What is a granularity mismatch and are there workarounds to improve linking?
- Product: Summon
Question
What is a granularity mismatch and are there workarounds to improve linking?
Answer
A granularity mismatch refers to a difference in the level at which articles are indexed by the vendor/provider.
Examples
- A database vendor may group a section of sub-articles as a larger article under a single title. When Summon provides more granular citations for sub-articles, links to the provider with less granular indexing may fail to link properly to the larger article.
- Providers that do not index all articles within an issue. This can lead to linking failures even though the content is within the provider’s coverage period.
- Often occurs in book reviews or conference proceedings.
Workarounds
When submitting linking issues to Support, in addition to providing the URL for reproducing the issue, the following pieces of information, when available, can potentially be used to address granularity issues:
Unique document identifier
- DOI ("Digital Object Identifier")
- Gale Doc ID
- EBSCO Accession Number
- PubMed's PMID
By providing any of the above information, we may be able to find a way to improve the linking. However, please note that we may not be able to address all of the linking issues when it comes to granularity mismatches, even with the information above.
Additional Information
Summon: OpenURL Challenges with Providers Indexing Articles at Different Levels of Granularity
What Are the Common Causes of Full Text Linking Problems, and How Can Linking Be Improved?
- Article last edited: 22-Feb-2017