LIS Journals Research Articles

Non Alphanumeric Characters in the Title of Research Papers in Two Indian LIS journals

Non Alphanumeric Characters in the Title of Research Papers in Two Indian LIS journals

A decadal study on identifying latent topics and research trends in open access LIS journals using topic modeling approach

A decadal study on identifying latent topics and research trends in open access LIS journals using topic modeling approach

Analysing Library and Information Science Articles Using Topic Modeling Approaches

Identifying trends in research through co-citation or content analysis of journal contents is quite a common practice in LIS research. In this study, however, we proposed the Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA), a popular topic-modeling approach for identifying research trends of published articles in three Scopus-indexed Indian LIS journals. A total of 1213 titles & their abstracts published between 2011 and 2022 have been considered. From these data, a corpus of frequently used 15 key phrases was identified from each journal using Count Vectorizer and then ten topics having higher coherence scores were extracted from each journal corpus using LDA techniques to understand to what extent these topics are different in these journals. The analysis of the study indicates that ‘Library users’ studies’ especially in academic libraries; and ‘bibliometric indicators for measuring research growth are a few common topics in these journals and, technological innovation; utilisation of electronic and print information resources; library management; or network analysis are some of the topics that are journal specific. From the t-SNE visualisation and pyLDAvis diagram, it was seen that the topics of DJLIT are significantly unique with discrete distributions than the other two journals. On analysing the growth of the top ten topics longitudinally, it was seen that research on digital libraries, analysing the global output, online search strategy, ranking universities, etc. are concurrent interests of research among researchers while academic library resources, including electronic resources and its use, open access are among diminishing research interests of authors. Since the topic-modeling approach can provide results devoid of bias, it can be used to identify research land scape longitudinally as well as obsolescence of topic in a domain.

Between Choice and Compulsion: The Dynamics of Bibliographic Reference Styles Preferred by Library and Information Science Professionals

The substantial surge in the publication of journal articles across diverse academic disciplines on open and online platforms globally has given rise to the challenge of effectively managing bibliographic references. Accordingly, the study will focus on reference styles in library and information science, particularly concerning their awareness, availability of online citation tools, standardization, and comprehensive overview of all commonly preferred styles among LIS professionals. The study explored the reference styles adopted by publishers publishing LIS journals indexed in prominent global databases such as SCOPUS, Web of Science, LISA (Proquest), LISTA, and UGC-CARE (India). The top ten LIS journals indexed in SCOPUS and their reference styles were identified. The preferences of reference styles including Indian Bibliographic Standard, preferred publishers, and the rationale behind their choices were found through a global survey conducted among LIS professionals. The result shows, among LIS professionals, APA style, followed by MLA style and Harvard style, were the most preferred reference styles. Elsevier, followed by Springer, Taylor & Francis, Emerald, and other were among the most preferred publishers. The Indian Bibliographic Standard is used less due to a lack of awareness and adaptability by journals and their publishers and the non-availability of automatic citation tools. This paper provides information to LIS professionals about reference styles used by leading LIS journals indexed in global databases published by different publishers to inform, promote, make early decisions, and enhance knowledge in preparing references or bibliographies for writing research papers or theses ahead of time.

Predatory Publishing in Indian LIS Research: A Case Study

The study examines the possible predatory journals in Library and Information Science research in India, including the affiliation status of the authors publishing in those predatory journals, frequency of returning authors, and country-wise distribution of authors. The paper used Beall’s list to find out the predatory journals in LIS published from India. Publication trends, affiliations of authors, and the status of the 22 LIS journals under the study were critically analyzed. The result shows that the predatory journals were diminishing slowly; in 2016, there were eight active journals, while in 2021, it was reduced to four journals. Similarly, the publication trends show that the highest number of articles (398) was published in the year 2015, and it was only 66 articles in 2020. It is revealed that academics hailing from state universities (42.88%) are the highest contributors to the predatory journals, followed by professionals from government colleges (16.76%). The results indicate that predatory publishing was rampant in the early years but declined gradually. Researchers from India have published the most articles, totaling 1760 (93%), followed by those from Nigeria (64, 3.3%), Bangladesh (10), and Saudi Arabia (eight articles). It is also revealed that 21.66% (n = 438) are returning authors who have published more than one article in the sample journals. The paper discusses the role of the government and especially the University Grants Commission (UGC) in curbing the menace of predatory publishing. The authors also discuss the possible role of library professionals in stopping the plague of predatory publishing.

A Comparative Study Between Two Leading Indian LIS Journals Through Bibliometric Analysis for the Period 2012 to 2020

A Comparative Study Between Two Leading Indian LIS Journals Through Bibliometric Analysis for the Period 2012 to 2020

Peer review ethics in Iranian LIS scholarly journals: a comparison between views of reviewers and authors

Peer review is one of the most efficient ways to ensure the quality of papers for possible publication in scholarly journals. However, the process of peer review is not free of bias and disorders. Many reviewers are unaware of how their attitudes towards the evaluation of scholarly papers may violate Peer Review Ethics (PRE). This paper attempts to analyze the different ethical issues influencing the job of reviewing. The research sample for this study included 7 Iranian library and information journals, 124 Iranian peer reviewers, and 34 authors. Peer reviewers and authors were asked to evaluate the most important ethical elements of peer review in Iranian LIS journals through two different questionnaires based on Rajabali Beglou et al. (2019) research. Findings showed that there was no difference among authors and reviewers in terms of gender in most PRE elements. Also, the level of experience of the authors was not significant in terms of understanding and acceptance of the PRE among reviewers and authors. However, review experiences regarding some PRE elements were significant in respondents’ viewpoints. The experiences reviewers had already gained were influential on their views about PRE. In addition, results showed that there were significant differences among reviewers and authors about the PRE elements in LIS journals. Authorship experiences had not effect on the PRE elements and the dual role of peer reviewing and authorship had no impact on their views.

EVALUATING THE IMPACT OF EMERALD LIBRARY SCIENCE JOURNALS ON THE SCIENTIFIC LITERATURE

The objective of this research is to identify which Emerald Library Science journals and articles in the field of library and information science have received high altmetric attention scores and citation scores. The study examines all LIS journals indexed by the Dimensions database as of 2022.The findings of this study reveal that the Journal of Documentation is the top-ranked journal, with 24 articles that have the highest dimensions score of 3485, AAS score of 1159, Mendeley score of 3227, and an impact factor of 1.96 over the past five years. Notably, this study found that Mendeley (12150) and Twitter (2313) were the most frequently used altmetric sources. It is also worth mentioning that the highest altmetric attention scores were observed in document journals, with an altmetric score of 1159 indicating the level of attention these articles received. Researcher Subject Categories majority was the members of the public at 1727(17.26%). And highest geographical data access from the United States had the highest number of accesses with 315 (3.15%).

Wykorzystanie danych z serwisów społecznościowych LibraryThing, Goodreads i Anobii w badaniach naukowych w latach 2006-2019

Teza – Narzędzia teleinformatyczne umożliwiły powstanie takich charakterystycznych miejsc współdzielenia doświadczeń lekturowych w sieci, jakimi są serwisy społecznościowe dla czytelników. Witryny tego typu służą integracji i wymianie informacji o książkach, ale stają się również ważnym źródłem danych o współczesnych praktykach i zachowaniach czytelniczych. Cel – Celem przeprowadzonego badania było określenie stopnia zainteresowania serwisami społecznościowymi dla czytelników w środowiskach naukowych oraz wskazanie, jakie ich elementy są najczęściej wykorzystywane jako materiał źródłowy. Metody badawcze – Na potrzeby badania została opracowana bazazawierająca artykuły z Web of Science oraz Scopus (opublikowane w latach 2007-2019), w których występowały serwisy: LibraryThing, Goodreads i Anobii. Zgromadzone danezostały przebadane w wykorzystaniem elementów analizy bibliometrycznej. Wyniki/wnioski – Wyniki badania wykazały wzrost liczby opracowań, których autorzy podejmowali problematykę portali czytelniczych lub korzystali z ich zasobów do badań. Najwięcej tego typu prac ukazało się w czasopismach z zakresu informatyki oraz informacji naukowej i bibliotekoznawstwa. W odniesieniu do tematyki poszczególnych artykułów dostrzeżono zmniejszające się zainteresowanie problematyką folksonomii i dynamicznie rosnącą liczbę opracowań dotyczących systemów rekomendacji. Materiałem źródłowym wykorzystywanym w badaniach często były tagi i recenzje, ale brano również pod uwagę inne elementy serwisów (dane o użytkownikach i ich wypowiedzi, półki z książkami, oceny tytułów itp.). Do ekstrakcji danych ogólnie częściej był wykorzystywany serwis LibraryThing, chociaż Goodreads miał trzy razy więcej wskazań w artykułach z ostatniego przeanalizowanego roku.

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.

An analysis of research methods utilized in five top, practitioner-oriented LIS journals from 1980 to 2019

PurposeThis study examines research methods utilized in five practitioner-oriented research journals – College and Research Libraries, Information Technology and Libraries, Journal of the Medical Library Association, Library Resources and Technical Services and Reference and User Services Quarterly. The study fills gaps identified in existing content analyses of methods in practitioner-based LIS research publications.Design/methodology/approachBased on analysis standards and coding schemes supplied by the studies of Kalervo Jarvelin and Pertti Vakkari, as well as Heting Chu, this study identifies the primary research method utilized in 6,387 articles published in these five journals from 1980 to 2019. Trends in the frequencies with which various research methods were used are identified and presented using a series of visualizations.FindingsSignificant shifts have occurred in the research methods used by articles in these practitioner-based journals over the past four decades. Notably, the proportion of case studies has dropped substantially, particularly among College and Research Libraries and Journal of the Medical Library Association articles. Diversity of research methods utilized in articles has increased over time, with College and Research Libraries, in particular, having a significant proportion of articles in recent years that employ data analytic or qualitative approaches.Originality/valueWhile similar approaches have been used to examine research methods among other LIS journals, this study is the first to focus primarily on practitioner-based journals and document continuous change (as opposed to sampling a few years) over an extended, 40-year period.

Citation Study of Selected Indian LIS Journals using Google Scholar

As reflected in Google Scholar, the citations obtained by the articles published during 2015-2019 in the three leading Indian LIS journals entitled SRELS, DESIDOC Journal of Library & Information Technology (DJLIT) and JILA have been analysed in the present study. The study mainly covers year-wise publication of articles and the citations received by these articles, calculation of immediacy index, h-index and impact factor, authorship pattern, collaboration trend, highly cited papers, most prolific authors and citation report. The finding of the study reveals that average number of articles published in DJLIT and ALIS are same and the articles published in DJLIT have received maximum number of citations followed by SRELS. It is also found that impact factor for DJLIT was almost 2 in 2019 whereas it was less than 1 for SRELS and JILA during the marked period.

Finding a good fit faster: Tips for writing query letters to LIS journals

For many librarians, the idea of publishing in a scholarly journal is intimidating, especially for those pursuing tenure or promotion. You may have an idea for an article or even several, but you’re not sure what journal would want them. When we hear such uncertainties from our colleagues, we ask, “Have you considered writing a query letter?” Almost always the answer is “no,” but after people try it, they seem to appreciate the benefits we’ve come to enjoy from this simple practice. In this article we offer practical advice based on our experiences with query letters, supplemented by findings from a survey of more than 50 LIS journal editors. We have extensive publishing and reviewing experience in LIS journals. We define a query letter as an informal email to the journal editor concerning the suitability of a manuscript for publication in a given journal.

Considering Registered Reports at C&RL

In January 2020, I presented at the Librarians Building Momentum for Reproducibility virtual conference. The theme of the presentation was preregistration and registered reports and their role in reproducibility of research results. The presentation was twofold in that it provided background information on these themes and then advocated for the adoption of a registered reports submission track in Library and Information Science journals. I asked attendees to notify me if they wanted to learn more and to join me in contacting LIS journals to advocate for this model. The first journal that we targeted was College & Research Libraries. We drafted a letter that was sent to editor Wendi Arant Kaspar who discussed the topic with the editorial board and ultimately asked me to write a guest editorial for C&RL.

Citation Analysis of PhD Theses in Library and Information Science: A Study of Panjab University, Chandigarh

The paper makes citation analysis of PhD theses submitted in the discipline of library and information science, Panjab University, Chandigarh during 1976-2017. The study is based on the 10961 citations from 63 PhD theses of library and information science. The study conducted to analyse various parameters like type of documents cited, authorship pattern, geographical scattering of citations, chronological distribution of citations, subject distribution of citations and a ranked list of LIS journals. The study finds that highest numbers of citations are single authored 72.92% and 55.10 % citations are from journal articles. The geographical analysis explores that 43.20 % citations are from India, followed by USA and so on.

Evaluating the correlation between different impact indicators for library and information science journals: Comparing the journal citation reports and scopus

AbstractLibrary and information science (LIS) scholars are increasingly aware of the ranking of LIS journals in the Journal Citation Reports (JCR) and Scopus when deciding where to publish, especially scholars who belong to universities that rely on these rankings when making hiring or promotion decisions. However, it is not known which index presents the most appropriate indicator for the LIS discipline and whether Scopus ranking is a possible alternative to the impact factor (IF). This study analysed the 2018 indicators for 58 LIS journals that are included in both Clarivate Analytics' JCR and Elsevier's Scopus databases. The bivariate correlations were calculated using the Spearman correlation coefficient. Then, to examine the interchangeability among the selected indicators, each pair of correlations was compared using Fisher's R to Z transformation formula. The results showed that all bivariate correlations are positive and strong. The highest correlations are between the Total Cites and Eigenfactor Score (ES) (Rs = 0.962, R2 = 0.925) and between the IF and CiteScore (Rs = 0.952, R2 = 0.906). There were 71 combinations with P‐value >0.05, showing that there is no significant difference between the bivariate correlation, indicating interchangeability between those pairs. The best indicator which can be used interchangeably with the IF is the CiteScore. It is evident that, to measure the scientific quality of LIS journals, all stakeholders should take into consideration the correlations among the various indicators. Furthermore, they can rely on the CiteScore as an adequate alternative to the IF.

The evolution of LIS research topics and methods from 2006 to 2018: A content analysis

AbstractReplicating a series of studies of LIS research trends performed by Järvelin and colleagues, this content analysis systematically examines the evolution and distribution of LIS research topics and methods at six‐year increments from 2006 to 2018. Bibliographic data was collected for 3,422 articles published in LIS journals for the years of 2006, 2012, and 2018. Using a conceptual research strategy, the researchers identified the central research topics and research method for each article. The findings indicate a shift towards greater emphasis on Scholarly Communications/Informetrics and Information Seeking/Behavior topics, along with a reduction in Information Systems and Library and Information Service topics. Quantitative‐based approaches are predominant across the 3 years examined, with observed growth in the usage of questionnaires and informetric methods from 2006 to 2018. These findings indicate that LIS is a dynamic discipline, with quickly shifting interests/usage of research topics and methods.

A cluster analysis of data mining studies in library and information science from 2006 to 2018

AbstractAnalyzing content from articles published in major LIS journals during the years 2006, 2012, and 2018, this study examines the use of data mining strategies in LIS research. A total of 301 articles were identified that utilized data mining strategies across the 3 years studied, with the JASIST having the most such articles with 42, with Information Processing and Management following close behind with 32. A cluster analysis performed based on word frequency in these articles abstracts identified three unique clusters associated with the topics of Publications/Citations, Consumer Behavior, and Information/Media Use. A cluster analysis of the proportion of articles indicates a shift away from Publications/Citations towards more Consumer Behavior‐based data mining studies.

Information Science and Library Science (IS-LS) journal subject categorisation and comparison based on editorship information

Abstract Journal subject categorisation is not only a significant foundation for evaluating journal impact and ranking journals but also has become an increasingly important research focus in academia. As the gatekeepers of scholarly journals, editors play a critical role in directing their journal’s subject orientation. In this study, the category of Information Science and Library Science (IS-LS) is reclassified according to editorship information covering research interests, research experience, professional identity, and affiliated departments. Unlike earlier studies using interlocking editorship data, this study utilises the subject-related information of 232 editors to classify 77 IS-LS journals into five categories: Management Information Systems (MIS, 22 journals), Information Science (IS, 14 journals), Library Science (LS, 28 journals), Scientometrics (SM, 3 journals), and “Others” (10 journals). The study concludes that there are descriptive differences in editorship characteristics for the subfields’ journals, such as a size advantage in the editorial team of the majority of MIS journals compared to LIS journals (our LIS category consists of IS, LS, and SM journals). Our technique of journal subject categorisation is novel, making our research meaningful and helpful for editorial team governance of journals, including, in selecting editors with a variety of research focus backgrounds.

Assessment of Highly Cited Articles: A Study of Emerald Journals

The main aim of the study was to assess the contents of the highly cited articles of select Emerald LIS journals and to find the reasons behind the high rate of citations and hence their quality. There are a total of 36 journals in the field of Library and Information Science in Emerald Insight database out of which 21 journals are indexed in web of science. The study examines only 8 journals based on the subscription and availability of the archives in the campus so that there is a uniformity in the years assessed. Besides, the present study analyzed only the 30 highly cited articles (of the eight selected journals) using web of science database and assessed the reasons and quality of these highly cited articles on different parameters based on the content analysis of the full texts of the articles. It was revealed that the ‘Library Hi Tech’ journal has the highest number of cited articles and all the selected journals have highest number of cited articles in the year 2015 except the journal ‘Performance Measurement and Metric’. It was also evident that number of highly cited papers are contributed by USA and more importantly produced by single authors. Most of the cited articles are published with social media as subject area and adopted survey method to conduct the study. Further analysis of the results shows that maximum number of the cited papers is without literature review, hypotheses and research questions. They have cited references ranging from 21–30 and have mentioned their findings, discussion and conclusion separately.