Measuring research impact: A first approximation of the achievements of the iSchools in ISI's information and library science category ??? An exploratory study

In this paper, we analyze those publications of the home institutes of the iSchools that are indexed by Thomson Reuters (ISI) Web of Science in the information science and library science category, and were published between 2000 and 2009

Revisiting h measured on UK LIS and IR academics

A brief communication appearing in this journal ranked UK LIS and (some) IR academics by their h-index using data derived from Web of Science. In this brief communication, the same academics were re-ranked, using other popular citation databases. It was found that for academics who publish more in computer science forums, their h was significantly different due to highly cited papers missed by Web of Science; consequently their rank changed substantially. The study was widened to a broader set of UK LIS and IR academics where results showed similar statistically significant differences. A variant of h, hmx, was introduced that allowed a ranking of the academics using all citation databases together

Ranking of library and information science researchers: Comparison of data sources for correlating citation data, and expert judgments

This paper studies the correlations between peer review and citation indicators when evaluating research quality in library and information science (LIS). Forty-two LIS experts provided judgments on a 5-point scale of the quality of research published by 101 scholars; the median rankings resulting from these judgments were then correlated with h-, g- and H-index values computed using three different sources of citation data: Web of Science (WoS), Scopus and Google Scholar (GS). The two variants of the basic h-index correlated more strongly with peer judgment than did the h-index itself; citation data from Scopus was more strongly correlated with the expert judgments than was data from GS, which in turn was more strongly correlated than data from WoS; correlations from a carefully cleaned version of GS data were little different from those obtained using swiftly gathered GS data; the indices from the citation databases resulted in broadly similar rankings of the LIS academics; GS disadvantaged researchers in bibliometrics compared to the other two citation database while WoS disadvantaged researchers in the more technical aspects of information retrieval; and experts from the UK and other European countries rated UK academics with higher scores than did experts from the USA. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

Ranking forestry journals using the h-index

An expert ranking of forestry journals was compared with journal impact factors and h-indices computed from the ISI Web of Science and internet-based data. Citations reported by Google Scholar appear to offer the most efficient way to rank all journals objectively, in a manner consistent with other indicators. This h-index exhibited a high correlation with the journal impact factor (r=0.92), but is not confined to journals selected by any particular commercial provider. A ranking of 180 forestry journals is presented, on the basis of this index.Comment: 21 pages, 3 figures, 5 tables. New table added in response to reviewer comment

Intrinsic vs. extrinsic motivations of Master of Library and Information Science students: A cross-cultural comparative study

This study examined the career and learning motivation of students studying a Master of Library and Information Science (MLIS) degree programs at universities located in four different countries, namely the University of Hong Kong, National Taiwan Normal University, Peking University, and the University of Copenhagen. The MLIS students from these four universities were invited to take part in a self-completion online questionnaire survey, and 200 responses were collected in total. We discovered that their prior working experience in the library had an impact on their decision to pursue the MLIS program. We also categorized the career and learning motivation factors of MLIS learners into intrinsic and extrinsic factors, and discovered that the participants were motivated by both intrinsic and extrinsic factors to pursue their graduate studies in the Library and Information Science (LIS) field. We found that intrinsic factors influenced the students of University of Copenhagen significantly more than the other student groups, and this could be explained by Hofstede’s cultural dimensions. Our findings can assist with the formulation of development strategies for MLIS programs through a review of the LIS curriculum and help MLIS programs in different countries attract more people to pursue a career in LIS.preprin

Scholarly Communication Practices in Humanities and Social Sciences: A Study of Researchers’ Attitudes and Awareness of Open Access

This paper examines issues relating to the perceptions and adoption of open access (OA) and institutional repositories. Using a survey research design, we collected data from academics and other researchers in the humanities, arts and social sciences (HASS) at a university in Australia. We looked at factors influencing choice of publishers and journal outlets, as well as the use of social media and nontraditional channels for scholarly communication. We used an online questionnaire to collect data and used descriptive statistics to analyse the data. Our findings suggest that researchers are highly influenced by traditional measures of quality, such as journal impact factor, and are less concerned with making their work more findable and promoting it through social media. This highlights a disconnect between researchers’ desired outcomes and the efforts that they put in toward the same. Our findings also suggest that institutional policies have the potential to increase OA awareness and adoption. This study contributes to the growing literature on scholarly communication by offering evidence from the HASS field, where limited studies have been conducted. Based on the findings, we recommend that academic librarians engage with faculty through outreach and workshops to change perceptions of OA and the institutional repository

Special Libraries, February 1978

Volume 69, Issue 2https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/sla_sl_1978/1001/thumbnail.jp

Citation analysis of most prolific authors in the field of Library and Information Science in Nigeria

The aim of the study is to carry out a citation analysis of ten most prolific academic scholars in the field of Library and Information Science (LIS) in Nigeria and also determine their authorship pattern. Google scholar database was used in searching for articles published from 2000 to May, 2018. Ten academic researchers in the field of LIS in Nigeria were studied. Results from the analysis show that, Tella, Adeyinka with 72 articles had a total of 1,740 citations and is the most cited author among the ten most prolific authors in the field of Library and Information Science in Nigeria, followed by Adomi, E. Esharenana with 904 citations from 47 articles, and Nwagwu, E. Williams with 684 citations from 70 articles. The authorship patterns of the publications revealed that majority of the articles were co-authored papers. Further analysis showed that the degree of collaboration among the researchers was high. The correlation of the most cited articles with most cited journals revealed the Library Philosophy & Practice as the most cited journal. The study calls for authorities in institutions and editors of local journals to find solutions to the inclusion of local journals in international indexing and abstraction databases to present a realistic picture of scholarly publications

Is it more difficult to write or to cite a paper?

The structure of various indices that are used to evaluate the research output of a scientist is discussed on a moral base.Indices should be used with caution. Albeit scientists who work in the field of infometrics are aware on this, other scientistsof other disciplines may not be fully aware. Measuring quality in science is only the half story. Some verbal description isrequired too