Looking Beyond the Numbers: Bibliometric Approach to Analysis of LIS Research in Korea

Yang, Kiduk (Kiduk Yang); 이종욱 (Jongwook Lee); 최원찬 (Wonchan Choi)

doi:10.4275/KSLIS.2015.49.4.241

Looking Beyond the Numbers: Bibliometric Approach to Analysis of LIS Research in Korea

Journal of the Korean Society for Library and Information Science
2015, 49(4), pp.241-264
DOI : 10.4275/KSLIS.2015.49.4.241
Publisher : 한국문헌정보학회
Research Area : Interdisciplinary Studies > Library and Information Science

Kiduk Yang ¹, Jongwook Lee ², Wonchan Choi ³

¹경북대학교
²Florida State University
³Worcester Polytechnic Institute

Accredited

ABSTRACT

Bibliometric analysis for research performance evaluation can generate erroneous assessments for various reasons. Application of the same evaluation metric to different domains, for instance, can produce unfair evaluation results, while analysis based on incomplete data can lead to incorrect conclusions. This study examines bibliometric data of library and information science (LIS) research in Korea to investigate whether research performance should be evaluated in a uniform manner in multi-disciplinary fields such as LIS and how data incompleteness can affect the bibliometric assessment outcomes. The initial analysis of our study data, which consisted of 4,350 citations to 1,986 domestic papers published between 2001 and 2010 by 163 LIS faculty members in Korea, showed an anomalous citation pattern caused by data incompleteness, which was addressed via data projection based on past citation trends. The subsequent analysis of augmented study data revealed ample evidence of bibliometric pattern differences across subject areas. In addition to highlighting the need for a subject-specific assessment of research performance, the study demonstrated the importance of rigorous analysis and careful interpretation of bibliometric data by identifying and compensating for deficiencies in the data source, examining per capita as well as overall statistics, and considering various facets of research in order to interpret what the numbers reflect rather than merely taking them at face value as quantitative measures of research performance.

KEYWORDS

Bibliometrics, Subject-specific Analysis, Data Completeness, Publication Count, Citation Count, Library and Information Science

Citation status

* References for papers published after 2023 are currently being built.

[journal] Adkins, D. / 2006 / Scholarly Productivity of U. S. LIS Faculty / Library &Information Science Research 28 : 374~389

[journal] Blessinger, K. / 2010 / Highly Cited Articles in Library and Information Science : An Analysis of Content and Authorship Trends / Library & Information Science Research 32 : 156~162

[book] Cronin, B. / 2005 / The Reward System in the Hand of Science: Academic Writing and Its Rewards / Scarecrow Press

[journal] Landis, J. R. / 1977 / The Measurement of Observer Agreement for Categorical Data / Biometrics 33(1) : 159~174

[confproc] Lee, J. / 2013 / Difference in Citation Rates by Subject Areas of LIS in Korea / Proceedings of the 76th ASIS&T Annual Meeting 50(1) : 1~4

[journal] Li, J. et al. / 2010 / Ranking of Library and Information Science Researchers : Comparison of Data Sources for Correlating Citation Data, and Expert Judgments / Journal of Informetrics 4(4) : 554~563

[journal] Meho, L. I. / 2007 / Impact of Data Sources on Citation Counts and Rankings of LIS Faculty : Web of Science vs. Scopus and Google Scholar / Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology 58(13) : 2105~2125

[journal] Norris, M. / 2010 / Peer Review and the h-index : Two Studies / Journal of Informetrics 4(3) : 221~232

[journal] 오세훈 / 2005 / A Study on the Research Trends of Library & Information Science in Korea by analyzing Journal articles and the Cited Literatures / 정보관리학회지 / 한국정보관리학회 22(3) : 379~408

[journal] 박자현 / 2013 / A Study on the Research Trends in Library & Information Science in Korea using Topic Modeling / 정보관리학회지 / 한국정보관리학회 30(1) : 7~32

[journal] Saracevic, T. / 1999 / Information Science / Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology 50(12) : 1051~1063

[journal] Shaw, D. / 2008 / Publication and Citation Patterns among LIS Faculty : Profiling a Typical Professor / Library and Information Science Research 30 : 47~55

[journal] Slyder, J. B. / 2011 / Citation Pattern and Lifespan : A Comparison of Discipline, Institution, and Individual / Scientometrics 89(3) : 955~966

[journal] Yang, K. / 2012 / Analysis of Publication Patterns in Korean Library and Information Science Research / Scientometrics 93(2) : 233~251

[journal] Yang, Kiduk / 2013 / Bibliometric Approach to Research Assessment: Publication Count, Citation Count, & Author Rank / Journal of Information Science Theory and Practice / 한국과학기술정보연구원 1(1) : 27~41

[other] Yang, K. / Publication and Citation Patterns of Korean LIS Research by Subject Areas. Malaysian Journal of Library & Information Science / Manuscript submitted for publication

[journal] Vieira, E. S. / 2010 / Citations to Scientific Articles : Its Distribution and Dependence on the Article Features / Journal of Informetrics 4 : 1~13

[journal] Wu, D. / 2012 / The State of iSchools : An Analysis of Academic Research and Graduate Education / Journal of Information Science 38(1) : 15~36

KJCKorea
Journal Central

Journal of the Korean Society for Library and Information Science 2023 KCI Impact Factor : 0.84

Looking Beyond the Numbers: Bibliometric Approach to Analysis of LIS Research in Korea

ABSTRACT

KEYWORDS

Citation status

* References for papers published after 2023 are currently being built.

Journal of the Korean Society for Library and Information Science 2023 KCI Impact Factor : 0.84

Looking Beyond the Numbers: Bibliometric Approach to Analysis of LIS Research in Korea

ABSTRACT

KEYWORDS

Statistics

Tools

Issue List

Citation status

KCI Citation Counts (4)

REFERENCES (18) * References for papers published after 2023 are currently being built.

Search PDF

Citation

* References for papers published after 2023 are currently being built.