Tplyr
Tplyr made clinical summary tables explain where every number came from.
Comparison · Analytics
refsplitr vs tidytlg
A side-by-side editorial comparison of refsplitr and tidytlg — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
Shared themes:r-package
refsplitr vs tidytlg: at a glance
What is refsplitr?
Author disambiguation for bibliometrics, still grinding on the hard part: which names are the same person.
refsplitr parses Web of Science reference records into tidy data and tries to resolve which author strings belong to the same researcher, then georeferences their institutional addresses for network and map visualizations. The active work is squarely on the disambiguation core: 1.2.3 continues refining the author grouping algorithm and 1.2.1 adjusted ORCID ID matching. Earlier, 1.2.0 replaced the address parsing algorithm and changed the default georeferencing option for author institutions.
What is tidytlg?
A tables-listings-graphs package that reached CRAN and then went quiet.
tidytlg generates clinical tables, listings, and graphs from tidyverse-style pipelines, maintained under the pharmaverse organisation. All four releases in the window are from a single eight-month stretch in 2023, and their content is CRAN preparation, a logging-dependency swap, and multi-file support. Release notes are merge lists rather than described changes.
refsplitr vs tidytlg: editorial side-by-side
refsplitr
5.0ANALYTICS
Author disambiguation for bibliometrics, still grinding on the hard part: which names are the same person.
◆ Current state
refsplitr parses Web of Science reference records into tidy data and tries to resolve which author strings belong to the same researcher, then georeferences their institutional addresses for network and map visualizations. The active work is squarely on the disambiguation core: 1.2.3 continues refining the author grouping algorithm and 1.2.1 adjusted ORCID ID matching. Earlier, 1.2.0 replaced the address parsing algorithm and changed the default georeferencing option for author institutions.
◆ Where it's heading
Development has narrowed to the two operations that determine whether the output is usable — grouping author name variants and resolving addresses to coordinates. Everything else has been shedding: the maptools dependency was removed once that package was deprecated, and visualization changes are mostly about surfacing records the pipeline could not resolve, as with plot_net_country() returning fixable_countries so users can correct and rerun. Release notes are terse and defer to NEWS, so the changelog itself carries little detail.
◆ Prediction
Expect further incremental passes on author grouping and ORCID matching rather than new outputs; that algorithm is the package's accuracy ceiling and the last several releases have all touched it.
tidytlg
0.0ANALYTICS
A tables-listings-graphs package that reached CRAN and then went quiet.
◆ Current state
tidytlg generates clinical tables, listings, and graphs from tidyverse-style pipelines, maintained under the pharmaverse organisation. All four releases in the window are from a single eight-month stretch in 2023, and their content is CRAN preparation, a logging-dependency swap, and multi-file support. Release notes are merge lists rather than described changes.
◆ Where it's heading
The visible arc is getting onto CRAN and staying installable — vignette corrections per CRAN comments, a badge, a check fix, and replacing the timber logging package with logrx. The one functional addition is multiple-file support. There has been no release since October 2023, so on this evidence the package is stable or dormant rather than actively developing.
◆ Prediction
The entries give no signal about planned work; with nothing shipped in roughly two years, the more likely next event is a maintenance release triggered by a dependency or CRAN check than a feature.
Alternatives to refsplitr and tidytlg
Other Analytics products tracked by Sparkpulse, ranked by recent ship velocity. Each card links to a full editorial trajectory and lets you pivot into a head-to-head comparison with either refsplitr or tidytlg.
rlistings
Clinical listings that keep inheriting their hardest problem — pagination — from the layer below.
hoardr
A cache-directory helper that has shipped nothing but CRAN-triggered patches for seven years.
gigs
gigs redesigned its whole conversion API for rOpenSci, then spent three releases getting the docs to build.
riem
A weather-data client that keeps rewriting its HTTP layer while slowly tightening its API.
datasetjson
datasetjson rebuilt its object model to track the CDISC Dataset-JSON 1.1 schema.
See all refsplitr alternatives → · See all tidytlg alternatives →
Recent activity from refsplitr and tidytlg
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 28d agorefsplitrFurther refinement of the author grouping algorithm
- 29d agorefsplitrMinor fixes and ORCID matching edits
- 1y agorefsplitrNew address parsing algorithm, changed georeferencing default
- 2y agorefsplitrUnresolved countries surfaced, maptools dependency dropped
- 2y agotidytlgSwaps the timber logger for logrx
- 3y agotidytlgMultiple-file support and table-binding fixes
- 3y agotidytlgVignette update per CRAN comments
- 3y agotidytlgFirst CRAN release
- 6y agorefsplitrrOpenSci release v0.9.0
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between refsplitr and tidytlg?
Both compete on the same themes — r-package — within Analytics. refsplitr is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 5.0 vs 0.0), with 0 editorial sparks in the last 30 days against 0. See the at-a-glance table above for a side-by-side breakdown of velocity, recent sparks, and editorial themes.
Is refsplitr better than tidytlg?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. refsplitr is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 5.0 vs 0.0), with 0 editorial sparks in the last 30 days against 0. For your specific use case, the alternatives sections above list other Analytics products to evaluate alongside.
What are the best alternatives to refsplitr?
Top refsplitr alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "refsplitr alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/refsplitr for the full list with editorial commentary on each.
What are the best alternatives to tidytlg?
Top tidytlg alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "tidytlg alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/tidytlg for the full list with editorial commentary on each.