Ben-Ami Lipetz was Emeritus Professor of Information Science at the University at Albany, State University of New York. His undergraduate program in engineering at Cornell University was interrupted for service in the U.S. Navy in 1945–1946. He received the BME degree in 1948. After two years of employment as technical editor at Brookhaven National Laboratory, he returned to Cornell for graduate study in public administration and research administration. His PhD was awarded in 1959; his dissertation, “The Measurement of Efficiency of Scientific Research,” was published as a book in 1965. He worked at Battelle Memorial Institute, Columbus, Ohio, from 1953 to 1959; there he established and managed information clearinghouses (collection, organizing, and dissemination activities) for large federally sponsored projects including the Defense Metals Information Center and the Radiation Effects Information Center. Next, at Itek Corporation, Bedford, Massachusetts, he conducted early experimentation with citation indexing for scientific literature, and managed a developmental project to apply computers in creating library catalogs. Later he became an independent research contractor, conducting various sponsored studies on citation indexing and on characteristics of scientific activity. In 1966 he became head of a new Research Department at the Yale University Library where, among other projects, he designed and managed a yearlong detailed study of how, and with what success, a very large academic library’s catalog is used by its different groups of patrons. He was editor of Information Science Abstracts from its founding year of 1966 until 1981, and used that publication to demonstrate the value of an index with forward- and backward-pointing links between abstracts. In 1978 he joined the faculty of the University at Albany, serving as dean of the School of Information Science and Policy for the first two years. He was among the founders of the university’s interdisciplinary doctoral program in information science. He retired from regular teaching duties in 1995, but remained active in academic deliberations. He wais the author of two books and many journal papers. He served in elected and appointed capacities in various professional organizations, including the American Society for Information Science and Technology, the American Society of Indexers, and the American Library Association. A few years before his death he established the Foundation for Information Resources, Science and Technology, which attempts to identify and encourage activity in areas of information science that are promising but have lacked attention, including his own work on improvement of citation indexing.
Ben-Ami Lipetz’s Citation Indicator Theory
In 1965, Ben proposed the idea derived from the Shepard’s Legal Citations to add indicators to each citing paper entry showing its scientific process and its relationship with the cited work. Lipetz’s paper, which was published fifty four years ago, has been cited in 59 articles worldwide. The latest article that cited this paper was published in 2014, indicating that the discussion over this topic has lasted for five decades.