Skip to main content
Log in

Correlation analysis between university research competitiveness and library’s scholarly information in OECD nations and Korea

  • Published:
Scientometrics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Beginning from the premise that research competitiveness at the university level is the starting point for national competitiveness as a whole, this paper analyzes the correlation between university research-related performance and the scholarly or academic resources available through a country’s library system. An analysis of this correlation from two different angles — a macroscopic approach considering universities in OECD nations and a microscopic approach focusing only upon universities in Korea — found that there is indeed a significant correlation between university research performance and the scholarly information available at libraries. A regression analysis of the two approaches also found that the more journal titles subscribed to by university libraries and the higher their budget for materials, the greater the contribution university libraries make to university research competitiveness in Korea as well as other OECD countries. In this light, in order for Korea to reach a level of research competitiveness comparable to other OECD members, policies need to be created that will effectively increase the number of journals subscribed to by university libraries.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • American Library Association, Association of College and Research Libraries (2005), Academic Library Trends and Statistics. ALA, Chicago.

    Google Scholar 

  • Association of Research Libraries (2005), ARL Statistics: 2003–2004. ARL, Washington, D.C.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bilich, M. Das Graçcas R., Bilich, F., Analysis of World Scientific and Technological Productivity. accessible via http://www.triplehelix5.com/pdf/A161_THC5.pdf

  • Budd, J. M. (1995), Faculty publishing productivity: An institutional analysis and comparison with library and other measures, College & Research Libraries, 56(6): 547–554.

    Google Scholar 

  • CARL historic data, 1969–2004.xls. accessible via http://www.caul.edu.au/stats/caul2004.xls

  • Dundar, H., Lewis, D. (1998), Determinants of research productivity in higher education, Research in Higher Education, 39(6): 607–631.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hiroyuki, Tomizawa & al. (2006), A bibliometric analysis of scientific literatures cited by influential patents, Johokanri, 49(1): 2–10.

    Google Scholar 

  • Japan Library Association (2004), Library Statistics. JLA, Tokyo.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jones, L. V., Lindzey, G., Coggeshall, P. E. (1983), An Assessment of Research-Doctorate Programs in the United States. National Academy Press, Washington, D.C.

    Google Scholar 

  • LibEcon, accessible via http://www.libecon.org/database/current/high_2003_belg.xls

  • LISU (2005), LISU Annual Library Statistics. LISU, Loughborough.

    Google Scholar 

  • Liu, L. G. (2001), The contribution of library collections to prestige of academic programs of universities: A quantitative analysis, Library Collections, Acquisitions, & Technical Services, 25(1): 49–65.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ministry Of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology (2005), Library Statistics of Colleges and Universities. The Ministry, Tokyo.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ministry of Science and Technology, Republic of Korea (2005), Report on the Survey of Research and Development in Science and Technology. The Ministry, Seoul.

    Google Scholar 

  • Morgan, D. L., Kearney, R. C., Regens, J. L. (1976), Assessing quality among graduate institutions of higher education in the united states, Social Science Quarterly, 57(3): 670–679.

    Google Scholar 

  • OECD (2005), Main Science and Technology Indicators. OECD, Paris.

    Google Scholar 

  • OECD (2005), OECD in Figure. OECD, Paris.

    Google Scholar 

  • OECD (2005), OECD science, technology and industry scoreboard. OECD, Paris.

    Google Scholar 

  • SCONUL (2005), Annual Library Statistics, 2003–2004. SCONUL, London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shanghai Jiao Tong University (2005), Academic Ranking of World Universities 2005. accessible via http://ed.sjtu.edu.cn/ranking2005.htm.

  • Soweden, P. (2005), University Library Spending on Books, Journals and Electronic Resources: 2005 update. The Publishers Association, London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Van House, N. A. (1990), Library resources and research productivity in science and engineering: Report of a pilot study. In Communications in Support of Science and Engineering. Council on Library Resources, Washington, D.C.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wood, E. H. (1998), Citation analysis of faculty publications: Do the library’s collection and education programs support the research? In Paper Presented at the Annual Meeting of the Medical Library Association. New Orleans, LA.

  • Yoon, H.-Y. (2004), Analysis and Suggestions of Academic Libraries in OECD Countries. KERIS, Seoul.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yoon Hee Yoon.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Yoon, Y.H., Young, K.S. Correlation analysis between university research competitiveness and library’s scholarly information in OECD nations and Korea. Scientometrics 74, 345–360 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-007-1753-5

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-007-1753-5

Keywords

Navigation