Information Science Journals Research Articles

Predicting access mode of multidisciplinary and library and information sciences journals using machine learning

Academics and librarians might want to identify whether a journal is open access (OA) or subscription-based. While indexes and digital libraries might provide such information for known collections, it is possible that the access mode of a journal or body of journals might be unknown a priori. In this short analysis, a machine learning-based method is used to classify a journal’s access mode, OA or subscription, using its CiteScore and Journal Impact Factor (JIF). Using an initial pool of 91 multidisciplinary journals with a CiteScore, 38 journals with both a JIF and a CiteScore were selected (24 = OA; 14 = subscription). Using a data mining tool (Orange), ten machine learning models were applied (k nearest neighbor (kNN), Tree, support vector machine (SVM), Random forest, Neural network, Naïve Bayes, Logistic regression, Adaptive boosting (Adaboost)), Gradient Boosting (Scikit-learn) (GBS) and Gradient Boosting (catboost) (GBC). Adaboost, GBS and GBC showed the highest (100%) precision, sensitivity, and specificity. The 3 models correctly classify the access mode with zero error. The 3 optimum models were validated using then to predict the access mode of 54 (7 = OA; 47 = subscription) library and information science (LIS) journals and Adaboost and GBS gave perfect results with no misclassification. With these model, the access mode of multidisciplinary and LIS journals can be accurately and correctly predicted using only JIF-CiteScore data. Libraries in low-resource settings will benefit from the implementation of this research by designing a decision support system for the selection of journals.

Política de Comunicação no âmbito Bibliométrico: cultivo de impasses, potencialidades e desafios

The Communication Policy is considered an essential element in business and strategies. In this way, placing a bibliographic review as the scientific literature on communication is internalized in the scope of Information Science. Bibliometric indicators for a theme Communication Policy are presented in front of a Reference Database of Articles from Journals in Information Science (Brapci). The study situates an exploratory qualitative-quantitative research and uses precepts and bibliometrics to assess the productivity of a memory in science. The diagnosis found 152 indexed articles, of which 18 fit the parameters established in the sample. The study proves the main researchers, periods of productivity and publication vehicles on the subject. In the conclusion, it is mentioned that the Communication Policy is an indispensable construct of Information Science, since, through interdisciplinarity, an expansion of conceptions that go beyond organizational practices increasingly improve the critical look at informational mediation in the university-society-innovation context.

The role and significance of peer-review in Russian and foreign library and information science journals: a comparative analysis

The paper summarizes experience of the authors as peer-reviewers of more than 100 manuscripts in twelve Russian and foreign academic journals on Library and Information Science in the last seven years. Prepared peer-reviews were used for making a list of the most usual critical and special comments for each manuscript that were subsequently structured for the conducted analyzes. Typical issues accompanying the peer-review process are shown. Significant differences between the results of peer-review in Russian and foreign journals are detected: although the initial quality of newly submitted manuscripts is approximately equal, the final published versions in foreign journals addressed all critical and the majority of minor reviewers’ comments, while in Russian journals more than one third of final versions were published with critical gaps. We conclude about low interest in high quality peer reviews among both authors and editors-in-chief in Russian journals. Despite the limitations of the samples, the obtained findings can be useful when evaluating the current peer-review system in Russian academic journals on Library and Information Science.

Międzynarodowe czasopisma z zakresu Library & Information Science w polskim wykazie czasopism naukowych

Teza/cel: Celem artykułu jest diagnoza powodów, dla których na ministerialnej liście (2019) najważniejsze międzynarodowe pisma z zakresu Library & Information Science (LIS) zajęły relatywnie niskie pozycje, a następnie prezentacja ich wykazu uzyskanego wg autorskiej metody. Metody badań: Do wyłonienia czasopism wykorzystano metody bibliometryczne (analizę cytowań, analizę wskaźników oraz badanie korelacji). Wyniki: W pierwszej części artykułu przestawiono genezę ministerialnej listy; omówiono technikę jej tworzenia oraz ustalono jaki wpływ na listę miało mapowanie pomiędzy LIS a indeksami cytowań oraz czasopisma należące do wielu dyscyplin. W drugiej części zaprezentowano nową metodę tworzenia wykazu (bazując na założeniu, że o przynależności do dyscypliny decyduje uzus) oraz wyniki badań. Materiał badawczy liczył 77 czasopism wybranych z Web o Science i Scopus. W wyniku obliczeń zbiór ten podzielono na trzy grupy: a) pisma podstawowe dla LIS (26 tytułów); b) pisma z dyscyplin towarzyszących formalnie należące do LIS (26); c) pisma multidyscyplinarne formalnie należące do LIS (25). Wnioski: Badania ujawniły, że jedynie 33,8% czasopism przypisanych do LIS jest realnie cytowanych przez uczonych publikujących w periodykach z zakresu LIS. Pozostałe tytuły są użytkowne przez badaczy z innych dyscyplin (33,8%) albo mają charakter multidyscyplinarny (32,4%). Wśród 26 najważniejszych czasopism LIS wydzielono 3 typy periodyków: czasopisma ogólne (9 tytułów), periodyki poświęcone informacji naukowej (9) i pisma sprofilowane (8). Porównawcza analiza metryk przekonuje, że pisma należące do rdzenia dyscypliny (podstawowe dla LIS) osiągają niższe wskaźniki bibliometryczne niż pozostałe pisma formalnie przypisane do LIS. Całość wyzyskanych wniosków świadczy, że tematyczne listy czasopism publikowanych przez indeksy cytowań są niekoherentne i nie powinny być wprost stosowane do ewaluacji dyscyplin naukowych.

Women authorship in library and information science journals from 1981 to 2020: Is equitable representation being attained?

This study examines the proportion of women as first authors in major library and information science (LIS) journals over the years 1981–2020. Author name and year data were collected for 10 LIS journals – five that are associated more with library topics and five with information science topics – and analysed using the genderize.io tool. Both general trends over time and comparisons of information science versus library science journals are presented. The findings indicate significant growth in the proportion of women authors among the LIS journals, but primarily concentrated only among the library science journals, with information science journals falling well behind. Representation of women authors (~60%) still lags well below the overall representation of women in librarianship (~80%). These findings suggest that there is still considerable growth needed to decrease the gender gap among authorship in top LIS journals.

Publisher Transparency among Communications and Library and Information Science Journals: Analysis and Recommendations

The principal goal of the research study is to analyze the transparency of a selection of academic journals based on an analysis model with 20 indicators grouped into 6 parameters. Given the evident interest in and commitment to transparency among quality academic journals and researchers’ difficulties in choosing journals that meet a set of criteria, we present indicators that may help researchers choose journals while also helping journals to consider what information from the editorial process to publish, or not, on their websites to attract authors in the highly competitive environment of today’s scholarly communication. To test the validity of the indicators, we analyze a small sample: the Spanish Communications and Library and Information Science journals listed in the Scimago Journal Rank. The results confirm that our analysis model is valid and can be extrapolated to other disciplines and journals.

Quality Attributes of Open Access Journal: A Case Study of Selected Open Access LIS Journals from India

ABSTRACT The paper aims to analyze the quality characteristics of Open Access Journals (OAJs) in Library and Information Science (LIS) published in India. The study assesses three OA journals, namely. International Journal of Information Dissemination and Technology (IJIDT), International Journal of Library and Information Studies (IJLIS), and International Research: Journal of Library and Information Science (IRJLIS). The analysis is performed in two parts. The first part is qualitative. The researchers measured parameters like basic information pertaining to the selected journals, publication trends, composition of the editorial board, and quality measures such as peer review and indexing. The second part of the analysis deals with citing journal sources, where the researchers evaluates the quality of citations received by the selected journals. The finding of the study reveals that all three OAJs established themselves as preferred sources to publish LIS research articles. The analysis of citing sources reveals that 73% of the citing journals are OAJs only. The results also show that only 50% of journals are from the core LIS subject, and the majority of the citing journals are from India. The study also revealed that there are many citing OA journals in the domain of LIS, which is not indexed in leading indexing and abstracting databases.

Rotten web citations cited in scholarly journals: use of time travel for retrieval

PurposeThe present study compares the use of web citations as references in leading scholarly journals in Library and Information Science (LIS) and Communication and Media Studies (CMS). A total of 20 journals (each 10 from LIS and CMS) were selected based on the publishing history and reputation published between 2008 and 2017.Design/methodology/approachThe present study compares the use of web citations as references in leading scholarly journals in LIS and CMS. A PHP script was used to crawl the Uniform Resource Locators (URLs) collected from the reference list. A total of 12,251 articles were downloaded and 555,428 references were extracted. Of the 555,428 references, 102,718 web citations were checked for their accessibility.FindingsThe research findings indicated that 76.90% URLs from LIS journals and 84.32% URLs from Communication and Media Studies journals were accessible and others were rotten. The majority of errors were due to HTTP 404 error code (not found) in both the disciplines. The study also tried to retrieve the rotten URLs through Time Travel, which revived 61.76% rotten URLs in LIS journal articles and 65.46% in CMS journal articles.Originality/valueThis is an in-depth and comprehensive comparative study on the availability of web citations in LIS and CMS journals articles spanning a period of 10 years. The findings of the study will be helpful to authors, publishers, and editorial staff to ensure that web citations will be accessible in the future.

An investigation of emerging COVID-19 research trends and future implications for LIS field: A bibliometric mapping and visualization.

The COVID-19 epidemic has proved a nightmare for human beings living all across the globe. It has severely affected all segments of human life. Consequently, enormous research has been conducted to assess and counter this global pandemic. This study reports finding of a bibliometric analysis on COVID-19 related literature published in the Library and Information Science journals, to identify current research trends and to suggest future directions for further research. It reveals a substantial increase in LIS publications on COVID-19 in the year 2020. The findings of the study are presented in two sections: first, the research productivity analysis provides an overview of the prominent authors, sources, institutions, and countries that published about COVID-19 in the LIS field. The second section offers a co-word thematic analysis of the significant emerging themes that provide an insight into current challenges faced by libraries and suggest future trends for research and practice in post-COVID era. The study exposes 5 major research themes and 11 sub-themes.

A contextualization of editorial misconduct in the library and information science academic information ecosystem

AbstractIn the last decade, one of the most effective tools applied in combating the erosion of public trust in academic research has been an increased level of transparency in the peer review and editorial process. Publicly available publication ethics guidelines and policies are vital in creating a transparent process that prevents unethical research, publication misconduct, manipulation of the communication of research to practitioners, and the erosion of public trust. This study investigated how these unethical practices, specifically those coded as editorial misconduct, bring the authenticity and integrity of the library and information science academic research digital record into question. Employing a multi‐layered approach, including key informant interviews, researchers determined the frequency and the content of ethical publishing policies and procedures in library and information science journals; exploring the ways the lack of, or nonadherence to these policies and procedures impacted library and information science researchers in instances of editorial misconduct.

Black articles matter: exploring relative deprivation and implicit bias in library and information science research publications of Africa and other continents

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore relative deprivation and implicit bias in library and information science research publications of Africa and other continents.Design/methodology/approachResearch design used for this study is descriptive survey research. Specifically, the study will adopt both web content analysis and survey to collect data. The content analysis covers the whole continents of the world: Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe, Latin America, Middle East, Northern America, Pacific Region and Western Europe; using the Webometrics World Ranking of Universities and the SCImago/Scopus Journal Ranking. Library and information science was used as the search and control parameter. The scopes covered by the research are: 1. Ascertaining the visible publishing and assessment standards of top library and information science (LIS) journals, which was evaluated using Kleinert and Wager (2010)'s study.FindingsIt was found out among others that editors making fair and unbiased decisions as policy is seen in 33% of the journals, which is very poor. All the structural disparities, such as presence ranking, impact ranking, excellence ranking, etc. were favouring Europe and the Americas mainly. As much as rejection is getting to these respondents, research generally is also suffering by missing out on some untapped knowledge and ideas from these deprived populations. Many authors are losing faith in their capabilities and are now afraid of venturing into tedious research exercises because it will most likely be rejected either ways.Research limitations/implicationsIt is an established fact that social media gains research impact and attracts international collaborations. In support, studies such as Hassan et al. (2019) reported the fact that tweet mentions of articles with positive sentiment to more visibility and citations. They claim that cited articles in either positive or neutral tweets have a more significant impact than those not cited at all or cited in negative tweets. In addition, Hassan et al. (2020) equally highlighted tweet coupling as a social media methodology useful for clustering scientific publications. Despite the fact that social media have these influences on research and publications visibility and presence, the context of the present research did cover this scope of study. The study focused mainly on sources from Scopus as well as results from responses. Further studies can be carried out on this area.Originality/valueResearch studies linking “Black Articles Matter” to relative deprivation and implicit bias in research publications, especially in library and information discipline, are very rare. Also, the scope of approach of the study is quite different and interesting.

The weighted impact factor: the paper evaluation index based on the citation ratio

PurposeThis study distinguishes the academic influence of different papers published in journals of the same subject or field based on the modification of the journal impact factor.Design/methodology/approachTaking SSCI journals in library and information science (LIS) as the research object, the authors first explore the skewness degree of the citation distribution of journal articles. Then, we define the paper citation ratio as the weight of impact factor to modify the journal impact factor for the evaluation of papers, namely the weighted impact factor. The authors further explore the feasibility of the weighted impact factor in evaluating papers.FindingsThe research results show that different types of skewness exist in the citation distribution of journal papers. Particularly, 94% of journal paper citations are highly skewed, while the rest are moderately skewed. The weighted impact factor has a closer correlation with the citation frequency of papers than the journal impact factor. It resolves the issue that the journal impact factor tends to exaggerate the influence of low-cited papers in journals with high impact factors or weaken the influence of high-cited papers in journals with low impact factors.Originality/valueThe weighted impact factor is constructed based on the skewness of the citation distribution of journal articles. It provides a new method to distinguish the academic influence of different papers published in journals of the same subject or field, then avoids the situation that papers published in the same journal having the same academic impact.

Intellectual structure of information science 2011–2020: an author co-citation analysis

PurposeThis study continues a long history of author co-citation analysis of the intellectual structure of information science into the time period of 2011–2020. It also examines changes in this structure from 2006–2010 through 2011–2015 to 2016–2020. Results will contribute to a better understanding of the information science research field.Design/methodology/approachThe well-established procedures and techniques for author co-citation analysis were followed. Full records of research articles in core information science journals published during 2011–2020 were retrieved and downloaded from the Web of Science database. About 150 most highly cited authors in each of the two five-year time periods were selected from this dataset to represent this field, and their co-citation counts were calculated. Each co-citation matrix was input into SPSS for factor analysis, and results were visualized in Pajek. Factors were interpreted as specialties and labeled upon an examination of articles written by authors who load primarily on each factor.FindingsThe two-camp structure of information science continued to be present clearly. Bibliometric indicators for research evaluation dominated the Knowledge Domain Analysis camp during both fivr-year time periods, whereas interactive information retrieval (IR) dominated the IR camp during 2011–2015 but shared dominance with information behavior during 2016–2020. Bridging between the two camps became increasingly weaker and was only provided by the scholarly communication specialty during 2016–2020. The IR systems specialty drifted further away from the IR camp. The information behavior specialty experienced a deep slump during 2011–2020 in its evolution process. Altmetrics grew to dominate the Webometrics specialty and brought it to a sharp increase during 2016–2020.Originality/valueAuthor co-citation analysis (ACA) is effective in revealing intellectual structures of research fields. Most related studies used term-based methods to identify individual research topics but did not examine the interrelationships between these topics or the overall structure of the field. The few studies that did discuss the overall structure paid little attention to the effect of changes to the source journals on the results. The present study does not have these problems and continues the long history of benchmark contributions to a better understanding of the information science field using ACA.

"A ARQUITETURA DA INFORMAÇÃO EM PLATAFORMAS COLABORATIVAS COMO SUPORTE PARA A GESTÃO DA INTELIGÊNCIA COLETIVA NAS ORGANIZAÇÕES"

This review was prepared from the article entitled “Information architecture in collaborative platforms as a support for the management of collective intelligence in organizations”, the result of the work of researchers Dr. Paulo Cesar Rodrigues Borges and Me. Roberto Mahmud Drummond Rhaddour. This article was published in the Journal of Librarianship and Information Science, Biblios magazine, University of Pittsburgh in 2018.

Research on Fake News An Empirical Analysis of Selected Library and Information Science Journals

The purpose of the work is to make a quantitative and qualitative assessment of published research on fake news in light of the Library and Information Science (LIS) perspective and show the research trends. Essential metadata elements were collected from the SCOPUS bibliographic database pertaining to fake news with specific reference to the LIS domain from 2017 to 2020 for the research work and analysed as per the research objectives. While the bibliometric indicators and R package has been used to study the various quantitative dimensions of publication patterns of the research papers, qualitative content analysis has been used to determine the emerging areas of research on fake news within the discipline. The quantitative analysis reveals that a good number of research works (N=133) have been published in as many as 52 academic journals of LIS that received 628 citations. “Proceedings of the Association for Information Science and Technology” is the most productive journal that published the highest numbers of articles on fake news, and the USA is the dominant country of publications. In the LIS field, “fake news” is an emerging study topic that is gaining momentum. The research works covered a wide range of topics, including social media and fake news, information literacy and fake news, the role of libraries and librarians in fake news, detecting and combating fake news, theories, models, and frameworks, as well as archiving, preservation of fake news.

A Correlation Comparative Analysis of Top Articles in Library and Information Science using Citation and Altmetric Attention Scores

A comparative analysis of the top articles published in library and information science journals has been carried out using correlation comparison between the traditional citations v/s modern score derived by the approach of altmetrics score. The common approach points for the study are: finding the most popular social media platform for Altmetric studies; the most popular LIS articles grabbed social media attention; and conducting the correlation comparison of citation and altmetric attention scores. Top 10 LIS journals with the highest Google scholar metrics in terms of h5-index were selected. After analysis, the top ten articles were selected on the basis of highly cited articles, altmetrics attention score, countrywise twitting. The first article has got the highest citations and AAS with 1528 and 1972 respectively and also got highest online attentions from Mendeley with 1930 readers and featured in 31 tweets. Paper-9 has got the highest of 196 tweets, followed by paper 3 & 7 with 99 and 59 tweets respectively. Overall the AAA score, outscored the citations for all articles considered for the study. USA tops the list in the tweeting these top articles with 73, with 51 UK secured second position in twitting scholarly literature. The results found that a significant difference with a negative correlation at r (9) =-.106, p=.770. The study suggests that Indian scholars need to use social media sites such as Blogs, Tweets, Facebook, Wiki, Mendeley and others to enable the scholarly literature to reach the wider audience efficiently and effectively.

Open Data Policies among Library and Information Science Journals

Journal publishers play an important role in the open research data ecosystem. Through open data policies that include public data archiving mandates and data availability statements, journal publishers help promote transparency in research and wider access to a growing scholarly record. The library and information science (LIS) discipline has a unique relationship with both open data initiatives and academic publishing and may be well-positioned to adopt rigorous open data policies. This study examines the information provided on public-facing websites of LIS journals in order to describe the extent, and nature, of open data guidance provided to prospective authors. Open access journals in the discipline have disproportionately adopted detailed, strict open data policies. Commercial publishers, which account for the largest share of publishing in the discipline, have largely adopted weaker policies. Rigorous policies, adopted by a minority of journals, describe the rationale, application, and expectations for open research data, while most journals that provide guidance on the matter use hesitant and vague language. Recommendations are provided for strengthening journal open data policies.

Preprints as an alternative to conference proceedings: A hands‐on experience at EDICIC Iberian Meeting 2019

AbstractThis article investigated a novel method of disseminating conference proceedings via preprint servers. The EDICIC 2019 conference encouraged presenters to upload their research onto preprint servers before the conference and did not produce a conference proceedings. The objective of this was to facilitate pre‐conference dissemination of the research and use the conference for debate. Authors could then submit their articles to a journal. A survey of participating authors shows that they had little familiarity with preprints prior to the conference. Nevertheless, nearly three‐quarters of authors deposited their preprints before the conference. Most respondents were in favour or pre‐conference deposit and believed it would allow conferences to run more smoothly. However there was concern that Library and Information Science journals will not accept submissions that have been issued as preprints. Authors also expressed concerns about the lack of recognition for their research if conference proceedings are not published. They highlighted the effort required to pass a double evaluation by conference organizers and then by journal editors, emphasized that the culture of preprints and open science is not consolidated in the discipline yet, and noted that the aim of increasing interaction and debate in the conference was not fully reached.

Radical Empathy in Archival Practice Poster and Postcards

This poster and accompanying postcards were created by Gracen Brilmyer for the Journal of Critical Library and Information Science (JCLIS) special issue on Radical Empathy in Archival Practice. The poster and postcards visualize and embody the four archival relationships proposed by Michelle Caswell and Marika Cifor in their 2016 Archivaria article, “From Human Rights to Feminist Ethics: Radical Empathy in Archives,” in addition to three new relationships proposed by others.
 You are encouraged to complete this poster by:
 
 Filling in each of the 7 illustrated relationships (dotted line box) on postcards
 Mailing postcards to someone who embodies this relationship
 Appending the postcards to the poster, or writing in the relationships
 
 Additionally, since poster printing can be cost prohibitive, we have also included a "Printer-Friendly" version of the poster, which can easily be printed on multiple 8.5" x 11" sheets of paper and assembled. 
 Pre-print first published online 05/21/2021

New Editorial Board Announced for Journal of Data and Information Science

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