Evaluation of subject gateways: a methodological proposal and longitudinal analysis

In this paper a quality assessment of 30 subject gateways was carried out using data from 2007 and 2012, with the aim of shedding light on their strengths, weaknesses and evolution over time. For this purpose, we designed and implemented a 30-item questionnaire divided into three main categories: access to information, management, and value-added elements. We find substantial differences across the subject gateways analyzed and see that the average quality is quite good in the first two categories but not in the last one. Regarding their evolution over time, we observed improvements only with valued added services, though they are not significant.