Evolution of library and information science, 1965-2005: Content analysis of journal articles

• Published in: Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology Vol. 65; no. 7; pp. 1446 - 1462
• Main Authors: Tuomaala, Otto, Järvelin, Kalervo, Vakkari, Pertti
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Malden, MA Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.07.2014; Wiley
• Subjects: Bibliometrics. Scientometrics; Bibliometrics. Scientometrics. Evaluation; Content analysis; Design engineering; End users; Evolution; Exact sciences and technology; Information and communication sciences; Information retrieval; information science; Information science. Documentation; Information storage; Libraries; Library and information science publications; Library and information science. General aspects; Scholarly publishing; Sciences and techniques of general use; Strategy; Subject fields; Trends; Growth; Follow up study; Periodical; Scientific research; Scientific communication; Core collection; Content analysis
• ISSN: 2330-1635; 2330-1643
• DOI: 10.1002/asi.23034

This article first analyzes library and information science (LIS) research articles published in core LIS journals in 2005. It also examines the development of LIS from 1965 to 2005 in light of comparable data sets for 1965, 1985, and 2005. In both cases, the authors report (a) how the research articles are distributed by topic and (b) what approaches, research strategies, and methods were applied in the articles. In 2005, the largest research areas in LIS by this measure were information storage and retrieval, scientific communication, library and information‐service activities, and information seeking. The same research areas constituted the quantitative core of LIS in the previous years since 1965. Information retrieval has been the most popular area of research over the years. The proportion of research on library and information‐service activities decreased after 1985, but the popularity of information seeking and of scientific communication grew during the period studied. The viewpoint of research has shifted from library and information organizations to end users and development of systems for the latter. The proportion of empirical research strategies was high and rose over time, with the survey method being the single most important method. However, attention to evaluation and experiments increased considerably after 1985. Conceptual research strategies and system analysis, description, and design were quite popular, but declining. The most significant changes from 1965 to 2005 are the decreasing interest in library and information‐service activities and the growth of research into information seeking and scientific communication.