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A comparative study of interdisciplinary changes between information science and library science

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  • Mu-Hsuan Huang

    (National Taiwan University)

  • Yu-Wei Chang

    (Fu Jen Catholic University)

Abstract

This study employs the method of direct citation to analyze and compare the interdisciplinary characteristics of the two disciplines of library science and information science during the period of 1978–2007. Based on the research generated by five library science journals and five information science journals, library science researchers tend to cite publications from library and information science (LIS), education, business/management, sociology, and psychology, while researchers of information science tend to cite more publications from LIS, general science, computer science, technology, and medicine. This means that the disciplines with larger contributions to library science are almost entirely different from those contributing to information science. In addition, researchers of library science frequently cite publications from LIS; the rate is as high as 65.61%, which is much higher than the rate for information science, 49.50%. However, a decreasing trend in the percentage of LIS in library science indicates that library science researchers tend to cite more publications from non-LIS disciplines. A rising trend in the proportion of references to education sources is reported for library science articles, while a rising trend in the proportion of references to computer science sources has been found for information science articles. In addition, this study applies an interdisciplinary indicator, Brillouin’s Index, to measurement of the degree of interdisciplinarity. The results confirm that the trend toward interdisciplinarity in both information science and library science has risen over the years, although the degree of interdisciplinarity in information science is higher than that in library science.

Suggested Citation

  • Mu-Hsuan Huang & Yu-Wei Chang, 2012. "A comparative study of interdisciplinary changes between information science and library science," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 91(3), pages 789-803, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:scient:v:91:y:2012:i:3:d:10.1007_s11192-012-0619-7
    DOI: 10.1007/s11192-012-0619-7
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Yu-Wei Chang, 2021. "Characteristics of high research performance authors in the field of library and information science and those of their articles," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 126(4), pages 3373-3391, April.
    2. Wang, Shiyun & Mao, Jin & Lu, Kun & Cao, Yujie & Li, Gang, 2021. "Understanding interdisciplinary knowledge integration through citance analysis: A case study on eHealth," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 15(4).
    3. Lu Huang & Yijie Cai & Erdong Zhao & Shengting Zhang & Yue Shu & Jiao Fan, 2022. "Measuring the interdisciplinarity of Information and Library Science interactions using citation analysis and semantic analysis," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 127(11), pages 6733-6761, November.
    4. Kevin M. Kniffin & Andrew S. Hanks, 2017. "Antecedents and near-term consequences for interdisciplinary dissertators," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 111(3), pages 1225-1250, June.
    5. Cristina Gomes Souza & Marta Lúcia Azevedo Ferreira, 2013. "Researchers profile, co-authorship pattern and knowledge organization in information science in Brazil," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 95(2), pages 673-687, May.
    6. Yu-Wei Chang, 2016. "Influence of the principle of least effort across disciplines," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 106(3), pages 1117-1133, March.
    7. Yu-Wei Chang, 2018. "Examining interdisciplinarity of library and information science (LIS) based on LIS articles contributed by non-LIS authors," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 116(3), pages 1589-1613, September.
    8. Xiaoyao Han, 2020. "Evolution of research topics in LIS between 1996 and 2019: an analysis based on latent Dirichlet allocation topic model," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 125(3), pages 2561-2595, December.

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