Evolution of research subjects in library and information science based on keyword, bibliographical coupling, and co-citation analyses

This study involved using three methods, namely keyword, bibliographic coupling, and co-citation analyses, for tracking the changes of research subjects in library and information science (LIS) during 4 periods (5 years each) between 1995 and 2014. We examined 580 highly cited LIS articles, and the...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inScientometrics Vol. 105; no. 3; pp. 2071 - 2087
Main Authors Chang, Yu-Wei, Huang, Mu-Hsuan, Lin, Chiao-Wen
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Dordrecht Springer Netherlands 01.12.2015
Subjects
Computer Science
Information Storage and Retrieval
Library Science
Bibliographical coupling
Library and information science
Co-citation
Keyword analysis
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Summary:This study involved using three methods, namely keyword, bibliographic coupling, and co-citation analyses, for tracking the changes of research subjects in library and information science (LIS) during 4 periods (5 years each) between 1995 and 2014. We examined 580 highly cited LIS articles, and the results revealed that the two subjects “information seeking (IS) and information retrieval (IR)” and “bibliometrics” appeared in all 4 phases. However, a decreasing trend was observed in the percentage of articles related to IS and IR, whereas an increasing trend was identified in the percentage of articles focusing on bibliometrics. Particularly, in the 3rd phase (2005–2009), the proportion of articles on bibliometrics exceeded 80 %, indicating that bibliometrics became predominant. Combining various methods to explore research trends in certain disciplines facilitates a deeper understanding for researchers of the development of disciplines.
ISSN:0138-9130
1588-2861
DOI:10.1007/s11192-015-1762-8