This week, we activated the bX Recommender service in ScienceDirect. The service works somewhat the same as it does in SFX menus: when you are viewing an article, the bX service recommends three relevant articles. Here is a screenshot of a SFX menu with bX recommendations:
Here is what bX looks like in ScienceDirect:
Although bX in ScienceDirect does recommend articles based on the one you are looking at, it suffers from two problems, one that is probably fixable and one that probably isn’t:
- Fixable problem: If you access ScienceDirect from off-campus (i.e., via EZproxy) the bX Recommender service doesn’t work at all. ScienceDirect is aware of this problem.
- Probably unfixable problem: the recommendations from bX in ScienceDirect only point to other articles in ScienceDirect (the bX service in SFX menus is neutral about its recommendations).
Given the two problems, especially the one that limits recommendations to articles in ScienceDirect, do you think we should keep the bX service active in ScienceDirect or turn it off? Please leave your comments on this post and vote by Feb. 24 on this Qualtrics poll.