BibRelEx:
Exploring Bibliographic Databases by Visualization of Contents-Based Relations

BibConsist: a program to check BibT_EX files for inconsistencies

BibConsist is useful to check the consistency of a single BibT_EX file, e.g. it test if there are multiply-defined entries in this file, and to assist geombib users in entering their own references, e.g. it test if the entries in a user file are already contained in the database. BibConsist reports similar entries, so it finds not only exact corresponding entries. Mis-spelled entries, entries with exchanged authors or equal entries with different citekeys are some examples for inconsistencies which are detected by BibConsist.

Two fields of the same fieldtype are considered similar if the set of words occuring in this fields are phonetic similar and have a large nonempty intersection. Two entries are considered similar if the majority of the checked fields is similar (title, author, booktitle, journal, publisher; title and author are weighted doubly) or equal (year, number, volume, pages, edition).

Two words are phonetic similar, i.e. they sound the same in English, if their soundex code is equal. Originally the soundex code [Knu73] is an indexing system which translates names into 4 digit code consisting of 1 letter and 3 numbers.

To compare the phonetic representation of arbitrary long character strings which can contain digits, the soundex code in BibConsist is modified in two points:

• the code is not truncated to 4 alphanumecric characters,
• to keep digits the consonants are replaced with small letters instead of digits.

modified soundex code:

1. All spaces and all symbols except alphabetic symbols and digits are deleted.
2. The first letter of the string becomes the first letter of the soundex code.
3. For the rest of the string the following transformations are used:
   • All vowels, W, and H, are skipped.
   • BFPV = b
     CGJKQSXZ = c
     L = l
     MN = m
     R = r
   • Only translate the first character in a series of repeated chars.
   • All digits are kept.

String similarity:

To determine the similarity of strings two methods are used:

• compare lists: count how many words in the strings are equal (phonetic similar) and how many words are different, both independent of their position in the string.
• shared sequences of characters: this similarity measure is based on the number of consecutive characters: With each additional letter in common the similarity is increased by the square of the number of consecutive letters in common. The similarity is adjust to a zero to one hundred scale in a way which compentsates the length of the strings: the shorter the compared strings, the fewer consecutive characters it requires for a high value. [Lyn95]

The first method is used for fields in which exchanged words are possible and not in conflict with similarity, e.g. two strings with exchanged author names are similar. To distinguish exchanged words the second method is used, e.g. for the journal fields.

Besides similarities, BibConsist checks if there is no multiply-defined citekey, if all citekeys in the fields precedes, succeeds and cites are defined and if no key in precedes, succeeds or cites points the entry itself. Moreover BibConsist tests if the title of books is defined in the field booktitle and in the field title.

Examples:

We have used BibConsist to check geombib (version march 1997) against itself. We have found only 69 pairs of inconsistent similar entries (not counting tech reports, thesis, etc.) and 49 citekey errors. The following examples for types of inconsistencies which are found with BibConsist are an extract of this check.

• own citekey in precedes points to the entry itself.

  @inproceedings{aarx-clgta-96
  , author =	"Oswin Aichholzer and Franz Aurenhammer and G{\"u}nter Rote 
                   and Yin-Feng Xu"
  , title =	"Constant-level greedy triangulations approximate the MWT well"
  , editor =	"Ding-Zhu Du and Xiang-Sun Zhang and Kan Cheng"
  , booktitle =	"Proc. Second Internat. Symp. Operations Research and its 
                   Applications, Guilin, China, December 11--13, 1996"
  , series =	"Lecture Notes in Operations Research"
  , volume =	2
  , publisher =	"World Publishing Corp."
  , address =	"Beijing"
  , year =	1996
  , pages =	"309--318"
  , precedes =	"aarx-clgta-96"
  , update =	"97.03 rote"
  }
  

• Multiply-defined booktitle, e.g. appears if entrytype book instead of fieldtype inproceedings or incollection.

  @book{p-stces-93
  , title =	"Set Theoretic Constructions in {Euclidean} Spaces"
  , editor =	"J. Pach"
  , booktitle =	"New Trends in Discrete and Computational Geometry"
  , series =	"Algorithms and Combinatorics"
  , volume =	10
  , publisher =	"Springer-Verlag"
  , year =	1993
  , keywords =	"discrete/computational geometry, book, survey papers"
  , comments =	"contains gs-caa-93, s-barga-93, m-encg-93, k-cpvc-93, 
                   gp-asotd-93, km-hart-93, gpw-gtt-93, b-hlcpr-93, b-gcabt-93,
                   fk-rrtpc-93, mp-rdcg-93, and k-stces-93"
  , update =	"93.09 erickson"
  }
  

• Duplicate entry, because of different specification of titles results in different citekeys.

  @book{s-asds-90
  , author =	"H. Samet"
  , title =	"Applications of Spatial Data Structures"
  , publisher =	"Addison-Wesley"
  , address =	"Reading, MA"
  , year =	1990
  , update =	"97.03 schwarzkopf"
  }
  
   looks similar to 
  
  @book{s-asdsc-90
  , author =	"H. Samet"
  , title =	"Applications of Spatial Data Structures: Computer Graphics,
                   Image Processing, and {GIS}"
  , publisher =	"Addison-Wesley"
  , address =	"Reading, MA"
  , year =	1990
  , isbn =	"0-201-50300-X"
  , keywords =	"octrees"
  , update =	"97.03 schwarzkopf, 93.09 held"
  }
  

• Duplicate entry, because of exchange author names results in different citekeys.

  @incollection{fs-amgfe-72
  , author =	"J. Fukuda and J. Suhara"
  , title =	"Automatic Mesh Generation for Finite Element Analysis"
  , editor =	"J. T. Oden and R. W. Clough and Y. Yamamoto"
  , booktitle =	"Advances in Computational Methods in Structural Mechanics 
                   and Design"
  , publisher =	"UAU Press"
  , address =	"Hunstville, Alabama"
  , year =	1972
  , annote =	"Two phases. First randomly generates points in polygon
  		 to required density, then triangulates points by
  		 horribly complicated algorithm. Picks five points
  		 minimizing triangle edge length. Discards triangle
  		 intersecting or containing. Then picks point making
  		 this triangle and the next one as equilateral as
  		 possible."
  }
  
   looks similar to 
  
  @incollection{sf-amgfe-72
  , author =	"J. Suhara and J. Fukuda"
  , title =	"Automatic Mesh Generation for Finite Element Analysis"
  , editor =	"J. T. Oden and R. W. Clough and Y. Yamamoto"
  , booktitle =	"Advances in Computational Methods in Structural Mechanics 
                   and Design"
  , publisher =	"UAU Press"
  , address =	"Huntsville, AL"
  , year =	1972
  , pages =	"607--624"
  , annote =	"Adds points to interior and then triangulates."
  }
  

• Duplicate entry, because of missing year results in different citekeys. This case appears particulary for unpublished works and their "updates".

  @article{ngv-begs-
  , author =	"M. H. Nodine and M. T. Goodrich and J. S. Vitter"
  , title =	"Blocking for External Graph Searching"
  , journal =	"Algorithmica"
  , note =	"To appear"
  , update =	"97.03 tamassia"
  }
  
   looks similar to 
  
  @article{ngv-begs-96
  , author =	"M. H. Nodine and M. T. Goodrich and J. S. Vitter"
  , title =	"Blocking for External Graph Searching"
  , journal =	"Algorithmica"
  , volume =	16
  , number =	2
  , month =	aug
  , year =	1996
  , pages =	"181--214"
  , update =	"97.03 murali"
  

• Duplicate entry, because in one entry an author's name is omitted. Moreover the entry types are different and in one entry the booktitle is not specified.

  @inproceedings{dl-cvdrp-91
  , author =	"H. Djidjev and A. Lingas"
  , title =	"On computing the {Voronoi} diagram for restricted planar
                   figures"
  , booktitle =	"Proc. 2nd Workshop Algorithms Data Struct."
  , series =	"Lecture Notes Comput. Sci."
  , volume =	519
  , publisher =	"Springer-Verlag"
  , year =	1991
  , pages =	"54--64"
  , keywords =	"Voronoi diagram, Delaunay triangulation, simple polygon, 
                   histogram"
  , precedes =	"dl-cvdsp-95"
  , update =	"96.09 devillers"
  }
  
   looks similar to 
  
  @incollection{d-cvdrp-91
  , author =	"H. Djidjev"
  , title =	"On computing the {Voronoi} diagram of restricted planar 
                   figures"
  , booktitle =	"??"
  , series =	"Lecture Notes Comput. Sci."
  , volume =	519
  , year =	1991
  , pages =	"54--64"
  , keywords =	"Voronoi diagram, lower bounds"
  , update =	"95.09 korneenko"
  }
  

• Duplicate entry, because of a wrong citekey.

  @book{o-cgc-94b
  , author =	"J. O'Rourke"
  , title =	"Computational Geometry in {C}"
  , publisher =	"Cambridge University Press"
  , year =	1994
  , update =	"97.03 tamassia"
  }
  
   looks similar to 
  
  @book{o-cgcfix-94
  , author =	"J. O'Rourke"
  , title =	"Computational Geometry in {C}"
  , publisher =	"Cambridge University Press"
  , year =	1994
  , update =	"97.03 tamassia"
  }
  

• Different editions of the same book, specification of edition missing.

  @book{t-dsna-83
  , author =	"R. E. Tarjan"
  , title =	"Data Structures and Network Algorithms"
  , series =	"CBMS-NSF Regional Conference Series in Applied Mathematics"
  , volume =	44
  , publisher =	"Society for Industrial Applied Mathematics"
  , year =	1983
  , keywords =	"graph drawing"
  , update =	"93.09 tamassia"
  }
  
   looks similar to 
  
  @book{t-dsna-87
  , author =	"R. E. Tarjan"
  , title =	"Data Structures and Network Algorithms"
  , publisher =	"Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics"
  , address =	"Philadelphia, PA"
  , year =	1987
  }
  

• Here are two examples for duplicat entries caused by different T_EX-Syntax.

  @article{fpp-hdpgg-90
  , author =	"H. de Fraysseix and J. Pach and R. Pollack"
  , title =	"How to Draw a Planar Graph on a Grid"
  , journal =	"Combinatorica"
  , volume =	10
  , year =	1990
  , pages =	"41--51"
  , keywords =	"graph drawing"
  , update =	"93.09 tamassia"
  }
  
   looks similar to 
  
  @article{dpp-hdpgg-90
  , author =	"H. {De Fraysseix} and J. Pach and R. Pollack"
  , title =	"How to draw a planar graph on a grid"
  , journal =	"Combinatorica"
  , volume =	10
  , number =	1
  , year =	1990
  , pages =	"41--51"
  , keywords =	"graph representation"
  , update =	"95.09 korneenko"
  }
  

  article{dv-cprac-77
  , author =	"A. K. Dewdney and J. K. Vranch"
  , title =	"A convex partition of {$R^{3}$} with applications to 
                   {Crum}'s problem and {Knuth}'s post-office problem"
  , journal =	"Utilitas Math."
  , volume =	12
  , year =	1977
  , pages =	"193--199"
  }
  
   looks similar to 
  
  article{dv-cpr3a-77
  , author =	"A. K. Dewdney and J. K. Vranch"
  , title =	"Convex partition of $R^3$ with applicatton to {Crum's} 
                   problem and {Knuth's} post-office problem"
  , journal =	"Utilitas Math."
  , volume =	12
  , year =	1977
  , pages =	"193--199"
  , keywords =	"Voronoi diagram, proximity, searching"
  , update =	"95.09 korneenko"
  }
  

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This program was originally developed for use with the computational geometry bibliographic database, but BibConsist can check any BibT_EX file. The BibT_EX database should contain the fields title, author, booktitle, journal, publisher, year, number, volume, pages and edition because BibConsist uses this fields to check the similarity of two entries. BibConsist ignores all fields which are unknown in geombib.

BibConsist is in the public domain and may be obtained by anonymos ftp from ftp.fernuni-hagen.de in the file pub/fachb/inf/pri6/BibRelEx/BibConsist/BibConsist.tar. You may use it or modify it to your heart's content, at your own risk. Bouquets, brickbats, and bug fixes may be sent to Britta Landgraf.