Visual topical analysis of library and information science

Scientometrics - Using research papers of WoS database as the data source, the present paper adopts the method of Documents Co-citation Analysis, and employs the tool of CiteSpace to analyze the...     

A co-word analysis of library and information science in China

This study aims to reveal the intellectual structure of Library and Information Science (LIS) in China during the period 2008–2012 utilizing co-word analysis. The status and trends of LIS in China are achieved by measuring the correlation coefficient of selected keywords extracted from relevant journals in the Chinese Journal Full-Text Database. In co-word analysis, multivariate statistical analysis and social network analysis are applied to obtain 13 clusters of keywords, a two-dimensional map, centrality and density of clusters, a strategic diagram and a relation network. Based on these results, the following conclusions can be drawn: (i) LIS in China has some established and well-developed research topics; (ii) a few emerging topics have a great potential for development; and (iii), the research topics in this LIS field are largely decentralized as a whole, where there are many marginal and immature topics.     

A comparative study of interdisciplinary changes between information science and library science

This study employs the method of direct citation to analyze and compare the interdisciplinary characteristics of the two disciplines of library science and information science during the period of 1978–2007. Based on the research generated by five library science journals and five information science journals, library science researchers tend to cite publications from library and information science (LIS), education, business/management, sociology, and psychology, while researchers of information science tend to cite more publications from LIS, general science, computer science, technology, and medicine. This means that the disciplines with larger contributions to library science are almost entirely different from those contributing to information science. In addition, researchers of library science frequently cite publications from LIS; the rate is as high as 65.61%, which is much higher than the rate for information science, 49.50%. However, a decreasing trend in the percentage of LIS in library science indicates that library science researchers tend to cite more publications from non-LIS disciplines. A rising trend in the proportion of references to education sources is reported for library science articles, while a rising trend in the proportion of references to computer science sources has been found for information science articles. In addition, this study applies an interdisciplinary indicator, Brillouin’s Index, to measurement of the degree of interdisciplinarity. The results confirm that the trend toward interdisciplinarity in both information science and library science has risen over the years, although the degree of interdisciplinarity in information science is higher than that in library science.     

A journal co-citation analysis of library and information science in China

This paper aims to reveal the relationship and structure of library and information science (LIS) journals in China. 24 core LIS journals in China are selected and the relevant data of journal co-citation are retrieved from Chinese Journal Full-Text Database constructed by China National Knowledge Infrastructure during the period of 1999–2009. By calculating mean co-citation frequencies and correlation coefficients, we find that there is a strong relationship among LIS journals in China. Utilizing the methods of cluster analysis, multidimensional scaling analysis and factor analysis, we analyze the data of journal co-citation. LIS journals in China are divided into four clusters. The relatedness among journals is shown manifestly through their locations in the two-dimensional map. A three-factor solution is obtained with the factor loading of each journal. Finally, we interpret and discuss the results to get some conclusions and also expect to describe the network characters of journal co-citation in future research.     

Characteristics and impact of grant-funded research: a case study of the library and information science field

This paper reports on a bibliometric study of the characteristics and impact of research in the library and information science (LIS) field which was funded through research grant programs, and compares it with research that received no extra funding. Seven core LIS journals were examined to identify articles published in 1998 that acknowledge research grant funding. The distribution of these articles by various criteria (e.g., topic, affiliation, funding agency) was determined. Their impact as indicated by citation counts during 1998–2008 was evaluated against that of articles without acknowledging extra funding and published in the same journals in the same year using citation data collected from Scopus’ Citation Tracker. The impact of grant-funded research as measured by citation counts was substantially higher than that of other research, both overall and in each journal individually. Scholars from outside LIS core institutions contributed heavily to grant-funded research. The two highest-impact publications by far reported non-grant-based research, and grant-based funding of research reported in core LIS journals was biased towards the information retrieval (IR) area, particularly towards research on IR systems. The percentage of articles reporting grant-funded research was substantially higher in information-oriented journals than in library-focused ones.     

Citer analysis as a measure of research impact: library and information science as a case study

The investigators studied author research impact using the number of citers per publication an author’s research has been able to attract, as opposed to the more traditional measure of citations. A focus on citers provides a complementary measure of an author’s reach or influence in a field, whereas citations, although possibly numerous, may not reflect this reach, particularly if many citations are received from a small number of citers. In this exploratory study, Web of Science was used to tally citer and citation-based counts for 25 highly cited researchers in information studies in the United States and 26 highly cited researchers from the United Kingdom. Outcomes of the tallies based on several measures, including an introduced ch-index, were used to determine whether differences arise in author rankings when using citer-based versus citation-based counts. The findings indicate a strong correlation between some citation and citer-based measures, but not with others. The findings of the study have implications for the way authors’ research impact may be assessed.     

Mapping library and information science in China: a coauthorship network analysis

This paper aims to identify the collaboration pattern and network structure of the coauthorship network of library and information science (LIS) in China. Using data from 18 core source LIS journals in China covering 6 years, we construct the LIS coauthorship network. We analyze the network from both macro and micro perspectives and identify some key features of this network: this network is a small-world network, and follows the scale-free character. In the micro-level, we calculate each author’s centrality values and compare them with citation counts. We find that centrality rankings are highly correlated with citation rankings. We also discuss the limitation of current centrality measures for coauthorship network analysis.     

Quality assessment of science information research and service

Conclusions Problems of scientometrics depend on in which phase of research or development each scientometric activity is operating. So, discussions mut be very, specific. The golden age when scientoetrics was little is gone. Now the age has come when scientometrics must be big by being sponsored by policy makeers. However, scientometrics should consider the public around the policy makers and thus grow up to bigger scientometrics.Comments on the paper byW. Glänzel, U. Schoepflin,Scientometrics, 30, (1994) 375.     

Exploring knowledge patterns of library and information science journals within the field: a citation analysis from 2009 to 2016

Scientometrics - A substantial number of studies have examined the journal quality and ranked them using academic survey, scientometric indicator, or citation analysis. This study aims to...     

International contribution to library and information science in Poland: A bibliometric analysis

This article reports findings from the study of the international contribution to the system of library and information science communication in Poland in the years 2003–2005. The sample consists of articles published both in selected journals and collective works. Two important dimensions determining the internationalization of local scholarly communication are considered: direct contribution (foreign authors’ articles and papers and their translations published in Poland) and indirect contribution (citedness of foreign authors’ documents in articles and papers published in Poland). Bibliographic data about the geographical distribution and affiliation of foreign authors are gathered and analyzed. Furthermore, the findings of citation analysis are presented to determine the percentage share of citations received by foreign documents as well as to find out what is the structure of such citations regarding the language and form, which thematic areas are most replete with such citations and which foreign journals are most cited in Poland.     

Examining how country-level science policy shapes publication patterns: the case of Poland

Scientometrics - This country case study describes how science policy instruments are designed to shape publication patterns and identifies the changes in researchers’ productivity that can...     

Motivations for URL citations to open access library and information science articles

Summary We define the URL citations of a Web page to be the mentions of its URL in the text of other Web pages, whether hyperlinked or not. The proportions of formal and informal scholarly motivations for creating URL citations to Library and Information Science open access journal articles were identified. Five characteristics for each source of URL citations equivalent to formal citations were manually extracted and the relationship between Web and conventional citation counts at the e-journal level was examined. Results of Google searches showed that 282 research articles published in the year 2000 in 15 peer-reviewed LIS open access journals were invoked by 3,045 URL citations. Of these URL citations, 43% were created for formal scholarly reasons equivalent to traditional citations and 18% for informal scholarly reasons. Of the sources of URL citations, 82% were in English, 88% were full text papers and 58% were non-HTML documents. Of the URL citations, 60% were text URLs only and 40% were hyperlinked. About 50% of URL citations were created within one year after the publication of the cited e-article. A slight correlation was found between average numbers of URL citations and average numbers of ISI citations for the journals in 2000. Separating out the citing HTML and non-HTML documents showed that formal scholarly communication trends on the Web were mainly influenced by text URL citations from non-HTML documents.     

Research fronts in library and information science in Spain (1985–1994)

Publications and author cocitations in library and information science in Spain during the period from 1985 to 1994 were analyzed as a measure of the structure, specificity and composition of research fronts in this country. A cocitation matrix developed from an ad hoc database was subjected to cluster analysis, multidimensional scaling and principal components analysis. The resulting cocitation maps identified specific areas of research and their knowledge bases. We inferred the degree of consolidation of the discipline of library and information science, and of the subdisciplines informetrics, librarianship and university affiliation, from the research activities revealed. In this respect, the conclusions from the study show the existence of several research fronts in Spanish literature the contents of which are in most cases difficult to compare with those in other countries. A lesser degree of maturity of research in this field is shown.     

Blockmodeling of co-authorship networks in library and information science in Argentina: a case study

The paper introduces the use of blockmodeling in the micro-level study of the internal structure of co-authorship networks over time. Variations in scientific productivity and researcher or research group visibility were determined by observing authors?? role in the core-periphery structure and crossing this information with bibliometric data. Three techniques were applied to represent the structure of collaborative science: (1) the blockmodeling; (2) the Kamada-Kawai algorithm based on the similarities in co-authorships present in the documents analysed; (3) bibliometrics to determine output volume, impact and degree of collaboration from the bibliographic data drawn from publications. The goal was to determine the extent to which the use of these two complementary approaches, in conjunction with bibliometric data, provides greater insight into the structure and characteristics of a given field of scientific endeavour. The paper describes certain features of Pajek software and how it can be used to study research group composition, structure and dynamics. The approach combines bibliometric and social network analysis to explore scientific collaboration networks and monitor individual and group careers from new perspectives. Its application on a small-scale case study is intended as an example and can be used in other disciplines. It may be very useful for the appraisal of scientific developments.     

Research status and characteristics of library and information science in Taiwan: a bibliometric analysis

This study determines how library and information science (LIS) research in Taiwan has changed between 2001 and 2010. The major research questions address the research status of LIS in Taiwan, how the Taiwanese government supports the field, and the collaborative authorship of LIS journal articles in Taiwan. Bibliometric and content analysis methods were conducted to analyze 2,494 journal articles, 983 theses, and 191 research projects between 2001 and 2010. The results show LIS and Technology to be the most popular topics in journal articles. The most well-received thesis topics are LIS and Technology and User Services, accounting for more than 50?% of graduate theses. The same is true for research projects, with the subjects of LIS and Technology, LIS Theory and Foundation, and User Services having a ratio of more than 70?%. In government-sponsored research projects, the average amount of funding obtained had no significant differences or tendencies for various subjects over time. In authorship of journal articles, individual researchers conducted 66.11?% of articles in key LIS scholarly journals in Taiwan between 2001 and 2010.     

Collaboration network patterns and research performance: the case of Korean public research institutions

This study examines the impact of collaborating patterns on the R&;D performance of public research institutions (PRIs) in Korea’s science and engineering fields. For the construction of R&;D collaborating networks based on the co-authorship data of 127 institutions in Scopus, this paper proposes four types of collaborations by categorizing network analyses into two dimensions: structural positions (density, efficiency, and betweeness centrality) and the relational characteristics of individual nodes (eigenvector and closeness centralities). To explore the research performance by collaboration type, we employ a data envelopment analysis window analysis of a panel of 23 PRIs over a 10-year period. Comparing the R&;D productivities of each group, we find that the PRIs of higher productivity adhere to a cohesive networking strategy, retaining intensive relations with their existing partners. The empirical results suggest that excessively cohesive alliances might end up in ‘lock-in’ relations, hindering the exploitation of new opportunities for innovation. These findings are implicit in relation to the Korean Government’s R&;D policies on collaborating strategies to produce sustained research results with the advent of the convergence research era.     

Altmetrics analysis of highly cited academic papers in the field of library and information science

Scientometrics - In this study, altmetrics for LIS research papers, and whether OA affects the altmetrics, were analyzed. In addition, by analyzing the differences in the altmetrics in 10 major...     

Knowledge network hubs and measures of research impact, science structure, and publication output in nanostructured solar cell research

This study on co-authorship networks in the area of nanostructured solar cells aims to contribute to a further understanding of the use of research evaluation measures of science output, impact and structure in an emerging research field. The study incorporates quantitative bibliometric methods of analysis and social network analysis in combination with a qualitative case study research approach. Conclusions drawn from the results emphasise, firstly, the importance of distinguishing between early and later phases of the evolution of a novel research field, and secondly, the application of a systemic view on learning processes and knowledge diffusion in a science-based technology field.     

Citation patterns of Korean physicists and mechanical engineers: Differences by type of publication source and type of authorship

By comparing the citation patterns of Korean researchers in physics and mechanical engineering, this study identifies the extent to which type of publication source (Korean non-SCI, Korean SCI, and international SCI) and type of authorship (purely Korean authors, Korean-foreign co-authors, and foreign-Korean co-authors) influence the choice of sources cited by Korean scientists. Koreans publishing physics or mechanical engineering papers in international SCI journals are more likely to cite articles published in journals of the science mainstream countries (the U.S., the U.K., the Netherlands, and Germany) than articles published in national journals, while Koreans publishing in Korean journals tend to cite articles published in national journals. In terms of authorship, articles published in mainstream journals are more highly cited by internationally co-authored papers than Korean-authored papers in both disciplines. This revised version was published online in June 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.