Geographical visualization of research collaborations of library science in China
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/EL-12-2016-0266 |
| Date | 04 June 2018 |
| Published date | 04 June 2018 |
| Pages | 414-429 |
| Author | Jiming Hu,Ruhua Huang,Yubo Wang |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management,Information & communications technology,Internet |
Geographical visualization of
research collaborations of library
science in China
Jiming Hu and Ruhua Huang
School of Information Management, Wuhan University, Wuhan, China, and
Yubo Wang
School of Chinese Language and Literature, Wuhan University, Wuhan, China
and National Institute of Chinese Language Matters and
Social Development, Wuhan University, Wuhan, China
Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to visualize the collaboration network among regions in library
science (LS) in China. Using various methods and tools of social network analysis and geographical
visualization, results were obtained, showing the structure and patterns of research collaborations in
topological and geographical views, as well as the geographical distributions of contribution.
Design/methodology/approach – The sample includes all studies published in the top journal in
library science in China from 2006 to 2015. First, co-occurrence data representing collaborations among
regions was extracted from author afliations. Second, the topological network of collaboration was
generated by applying social network analysis tools and descriptive statistics, network indicators of the
collaboration network and research communities were calculated. Third, the topological network was
projected into a geographical map with corresponding coordinates and distances using geographical tools.
Finally, the topological network maps and the geographical maps were produced for visualization.
Findings – The levels of contribution are very unbalanced between regions, and overall research
collaboration is low. Beijing, Hubei and several other areas are central and signicant regions in China; other
regions are mostly connected with central ones through direct collaborations. Research collaborations in LS
research in China are mostly distributed in the east and south of China, being centralized in the “Beijing–
Hubei–Shanghai” triangle zone, as well as within the triangle’s extending zones. Finally, there are three
distinct research communities that connect closely within themselves and loosely between them. The Beijing
community is relatively centralized in geography, while other communities are scattered.
Originality/value – This study applied various methods and tools of social network analysis and
geographical mapping analysis to reveal the collaboration structure and patterns among regions in LS
research in China. Visualized maps in topological and geographical views help shed new light on research
efforts.
Keywords China, Collaboration, Research collaborations, Library science,
Geographical visualizations
Paper type Case study
Introduction
Research collaboration between regions or nations has become increasingly important in
innovation. Co-authorship from different afliations is one major pattern that can produce
This study is supported by Ministry of Education of China (MOE) World-class Discipline “Library,
Information, and Data Science”, China Postdoctoral Science Foundation Special Funded Project (No.
2016T90736), and National Natural Science Foundation of China Funded Project (No. 71303178).
EL
36,3
414
Received 30 December 2016
Revised 30 May 2017
17 August 2017
Accepted 28 October 2017
The Electronic Library
Vol. 36 No. 3, 2018
pp. 414-429
© Emerald Publishing Limited
0264-0473
DOI 10.1108/EL-12-2016-0266
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/0264-0473.htm
more achievements and improve author impact (de Beaver and Rosen, 1979). It is usually
used as a feasible methodology to study the research advances of one discipline (Lin and
Huang, 2012; Qiu and Liu, 2011) and/or to evaluate the contribution of one institution (Ren
and Zhou, 2015). In previous studies, the structure and patterns of research collaborations
were achieved through co-authorship (Catala-Lopez et al., 2012; Grauwin and Jensen, 2011),
including network, distribution and evolution. Cross-regional collaboration can be derived
from co-authorship by extracting author afliation and it can also be explored to reveal
research advances of one discipline or eld in a geographical view.
Rationale for this study
Co-authorship has become the mainstream in library science (LS), and researchers from
different institutions or regions are encouraged to work and study collaboratively (Li, 2012).
At present, results provided by previous research mainly include the statistics of articles,
authors, keywords and institutions, as well as coauthor networks and collaboration
networks of institutions. However, studies of regional collaborations are few, even fewer
than for geographical visualizations.
This study attempts to explore the structure and patterns of collaborations among
regions, and to detect the structural communities of regions in terms of cross-regional
collaborations. On the basis of the statistics of regions and the calculation of their
collaborations, the topological and geographical structures of collaborations are visualized
using social network and geographical mapping tools. Notably, the indicators of
collaboration networks and its sub-networks are examined to reveal the general status and
position of each region in LS research in China.
The results of this study will contribute to a greater understanding of the cross-regional
collaborations in LS research. It will also shed light on where each region is positioned in
this research area and suggest potential opportunities for the development of a cross-
regional community. In sum, this research will ll the gap in a detailed and systematic
visual mapping of the cross-regional collaborations in LS research in China.
Literature review
Previous eorts in revealing and understanding the status of library science research in
China
In recent years, many researchers explored the research advances of LS research in China
using co-authorship. The results shed light on research collaborations among institutions,
regions and even nations. First, the degree and rate of collaborations among authors in LS
were increasing over the years, but the scope of collaborations was not broad (Wen and Li,
2011). Collaborations among authors within institutions were greater than those between
institutions (Li and Wang, 2012; Lu, 2015). Second, there were about 15 institutions that
contributed the most to LS research in China (Hou, 2014). The collaborations among
institutions were concentrated in a few regions (Heng et al., 2014), and were relatively stable
(Li et al., 2015a). Third, more attention has been paid to the co-authorship networks in LS
research. Co-authorship data were extracted mainly from articles published in core journals
in LS by calculating the frequency of the co-occurrence of two authors (Meng and Pang,
2009) and then the data were imported into informetric tools to generate a co-occurrence
matrix for further social network analysis (Li et al., 2014), such as degree, density and
clustering coefcients.
Research
collaborations
415
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