

5746

1.5

15.57

St Hildas

8

29

585

0.2

20.17

St Hughs

15

42

656

0.2

15.62

St Johns

9

151

1691

0.4

11.20

St Peters

3

11

258

0.1

23.45

Trinity

10

15

149

0.0

9.93

University

4

13

146

0.0

11.23

Wadham

8

45

421

0.1

9.36

Wolfson

4

21

171

0.0

8.14

Worcester

1

2

41

0.0

20.50

Graduate Accom

3

61

646

0.2

10.59

Total Colleges

163

1316

18789

4.8

14.28

       

OUCS Dial-up

60

1088

0.3

18.13

Radcliffe Sci Lib

983

18263

4.7

18.58

       

TOTAL

517

22011

388620

100.0

17.66

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Updated 28/2/02. If you have any comments please contact: cheminfo@chem.ox.ac.uk