Automatic Disambiguation of Author Names in Bibliographic Repositories

Clarifying author names in large bibliographic systems

Automatic Disambiguation of Author Names in Bibliographic Repositories takes on a problem that is easy to describe and notoriously difficult to solve: making sure citations, records, and author identities actually point to the right person. In digital bibliographic repositories, name ambiguity can quietly distort search results, browsing, recommendations, and the quality of the data people rely on every day.

Anderson A. Ferreira, Marcos André Gonçalves, and Alberto H. F. Laender approach the subject with both breadth and practical depth. The book does not stop at defining the issue; it moves through the task itself, surveys the literature in a structured way, and then gathers a substantial line of research into a single, coherent narrative.

What the book covers

• The nature of author name ambiguity in bibliographic repositories
• Formal definitions and core evaluation issues
• Taxonomy and overview of automatic disambiguation methods
• Heuristic, self-training, and incremental approaches developed by the authors
• Later methods including graph-based, visualization-based, and neural-network-based directions

A useful reference for digital library work

This is a compact, research-driven volume with clear relevance for anyone working with bibliographic data, digital libraries, scholarly communication, or information retrieval. It is especially helpful for readers who want to understand not only the technical challenge of author name disambiguation, but also how the field has developed and where the major methodological ideas fit together.

For teams building or maintaining repositories, search systems, or metadata pipelines, the book offers a disciplined view of a problem that is often visible only when something goes wrong. Here, the subject is treated directly and systematically—exactly the kind of clarity that makes a technical reference worth keeping close at hand.

Why it stands out

Rather than presenting disambiguation as a single algorithmic trick, the book frames it as an evolving research area with multiple strategies, constraints, and tradeoffs. That makes it a strong fit for advanced students, researchers, and professionals who need a serious overview of the topic rather than a quick introduction.