An experiment in automatic hierarchical document classification

A method of automatic document classification was developed as part of a larger research project in materials selection. Documents classed as QA by the Library of Congress classification system were clustered at six thresholds by keyword using the single link technique. The automatically generated clusters were then compared to the Library of Congress subclasses to which the documents had been assigned by human classifiers. Finally, a partial classified hierarchy was formed from the individual document clusters within a single threshold. Implications of the utility of grouping documents for on-line searching are discussed.