Survey status of providing Virtual Reference Services in academic libraries of Tehran Universities of Medical Sciences

Abstract Aim and background: Advent internet and related technologies have changed the way academic libraries provide reference services. One of the new ways providing services is virtual reference services. This study is conducted with the aim of determining the current status of providing virtual references services in college libraries of five medical science universities of Tehran. Materials and methods: this is an applied research, which was carried out through a survey descriptive. Data was gathered using a researcher- developed questionnaire that was answered by 31 library managers of five medical science universities of Tehran. We used SPSS software version 16 to analyze the collected data. Results: the results showed that %90 of the library managers had B.sc degree or higher. 29% of the libraries use email, % 3/2 use chat and %3/2 use short message system (SMS) for providing virtual reference services. None of the libraries use video conference. %40 of ShahidBeheshti University of Medical Sciences and 35% of the Baghiyatollah University of Medical Sciences use email virtual reference services. Overall, ShahidBeheshti University of Medical Sciences has better status. Conclusion: from this study, it can be concluded that a few numbers of the understudy libraries provide virtual reference services and there are not in a good status. In order to provide Modern services to users, library managers should improve virtual reference services. Keywords: Virtual reference, academic library, Health Science Universit

Iranian medical English journals: reference analysis based on journal selection criteria in WOS, PubMed and Scopus

Objective: The references are an important component of citation analysis. In this study, it is aimed to determine the reference analysis of Iranian Medical English Journals (IMEJ) based on WOS, Scopus and PubMed journal selection criteria. Methods: This study is a descriptive quantitative analysis which deals with the last issues of 52 numbers of IMEJ which haven\u27t been indexed in WOS, Scopus, and PubMed. The data were collected observing the journals data provider websites and then entered into a checklist tool. MS Excel software was used for data analysis. Results: About 88.5% of journals had their own reference style. In 60.9% of journals, the amount of failure in the reference style was less than 10%. The average of self-citations to authors and journal articles, were 3.6% and 1.2%, respectively. The average percentage of foreign references was 83.6%. Most of the references were old and only 2.9% of references were done in the study year. Journals with 87.2%, had received most of the references. Conclusion: References old date, imbalance the format of cited resources, and high distances between the rate of Iranian and foreign references, were the shortcomings of cited references in IMEJ

Iranian medical English journals: reference analysis based on journal selection criteria in WOS, PubMed and Scopus

Objective: The references are an important component of citation analysis. In this study, it is aimed to determine the reference analysis of Iranian Medical English Journals (IMEJ) based on WOS, Scopus and PubMed journal selection criteria. Methods: This study is a descriptive quantitative analysis which deals with the last issues of 52 numbers of IMEJ which haven\u27t been indexed in WOS, Scopus, and PubMed. The data were collected observing the journals data provider websites and then entered into a checklist tool. MS Excel software was used for data analysis. Results: About 88.5% of journals had their own reference style. In 60.9% of journals, the amount of failure in the reference style was less than 10%. The average of self-citations to authors and journal articles, were 3.6% and 1.2%, respectively. The average percentage of foreign references was 83.6%. Most of the references were old and only 2.9% of references were done in the study year. Journals with 87.2%, had received most of the references. Conclusion: References old date, imbalance the format of cited resources, and high distances between the rate of Iranian and foreign references, were the shortcomings of cited references in IMEJ

Survey status of providing Virtual Reference Services in academic libraries of Tehran Universities of Medical Sciences

Abstract Aim and background: Advent internet and related technologies have changed the way academic libraries provide reference services. One of the new ways providing services is virtual reference services. This study is conducted with the aim of determining the current status of providing virtual references services in college libraries of five medical science universities of Tehran. Materials and methods: this is an applied research, which was carried out through a survey descriptive. Data was gathered using a researcher- developed questionnaire that was answered by 31 library managers of five medical science universities of Tehran. We used SPSS software version 16 to analyze the collected data. Results: the results showed that %90 of the library managers had B.sc degree or higher. 29% of the libraries use email, % 3/2 use chat and %3/2 use short message system (SMS) for providing virtual reference services. None of the libraries use video conference. %40 of ShahidBeheshti University of Medical Sciences and 35% of the Baghiyatollah University of Medical Sciences use email virtual reference services. Overall, ShahidBeheshti University of Medical Sciences has better status. Conclusion: from this study, it can be concluded that a few numbers of the understudy libraries provide virtual reference services and there are not in a good status. In order to provide Modern services to users, library managers should improve virtual reference services. Keywords: Virtual reference, academic library, Health Science Universit