Information Science Research Research Articles

Visualizing the Intellectual Structure of the Fuzzy Linguistic Knowledge Domain: A Bibliometric Analysis

Ever since the 1970s when the idea of fuzzy linguistic variable was introduced by L. Zadeh, it has been heatedly discussed and widely used in engineering, information science, and many other research fields. With the rapid development and use, thousands of papers have been published on fuzzy linguistic, detailing both theoretical development and application-oriented studies, being a very important area in the Computational Intelligence field. Considering this massive document material over the past decades, the main purpose of this study is to explore the knowledge structure and citation landscape in this field based on scientometrics and bibliometrics. The document data used in this study are obtained through a topic search from Web of Science, including 4350 original research and review articles. The intellectual structure of fuzzy linguistic knowledge domain is analyzed, such as countries and territories, research institutions, and authors. The bibliographic landscape is analyzed, identifying research themes and current research hotspots through document co-citation analysis and citation burst detection methods. The research results of this article remarkably benefit to our understanding of the fuzzy linguistic knowledge domain.

Practices for evaluating qualitative research in information science

AbstractThis work presents the research in progress for my doctorate in information science at Humboldt‐Universität zu Berlin. This research investigates practices for evaluating qualitative research in information science in the context of academic peer review for journals and conferences. The main goals are to identify how information science reviewers conceive of the quality of qualitative research, what practices they employ in evaluating qualitative research, what shapes these approaches, and what role standardization plays in this context.

This is NOT spam!: An analysis of predatory publication invitations in library and information science

AbstractPredatory journal publications pose a significant threat to the quality of scholarly publications across disciplines, including in library and information science. These publications have been known to disproportionately target researchers in developing countries and for whom English is not their primary language. There is a lack of knowledge about how predatory journals solicit library and information science researchers. This research serves as a partial replication of Clemons et al., The Oncologist, 2017, 22, 236–240, study of predatory publication invitations, with the focus shifted to researchers in ontology to those in library and information science. Spam invitations received by two researchers from predatory publications over a 6‐week period (n = 98) were analyzed. Reported in the findings of this preliminary study are the predatory publishers from whom the most spam invitations were received.

Organization of Knowledge and Information in Digital Archives of Language Materials

Language archives are repositories of language data: material about or in a set of languages, including audio and video recordings, transcriptions, translations, and linguistic annotations. Beyond their value for academic applications, digital availability of language data holds potential to support language and cultural revitalization and maintenance. Until recently, language archives have not been considered in information science research. This article reports the first empirical investigation of various dimensions of organization and representation of recorded knowledge and information in language archives. The study used a combination of semi-structured interviews and content analysis. Results demonstrate that, while some of the phenomena related to organization of information in language archives are specific to these types of archives, others are more typical and have been addressed by libraries in past research and practice. For example, authority control, sustainability, and software interoperability are among the primary issues identified by our study. This paper discusses the metadata-related opportunities and challenges for language archive managers and depositors observed in this study, and suggests directions for future research in this area.

Applying interpretive phenomenological analysis to library and information science research on blended librarianship: A case study

Although interpretive phenomenological analysis (IPA) has value in library and information science (LIS), it has low uptake in Africa. The methodological and theoretical approaches to using IPA in LIS and other disciplines are outlined, including a critical analysis of applying double hermeneutics and horizontalization to construct a hermeneutic interpretation. A blended librarianship thesis conducted in Zimbabwe is compared with LIS-based IPA studies and blended librarianship research to reflect the value of IPA methods. The illustration narrates how IPA was implemented within the context of phenomenology to analyse the complexity of academic librarians' views, taking into consideration social and historical environments. The weaknesses of the study are discussed, including the use of quality criteria of credibility, dependability, and transferability. The guided analysis of the study encourages the use of IPA in LIS as it can solve research problems and generate new theories to inform practice, services, philosophy, theory, and institutions.

Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology: Analysis of two decades of published research

AbstractThe Journal of the Association for Information Science & Technology (JASIST) is a leading information science journal, recognized by many ranking metrics. Understanding patterns in articles published would be helpful to new researchers seeking to publish with the journal. However, the last comprehensive bibliometric analysis on JASIST is more than a decade old. The objective of this paper is to analyze the bibliographic information of full‐length research articles published in JASIST during the last two decades. This includes metrics such as article count, authorship, international collaboration, citations, and topical areas. Data was collected from SCOPUS, JASIST website, and Scimago. The findings show that JASIST published 3,052 articles during 2000–2020, which got cited 180,608 times (59.18 times per article) to date. Joint authorship and international collaboration has been increasing. Authors from institutions in 70 countries have published, with most articles from USA, with authorship from China steadily increasing in recent years. The detailed findings in the paper would help information science researchers and practitioners to assess the areas of focus, and various patterns in a top journal of the field. Such historical understanding is critical in charting agendas and directions for future research.

Understanding and fighting disinformation and fake news: Towards an information behavior framework

AbstractCurrent efforts to fight misinformation, disinformation, and fake news have been isolated and inadequate. Most models of information behavior deal with information, and not misinformation or disinformation per se. We seek to disambiguate the phenomenon by clarifying terms and highlighting efforts towards fighting fake news. Building upon Karlova and Fisher's, Information Research, 2013, 18, 1–17 model, we propose a new information behavior framework. It should guide practitioners and researchers in library and information science and beyond, and other stakeholders in understanding the phenomenon, and fighting against it.

Using the World Café Methodology to support community-centric research and practice in library and information science

The World Café (TWC) methodology is a form of action research that develops collective knowledge among individuals and communities to address shared problems. TWC can complement LIS research and practice that is increasingly participatory and community centric. The potentials and pitfalls for TWC are illustrated by ongoing research examining public library service to LGBTQIA+ communities for health information. The authors used TWC in a community forum between LGBTQIA+ community leaders and librarians/paraprofessionals in [name removed for blind review]. Per TWC conventions, participants engaged in day-long rotating café-style table conversations that encouraged new ideas and collective dialog. Discussion centered on two themes: barriers to health information faced by LGBTQIA+ communities and collective strategies for leaders and librarians/paraprofessionals to address them. Findings indicate that TWC can advance LIS research and practice in the following ways: refuting deficit frameworks, fostering information communities, and supporting social-justice-oriented praxis. Methodological shortcomings relate to the blind spots TWC affords to social inequality and power. The authors recommend that researchers and practitioners should incorporate intersectional and reflexive methods into TWC to address these shortcomings.

Developing a Community of Practice: Building the Research Data Management Librarian Academy

The Research Data Management Librarian Academy (RDMLA) is a free, online global professional development program designed by librarians for librarians working in research-intensive environments. Developed through a unique partnership that includes a Library and Information Sciences academic program, research and health sciences libraries, and industry, the RDMLA’s inception, development, and launch provide helpful insights into the creation of online professional development courses. The RDMLA team’s experience building the course’s curriculum with an instructional designer (ID) and evaluating the operation and usefulness of the course’s content through usability testing provides valuable lessons learned for librarians constructing an online continuing education (CE) course.

Content analysis in library and information research: An analysis of trends

The use of Content Analysis (CA) in Library and Information Science (LIS) research is growing. Along with that growth comes a virtual explosion in new data source types available electronically. The present study provides a detailed analysis of the trends in the use of CA by LIS researchers and traces the changes in data sources used for CA between 1990 and 2015. CA was used to analyze 338 articles retrieved from a search of 119 LIS journals. LIS researchers have been quick to apply CA to new data sources as they have become available. By validating CA as a research tool, the findings have the potential to increase the use of CA as a methodology by the LIS community. The findings should help equip LIS researchers in choosing appropriate data sources to apply to their CA studies and address a wider variety of LIS research problems and hypotheses.

Information informing design: Information Science research with implications for the design of digital information environments

AbstractThis debut curated “virtual special issue” of JASIST is on the theme of “information informing design.” It comprises several excellent scholarly research articles previously published in JASIST with important implications for the design of digital information environments. It covers articles that motivate the need for Information Science research to inform design and those that have empirically examined information‐related concepts such as information behavior, practices, interaction, and experience and, based on their findings, proposed recommendations or posed questions for design. This article argues that as JASIST exists at the intersection between information, systems, and users, it is natural to want to understand how people engage with information to inform design and, by doing so, Information Science research can build bridges between Information Science and computing disciplines and make contributions that transcend its discipline boundaries. It argues that Information Science research not only has the potential but also the duty to inform the design of future digital information environments.

Sirolimus for the treatment of vascular anomalies in children

Vascular anomalies (VA) comprise a heterogeneous group of diseases associated with congenital angiogenesis disorder. There are no currently developed unified protocols and treatment regimens for systemic forms of VA. Numerous advantages show sirolimus, an mTOR inhibitor, as a well tolerated and effective antiproliferative and antiangiogenic therapy in patients with VA. The article presents the results of treatment of 211 patients with VA (6 patients with vascular tumors and 205 patients with vascular malformations) aged 2 months to 17 years (median – 9 years), who received sirolimus therapy for 1–86 months (median – 24 months). Sirolimus was administered at a starting dose of 0.8 mg/m2/day orally in two doses with an interval of 12 hours. The concentration of the blood preparation was maintained in the therapeutic range of 6–15 ng/ml. Since 2015, concomitant therapy with co-trimoxazole for the prevention of Pneumocystis pneumonia has been prescribed only to tracheostomy carriers. When infectious episodes occurred in patients, sirolimus therapy continued without changes in the dose of the drug and did not affect the disease, provided that the therapeutic concentration was maintained. A positive response to therapy was observed in 89.1 % of patients with VA in the form of the size of the vascular mass according to the data of visual examination and instrumental control. All patients showeda clinical response to therapy in the form of relief of painsyndrome, reduction/relief of lymphorrhea, reduction/improvement of hemostasis parameters, and an increase in functional activity and quality. For the entire observation period 2012–2020, when taking sirolimus, not a single severe adverse event occurring in post-transplant patients has been reported that would require discontinuation of the drug. The article presents two clinical cases of sirolimus use in the treatment of patients with kaposiform hemangioendothelioma and extensive venous malformation. Parents are encouraged to use the information in scientific research and publications.

Assessing Resources Management for Sharing Economy in Urban Logistics

Sharing economy requires cities to redefine their management strategies. As a consequence of the development of new ideas, the main aim of modern cities should focus on achieving the sustainable use of resources. In the existing literature, only a partial analysis of resources management in cities can be found. For this reason, the authors decided to prepare the framework for empirical research about resources management in sharing economy in cities, especially in the urban logistics system. The main aim of the study is systematizing criteria related to the assessment of the management of urban resources in the era of sharing economy. To achieve the goal of the research, a systematic literature review was made according to chosen approaches and procedures. This resulted in creating a set of criteria for the analysis and evaluation of resources management in urban areas. It contains five areas with 26 criteria and a map of assumed correlations between them. Those outcomes can be used by local authorities or even other urban logistics stakeholders to define or improve their actions aimed at developing a sharing economy services portfolio on the local market. Additionally, they constitute a set of initial information for further scientific research.

Using information science to enhance educational preventing violent extremism programs

AbstractEducational preventing violent extremism (EPVE) programs have had (to date) little if any theoretical underpinning. Given their proliferation in jurisdictions such as Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom, and other European countries, such an absence is notable but not unexpected given the political sensitivities attached to them. These programs remain an emerging policy area which is still “finding its feet,” around which their legitimacy and efficacy is keenly debated. This paper argues for adopting theoretical principles drawn from information science research based upon information behavior models to provide a framework for the design and development of such programs and against which their efficacy can be tested. We demonstrate how this approach can be applied through thematic analysis of the theory of change models of EPVE programs implemented in England and Wales, designed to increase awareness and understanding of radicalization among young people, their carers, and professionals. This article is ground breaking and of international significance, being the first to apply learning from information science to practice in furthering policy goals around countering radicalization and extremism in the United Kingdom and other jurisdictions.

Preface

After successfully held for two consecutive years, 2020 3rd International Conference on Computer Information Science and Application Technology (CISAT 2020) was planned to be held on July 17, 2020. Due to the unexpected COVID 19 pandemic, that closed the world to national and international travel, the organization decided to hold the CISAT 2020 totally online. It was a challenge, not only to the organizers, but also to the participants who were delivering their speeches using videoconference tools, under different time zones.CISAT 2020 is to bring together innovative academics and industrial experts in the field of computer information science and application technology to a common forum. The conference will bring together about 180 leading researchers, engineers and scientists in the domain of interest from China, United States, Malaysia, India, Czech Republic. The primary goal of the conference is to promote research and developmental activities in computer information science and application technology and another goal is to promote scientific information interchange between researchers, developers, engineers, students, and practitioners working all around the world.List of General Conference Chairmen, Local Co-chairmen, International Technical Committee, Technology Program Committee, and Conference secretary are available in this pdf.

Visibilidade científica dos pesquisadores no Grupo de Trabalho - 4 da Associação Nacional de Pesquisa e Pós-Graduação em Ciência da Informação por meio da citação e cocitação

Esta pesquisa objetiva analisar os pesquisadores de maior visibilidade que contribuíram para o desenvolvimento da temática do Grupo de Trabalho - 4 - Gestão da Informação e do Conhecimento da Associação Nacional de Pesquisa e Pós-Graduação em Ciência da Informação por meio da análise de citação e cocitação, no período de 2013 a 2019. O levantamento dos dados deu-se a partir de uma súmula constituída das 109 pesquisas, sem autocitação. Nesse conjunto, apresentou-se um total de 2.604 referências. Por fim, construiu-se a matriz quadrada de tamanho 74X74 pesquisadores e utilizou-se o software Ucinet para gerar a rede de cocitação. Como resultados, desse conjunto de pesquisadores, 46 (62,2%) apresentaram vínculos com o Brasil. As maiores frequências de cocitações encontram-se entre Davenport, T. e Prusak, L. (34 cocitações); Nonaka, I. e Takeuchi, H. (28 cocitações), entre outros. Como considerações finais, a análise de citação pode ser utilizada para identificar a frente de pesquisa, e a análise de cocitação é utilizada para identificar a similaridade temática.

United States establishes a dozen AI and quantum information science research centers

United States establishes a dozen AI and quantum information science research centers

VISUAL ANALYSIS OF INCONSISTENCIES IN HYDRAULIC SIMULATION DATA

Abstract. We present our contribution to the geovisualization and visual analysis of hydraulic simulation data, based on an interdisciplinary research work undertaken by researchers in geographic information sciences and in hydraulics. The positive feedback loop between researchers favored the proposal of visualization tools enabling visual reasoning on hydraulic simulated data so as to infer knowledge on the simulation model. We interactively explore and design 2D multi-scale styles to render hydraulic simulated data, in order to support the identification over large simulation domains of possible local inconsistencies related to input simulation data, simulation parameters or simulation workflow. Models have been implemented into QGIS and are reusable for other input data and territories.

Partnership among Librarians: Reflection on Observations, Interviews and Research Reports from Three Universities in Nigeria and Zimbabwe

Partnership is not a new phenomenon in the university environment. It embraces strategies used by people with common interest to harvest knowledge in terms of sharing or collaboration. However, the case differs with collaborations in Library and Information Science (LIS) research in Africa, especially LIS scholars in African universities in Nigeria and Zimbabwe. Paucity of empirical literature is available on research collaboration among LIS scholars in Nigerian and Zimbabwean universities. The purpose of the study was to examine partnership among librarians, with reflection on observation and interview research reports in three universities in Nigeria and Zimbabwe. The study adopted a qualitative approach using interview to gather data from librarians drawn from three Nigerian and Zimbabwean universities. The qualitative research approach grounded on content analysis of documents/literature, observation and interview method was use for the study. The observation focus on the authors’ exposition in the sampled universities environment, while the interview were key informants from each of the three countries universities sampled. The study consider the collaborative theory through grounded method. The findings of the study revealed lack of trust in the individual or groups collaborator; team members have the feeling that the project they are collaborating on is of little benefit, due to poor relationship. Team members see themselves as contender or challenger; which has affected leadership issue and involvement of long meetings and inability to address the truth. In terms of the influence of collaboration on professional growth of librarians, result demonstrated enhancement of teaching aspect of librarianship, learning and research quality; promote cooperation, coordination, which in turn increased level of intensity, tenacity and interaction among members. Linkage among LIS professional ranges from networking, cooperation, alliances, coordination and partnership, coalition and eventually collaboration. Challenges reported include catastrophic consequent on negative effect of work, culture and stylistic parameters including concept, attitude and professional hindrances. dominance impact of policies and procedures of collaboration, exploitation of the weak members, lack of clarity and rationale behind the collaboration, unwillingness to change by members in collaboration, lack of socialisation, largeness of the group, wrong membership and jettisoning of members ideas which eventually make some members take the decision of quitting the team. The study recommends inter-disciplinary, intra-institutional and inter-institutional collaboration among various stakeholders in LIS education and training.

On the evolution of library and information science doctoral dissertation topics in China

Previous studies have presented a radical change in library and information science research topics in North America. This article investigates library and information science doctoral dissertations in China in terms of their topics and interdisciplinarity in the past 20 years. The results do not find a significant change in library and information science dissertation topics in China but reveal that the increase of library and information science doctoral research in the area of information science is attributed to an increase in admissions to Information Science majors compared to other majors (Library Science and Archive Studies). This study also shows that the academic background of library and information science doctoral advisors does not affect the interdisciplinarity of their students’ doctoral dissertations in China.