Investigation and analysis of Informetrics curriculum education in China
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/LHT-08-2015-0080 |
| Date | 19 September 2016 |
| Pages | 539-548 |
| Published date | 19 September 2016 |
| Author | Rongying Zhao,Fengjiao Guo,Zhuheng Fu |
| Subject Matter | Library & information science,Librarianship/library management,Library technology,Information behaviour & retrieval,Information user studies,Metadata,Information & knowledge management,Information & communications technology,Internet |
Investigation and analysis
of Informetrics curriculum
education in China
Rongying Zhao and Fengjiao Guo
School of Information Management, Wuhan University,
Research Centre for Chinese Science Evaluation, Wuhan, China, and
Zhuheng Fu
School of Foreign Languages, Wuhan University of Technology,
Wuhan, China
Abstract
Purpose –The purpose of this paper is to generalize the teaching characteristics of some typical
colleges in China which offer Informetrics courses, and to propose useful suggestions for the course
construction of Informetrics through empirical investigation.
Design/methodology/approach –The statuses of Informetrics curriculum education of the top ten
universities in Library and Information Science and Archives Management in Chinese mainland as well as
Fu Jen Catholic University in Taiwan have been investigated and analyzed through a network survey and a
telephone survey. Wuhan University and Fu Jen Catholic University are considered as the typical examples.
Findings –The educational development of Informetrics in China has gone through three stages: the
initial stage, the developing stage and the improving stage. Based on the empirical investigation and
analysis, some meaningful conclusions are drawn concerning the education system, teaching
objectives, teaching contents and teaching methods of Informetrics courses.
Originality/value –This paper provides curricular information about Informetrics courses in China.
Keywords China, Case study, Education, Investigation, Informetrics, Course construction
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
Informetrics is the inheritance and development of Bibliometrics and Scientometrics
which can be traced back to the analysis of literature and bibliographic citations in the
early twentieth century. It is generally believed to be the earliest quantitative study of
information. AlanPritchard (1969), a well-known Britishscholar, proposed Bibliometrics
in 1969, marking the birthof Bibliometrics (Zhao and Xu, 2010). Then Otto Nacke(1979),
a German scholar,proposed Informetrics in 1979.The term “Informet rics”is derived from
the German term “Informetrie”. International Federation for Documentation (FID)
established the Informetrics Committee in 1980. The conference of Informetrics teaching
planning was held in former Czechoslovakia in 1982. In 1984, Brookes (1984) discussed
some basic theoretical issues about Informetrics in his published papers and clarified to
vigorously develop Informetrics. In July 1985, FID published the informal magazine
Informetrics News Letter in India. In 1987, the first session of the International
Conference, International Symposium for Theoretical Issues of Bibliometrics and
Information Retrieval, was held in Belgium. After that, the conference has been held
every other year, and the name of the conference has always contained “Informetrics”.
In 1995, the name of the conference was officially designated as International Societyfor
Scientometrics and Informetrics, abbreviated as ISSI. In addition, COLLNET (the Global
Interdisciplinary Research Network for the Study of all Aspects of Collaboration in
Library Hi Tech
Vol. 34 No. 3, 2016
pp. 539-548
©Emerald Group Publis hing Limited
0737-8831
DOI 10.1108/LHT-08-2015-0080
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539
Informetrics
curriculum
education
in China
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