The readability of abstracts in library and information science journals
| Date | 19 August 2022 |
| Pages | 1-11 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JD-05-2022-0098 |
| Published date | 19 August 2022 |
| Subject Matter | Library & information science,Records management & preservation,Document management,Classification & cataloguing,Information behaviour & retrieval,Collection building & management,Scholarly communications/publishing,Information & knowledge management,Information management & governance,Information management,Information & communications technology,Internet |
| Author | Nina Jamar |
The readability of abstracts in
library and information
science journals
Nina Jamar
Department of Library and Information Science and Book Studies,
Faculty of Arts, University of Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia
Abstract
Purpose –The purpose of the research was to find out if there are any differences in the readability score
between abstracts published in scientific journals from library and information science with and without an
impact factor. Therefore, the author made a comparison between the readability of abstracts from one journal
with (Journal of Documentation) and one journal without (Knji
znica or Library) an impact factor.
Design/methodology/approach –As a measure of readability, the Flesch Reading Ease Readability
Formula was used. Then, with the help of statistical experts, a comparison of the readability scores between the
abstracts of two selected journals was performed.
Findings –The results showed that some statistically important differences exist between the abstracts published
in the Journal of Documentation and Knji
znica. The statistically important differences were found in the number of
words and sentencesin abstractsand in the readability of abstractsincludedintheresearch.Therefore, it can be said
that there exists a statistically important difference between abstracts with and without an impact factor.
Originality/value –The primary purpose was to find out whether there is a statistically important difference
in the readability score of abstracts with and without an impact factor in the field of library and information
science. Some similar research studies have been conducted in other scientific fields.
Keywords Abstracts, Scientific journals, Library and information science, Readability
Paper type Research paper
1. Introduction
Librarians and information scientists are college graduates who are able to read difficult
texts. Interestingly, Gazni (2011) found that the articles of the five most-cited institutions with
more difficult abstracts were cited more than articles with easier ones. Stremersch et al. (2007)
from the field of marketing and Hartley et al. (2007) from the field of psychology examined the
correlation between the number of times articles were cited and their readability and came to
the same conclusion.
In our research,we wanted to see if there are any differencesin the readabilityscore between
abstractspublished in scientificjournals fromlibrary and informationscience with and without
impact factor. Forusers from Slovenia the data aboutimpact factor are available throughthe
COBISS system(shared catalog of Slovenelibraries). JRC (Journal CitationReports) is a factual
database that contains records with data aboutthe impact factor for major serial publications
fromworld production. The impactfactor is an important toolfor evaluating journalsaccording
to citation data taken from more than 12,000 world-renowned scientific and professional
journals. TheJCR database is published annually by Clarivate Analytics from theUSA in two
editions: the JCR Science Edition (JCR SE)for the field of science and technology andthe JCR
SocialSciences Edition (JCR SSE) forthe field of social sciences (JRC, 2022). The impactfactor is
The readability
of abstracts
1
© Nina Jamar. Published by Emerald Publishing Limited. This article is published under the Creative
Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) licence. Anyone may reproduce, distribute, translate and create
derivative works of this article (for both commercial and non-commercial purposes), subject to full
attribution to the original publication and authors. The full terms of this licence may be seen at http://
creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0/legalcode
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
https://www.emerald.com/insight/0022-0418.htm
Received 6 May 2022
Revised 25 June 2022
Accepted 29 June 2022
Journal of Documentation
Vol. 79 No. 7, 2023
pp. 1-11
Emerald Publishing Limited
0022-0418
DOI 10.1108/JD-05-2022-0098
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