Türk Kütüphaneciliği Dergisi, 1987-2001

Abstract

The journal Türk Kütüphaneciliği (Turkish Librarianship) has been published since 1987. A continuation of the Türk Kütüphaneciler Derneği Bülteni (Bulletin of the Turkish Librarians’ Association) that was published between 1952 and 1986, Türk Kütüphaneciliği became a refereed journal in 1995. Based on a review of 238 articles published in the journal between 1987-2001 (135 of which were published before it became refereed, 103 after), this study compares some bibliometric features (number of pages in each issue, the length of articles, authors, topics, citations, etc.) of articles that were published before the journal became refereed with those after. The average number of pages in each issue increased 81% after the journal became refereed. The average length of an article increased 75% (from 8 pages to 14 pages). The number of citations per article increased 65% (from 11 citations to 171 citations). The percentage of articles having abstracts in Turkish and English increased from 24% to 96%. Articles were written by 94 different authors representing 42 institutions. Overwhelming majority of articles were written by a single author. Researchers affiliated with the departments of librarianship have authored the majority of articles. More than 20% of articles that appeared in the journal are on libraries (including public, academic, and special libraries), followed by 12% on information retrieval and bibliographic control (cataloging and classification), and 8% on information technology and library automation. More than half (53%) of all citations (3204) were for books while 42% for journals and 5% for “other publications” (e.g., unpublished manuscripts, web sites, among others). Türk Kütüphaneciler Derneği Bülteni, Türk Kütüphaneciliği, Resmî Gazete (Turkish Official Gazette), Library Trends, Journal of the American Society for Information Science, Information Technology and Libraries and College & Research Libraries are among the most frequently cited journals. Majority of citations were for articles appeared in a few core journals, which fits Bradford’s Law of Scattering (1934). The problems facing Türk Kütüphaneciliği are also discussed along with some recommendations