Keywords: finite element method, boundary element method, information management, information sources, literature, on-line databases, internet.

It is a well-known fact that information is the most valuable, but least valued, tool the researchers have at their disposal. Available information and an effective access to it plays in this context a very important role. The volume of finite element method (FEM) and boundary element method (BEM) literature in the form of books, journal papers, conference proceedings as well as the on-line information on Internet is growing at a prodigious rate. Due to the increasing proliferation in science and technology the professionals have more channels for communicating the results of their research but on the other hand to find requested information may be a more time-consuming and uneasy process today that some decades ago. It is also questionable if professionals are willing to spend their working time for looking for information. It has been pointed out that in engineering, informal channels are the most frequently used means of obtaining information.

The main problem of information retrieval is that the output of printed scientific literature tends to double within a period of approx. 10 years, and on-line information output is supposed to double by the year 2000 in one year's time. The irony of circumstances is the fact that published information very often contains repeated information. It is estimated that only 10-20% of it presents new, unknown facts. Today, it is almost impossible to be up-to-date with all the relevant information. Many professionals are starting to suffer from information overload. The "information fatigue syndrome" that will soon be recognized medical condition has symptoms including tension, occasional irritability and frequent feelings of helplessness.

BEM and FEM are powerful numerical methods becoming as the prevalent techniques used today for the computer analysis of physical phenomena in the field of structural, solid and fluid mechanics. Also coupled problems, simulation of various engineering processes in geomechanics, biomechanics and other fields of science have been studied by both techniques in a way that no other tools can accomplish.

The emphasis of this paper is to investigate the status of information dealing with FEM and BEM during the last three decades in a form of bibliometric studies. Bibliometric analysis has become a well-established part of information research and means a quantitative approach to the description of documents. It can be applied to any subject area and to most problems concerned with written communication. The intention of this contribution is to list and compare what information is available in the author's database, MAKEBASE and in on-line www pages, both in the visible and invisible parts of Internet. FEM and BEM literature will be handled with emphasis on structural and solid mechanics. It is presented in retrospection for various topics, materials, and type of structures.

MAKEBASE is an integrated database composed of two distinct parts: literature references and software information. At present this database contains more than 123,000 literature references and information about 1,700 FEM and BEM programs, retrospectively to 1976.

This paper contains three main parts: FEM and BEM literature in retrospection, some notes about Internet and finally, the bibliometric studies.

Bibliometric studies are presented for both, the visible and invisible parts of Internet. In the visible part of Internet, eight search engines are used and their retrieved results are compared in diagrams. In the invisible part of Internet two on-line large engineering databases were tested.

To draw any conclusions is not easy. In the author's opinion, the visible part of Internet does not contain any valuable information for researchers. You can spend endless hours looking at useless pages that do not contain requested material. In the invisible part of Internet the valuable information is available under assumptions that you have an access to on-line databases and full-text journals. You have to know where and how to get requested information from these sources. It takes time and cost money.

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