A Replication of Failure, Not a Failure to Replicate

Authors

Gary Holden, New York UniversityFollow
Kathleen Barker, CUNY Medgar Evers CollegeFollow
Sofie Kuppens, KU Leuven: HIVA - Research Institute for Work and SocietyFollow
Gary Rosenberg, Icahn School of Medicine School of Medicine at Mount SinaiFollow
Jonathan`, Temple UniversityFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2015

Abstract

Purpose: The increasing role of systematic reviews in knowledge production demands greater rigor in the literature search process. The performance of the Social Work Abstracts (SWA) database has been examined multiple times over the past three decades. The current study is a replication within this line of research.

Method: Issue level coverage was examined for the same 33 SWA core journals and the same time period as our 2009 study.

Results: The mean percentage of issues missing in the current study was 20%. The mean percentage of issues missing in the current study was significantly greater than the mean percentage of issues missing in the 2009 study.

Discussion: The research of other groups, and that of our own, has failed to prompt NASW Press to act. SWA was failing, it is failing and NASW Press has failed to correct those failures.

Comments

This is the accepted manuscript of an article published in Research on Social Work Practice, available at doi: 10.1177/1049731514530000.