Information ecology research: past, present, and future

Abstract

This paper examines the status of information ecology research through studying the published papers on the topic of information ecology included in Social Sciences Citation Index and Science Citation Index database from 1992 to 2013. It applies bibliometrics and knowledge mapping to analyze the changes in the number of published papers as time goes on, in terms of country and geographic area, research topics, research methods, funding sources, hot research spots, and research trends. In addition, this paper summarizes the origin and the evolution of information ecology research and introduces institutions that conduct information ecology research. The results indicate that information ecology is an emerging field with vigorous development in recent years, and information ecology research is a multi-disciplinary subject. The research also reveals that information ecology research mainly focuses on information ecosystems, information ecology in e-commerce, and information ecology in a network. This paper calls for wider and deeper research on information ecology, in order to explore information ecology issues caused by the rapid development of new technologies.