An update on Uniform Resource Locator (URL) decay in MEDLINE abstracts and measures for its mitigation.

ABSTRACT:

Background

For years, Uniform Resource Locator (URL) decay or "link rot" has been a growing concern in the field of biomedical sciences. This paper addresses this issue by examining the status of the URLs published in MEDLINE abstracts, establishing current availability and estimating URL decay in these records from 1994 to 2006. We also reviewed the information provided by the URL to determine if the context that the author cited in writing the paper is the same information presently available in the URL. Lastly, with all the documented recommended methods to preserve URL links, we determined which among them have gained acceptance among authors and publishers.

Methods

MEDLINE records from 1994 to 2006 from the National Library of Medicine in Extensible Mark-up Language (XM

SUBMITTER: Ducut E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2435527 | biostudies-literature | 2008 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature