The development of China's scholarly publications in library and information science, 1979‐2009

Abstract

PurposeNo scholarly publications have systematically studied the evolution and growth of China's scientific papers of library and information science published in the English language and covered by ISI during the reform era starting in 1979. It is intended that this paper should fill this gap.Design/methodology/approachThis study surveys ISI library and information science papers authored by researchers of China during 1979‐2009 and quantitatively presents the development of scholarly publications authored by researchers from China. A total of 30 years of data of ISI literature are collected and analyzed, and the paper conducts an international comparison of research productivity among leading Asian countries.FindingsThe paper establishes the patterns and trends of papers authored by Chinese authors, particularly the top subject areas and top journals in which Chinese papers are highly represented. Besides, the paper makes an international comparison between China and other major Asian countries such as India, Japan, and Korea in terms of library and information science research outputs represented in ISI literature. China has become the leader in terms of research productivity of library and information science.Research limitations/implicationsThis study focuses on English‐language journal articles only. Only journals meeting ISI inclusion criteria are reviewed and analyzed. The possible accidentally inaccurate entries in the original ISI data have not been checked for accuracy and consistency for each journal article record.Originality/valueThe paper provided an example of using the powerful ISI databases of citation indexes, particularly ISI SCCI, in a cautious and critical way. It empirically presents the overall upward development of China's scholarship of library and information science. Either the Greater China area as a whole or Mainland China alone has become the leader in the scholarly publications in library and information ahead of India, Korea and Japan.