Publication trends in library and information science. A bibliometric analysis of Library Management journal
| Date | 04 March 2014 |
| Pages | 134-149 |
| Published date | 04 March 2014 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/LM-05-2013-0039 |
| Author | K.P. Singh,Harish Chander |
| Subject Matter | Library & information science,Librarianship/library management,HR in libraries |
Publication trends in library and
information science
A bibliometric analysis of Library
Management journal
K.P. Singh and Harish Chander
Department of Library and Information Science, University of Delhi, Delhi, India
Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of the study is to explore the publication trends of the scholarly journal
Library Management, and highlight its various important aspects.
Design/methodology/approach – The paper presents results of bibliometric analysis of 336
articles which were published during the period 2006-2012, in the Library Management journal of
Emerald.
Findings – The results indicate that the majority of the contributions by single authors and most
cited documents are journal articles. The study highlights the chronological distribution of articles,
authorship pattern, geographical distribution of authors, institutions wise distribution, citation pattern
and length of articles.
Originality/value – As yet there have been no such studies conducted that investigate the various
aspects of Library Management journal. It evaluates the publication trends of the journal and has
important implications for scholars and researchers.
Keywords Library management,Citation analysis, Authorshippattern, Bibliometric studies,
Publication trends, LIS
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
Research has become vital activity in every field of knowledge. Bibliometric is an
emerging thrust area of research in different branches of human knowledge since its
inception. It has now become well established part of information research and a
quantitative approach to the description of documents (Chaurasia, 2008) and
examination of services is gaining ground both in research and practice.
Bibliometrics known earlier by many names from Librametry to Statistical
Bibliography, the present term was coined by the Alan Pritchyard in 1969 to study
quantitatively the communication pattern of published literature in a given field. The
Online Dictionary of Library and Information Science defines Bibliometrics as “The use
of mathematical and statistical methods to study and identify patterns in the usage of
materials and services within a library or to analyse the historical development of
specific body of literature, especially its authorship, publication anduse” (ODLIS, 2012).
Bibliometrics has emerged as handy tool to study collection evaluation and
building, ranking of journals, identification of core literature, to know the structure of
literature, to know the prolific authors to observe the obsolence of literature, to study
user behaviour and forecast their further needs (Satija, 2004). It has become a generic
term for range of approaches directed to quantify output levels, collaboration patterns
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at
www.emeraldinsight.com/0143-5124.htm
LM
35,3
134
Received 8 May 2013
Revised 10 June 2013
Accepted 19 June 2013
Library Management
Vol. 35 No. 3, 2014
pp. 134-149
qEmerald Group Publishing Limited
0143-5124
DOI 10.1108/LM-05-2013-0039
and impact characteristics of scientific research. The advantage of Bibliometric data on
research document is that they have great informative value and systematic
comparison of scientific institutions, countries and regions across, range as scientific
fields.
Source journal
The study based on Library Management, an online international journal in the field of
library and information science of Emerald. The journal started publishing online since
1979. As informationservices become more complex in natureand more technologically
sophisticated, information professionals need to keep pace with innovations and
thinking in the field to offer the most professional service with the resources they have.
The journal reflects the latest research undertaken in academic, government and
corporate institutions by reporting contemporary thoughts, whilst also exploring
practical implications for those involved in teaching and practice. Library Management
is abstracted andindexed in Current Awareness Abstracts,Education Full Text,Emerald
Management Reviews,Information Science and Technology Abstracts,INSPEC,The
Informed Librarian,Library and Information Science Abstracts,Library and Information
Science Full Text,andScopus (Emeraldinsight, 2012).
Reviewed studies
Jena et al. (2012) in a study regarding the bibliographical distribution of citations,
found that the majority of citations are from journals, followed by web resources and
books. The study further reveals that the average length of articles is 13,017 pages and
the scattering of contributors is limited within a few countries.
Jayaraman et al. (2012) carried out study by analyzing 312 articles and 4,949
references from year 1997-2011 of the Annals of Library and Information Studies
published by NISCAIR (National Institute of Scientific Communication and
Information Resources), Delhi. It covers authorship pattern, type of citations etc.
Oyewusi (2012) analyse the content of the Nigerian School Library Journal (NSLJ) from
1979-2010. The study revealed that the level of collaboration among the authors was
low (16.7 per cent) while single authors were many (83.3 per cent) and most articles
used the survey research design followed by historical strategies, literature review and
case studies. Sethi and Panda (2012) in their study explore the publication trends of
scholarly journal articles of two core Library and Information Science (LIS) journals by
analysis of 1,000 research papers. The study examines the content of journals,
including growth of literature, authorship pattern, geographical distribution of
authors, citation pattern length of articles and most cited authors.
Hussain et al. (2011) conducted a bibliometric study of 578 articles were published
during 2000-2010 in the Electronic Library Journal. It covers year wise distribution of
articles, category-wise classification of papers, subject wise distribution, authorship
pattern and institutions wise distribution of contributions. Singh et al. (2011) carried
out a study to assess the trends of the publication patterns in DESIDOC Bulletin of
Information Technology (1992-2002). The study reveals that 66.90 per cent articles
published by single authors and 88.28 per cent were contributed from India.
Narang and Kumar (2010) analysed 4,798 citations appended to 400 articles in five
volumes 34 (2003)- 38 (2007) of the Indian Journal of Pure and Applied Mathematics.
Results indicate that a decrease in the number of contributions in successive volumes
Trends in library
and information
science
135
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