The volume of full-text coverage of top-tier marketing journals in the ABI/INFORM and Business Source Premier databases - key indicators for database licensing

Purpose The purpose of this research is to analyze the volume of full-text coverage for 50 marketing-focused and marketing-related serial sources in the Ebsco Business Source Premier (BSP) and ProQuest ABI/INFORM Global (ABI) databases, focusing on the significant differences in the full-text availability of 21 journals which are common in the two databases. Design/methodology/approach - The target serials were the ones rated in response to a large scale, very well-designed and implemented research project (Hult et al.)- by more than 600 marketing specialists, working at the marketing departments of universities around the world (the Hult050 set). Findings - The test searches found that BSP had full-text coverage for 29, and ABI for 34 sources. BSP had 70,740 and ABI had 63,405 full-text items. However, the detailed analysis at the individual source level of the Hult-50 set revealed anomalies in the reported volume of full-text coverage for several top tier marketing journals in ABI, such as single year and even decade-long gaps and inflated hit counts. Originality/value - The paper provides empirical evidence for anomalies, which should be considered in comparing the real volume and value of full-text availability when making licensing decisions.