Institutional repositories: a bibliometric study of the social sciences citation index (SSCI)
| Published date | 04 June 2018 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/EL-09-2017-0192 |
| Pages | 504-517 |
| Date | 04 June 2018 |
| Author | Yi-Ping Liao,Tsu-Jui Ma |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management,Information & communications technology,Internet |
Institutional repositories: a
bibliometric study of the social
sciences citation index (SSCI)
Yi-Ping Liao
Department of Foreign Languages and Applied Linguistics,
National Taipei University, New Taipei City, Taiwan, and
Tsu-Jui Ma
Library, National Taipei University, New Taipei City, Taiwan
Abstract
Purpose – This paper aims to provide a bibliometric study of journal articles related to institutional
repositories in the Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI) between January 1993 and August 2017. This study
will provide researchers with a foundation for further research.
Design/methodology/approach – In this study, articles published were analyzed; titles were searched
using the term “institutional repositories.” The data were evaluated in response to four research questions on
the following topics: publication trends, prolic authors, core journals and times cited.
Findings – The results indicate that 124 articles on institutional repositories were authored by 223
individuals. These articles were cited 722 times in 37 journals, and the h-index provided by the Web of Science
was 14.
Research limitations/implications – This study only investigated articles titled with institutional
repositories in the SSCI. Other items were not included.
Practical implications – This study shows that the implementation of institutional repositories has been
limited to library and information science. If they can be used broadly in different disciplines, a better outcome
can be expected.
Social implications – Based on the ndings, the growth of institutional repositories as an academic
subject is likely to continue. If such discussions can be conducted in other disciplines, institutional repositories
may be able to provide a more promising outcome to academia.
Originality/value – This paper is valuable for researchers who wish to examine the trends of institutional
repositories in the SSCI and seek possible areas for further research.
Keywords SSCI, Bibliometrics, Institutional repositories, Social sciences citation index
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
In his 1966 report to the American Council on Education, Carter (1966) wrote the
following (Wedgeworth, 1993): “The library is the heart of a university; no other single
non-human factor is as closely related to the quality of graduate education [.. .]”.
University libraries have played a key role in the process of scholarly communication.
They acquire, catalogue and preserve academic publications for users to access (Cullen
and Chawner, 2011; Ma and Lee, 2017). Since the late 1970s, the development of
academic research has contributed to an increasing number of academic publications
(Koehler, 2006). This extension, along with the rapid development of the internet and
the World Wide Web in the 1990s, prompted academic publications to ourish (Cullen
EL
36,3
504
Received 21 September 2017
Accepted 28 October 2017
The Electronic Library
Vol. 36 No. 3, 2018
pp. 504-517
© Emerald Publishing Limited
0264-0473
DOI 10.1108/EL-09-2017-0192
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