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Analysis of publication patterns in Korean library and information science research

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Abstract

This study assessed research patterns and trends of library and information science (LIS) in Korea by applying bibliometric analysis to 159 Korean LIS professors’ 2,401 peer-reviewed publications published between 2001 and 2010. Bibliometric analysis of publication data found an increasing trend for collaboration, robust publication patterns, increasing number of international publications, and internationalization of LIS in Korea. The maturation and internalization of LIS research was evidenced in increased number of publications in high impact journals (e.g., SSI, SSCI), growing participation in leading international conferences (e.g., ASIST, TREC), increasing proportion of Korean LIS faculty with international degrees, and high publication rates by professors with international degrees. Though limited in its evaluative power without citation data, publication data can be a rich source for bibliometric analysis as this study has shown. The analysis of publication patterns conducted by the study, which is a first step in our aim to establish a multi-faceted approach for assessing the impact of scholarly work, will be followed up in a future study, where the question of quantity versus quality will be examined by comparing publication counts with citation counts.

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Notes

  1. Prior research analyzed publications in a selected number of Korean journals or publications in international journals only.

  2. Top five LIS journals in Korea are Journal of the Korean Society for Library and Information Science, Journal of Korean Library and Information Science Society, Journal of Information Management, Journal of the Institute of Bibliography, and Journal of the Korean BIBLIA Society for Library and Information Science. Han and Cho (1996) chose the first four journals for their study while Chung and Park (2011) chose the Journal of the Korean BIBLIA Society for Library and Information Science instead of the Journal of the Institute of Bibliography.

  3. Kyungil university, established in 2010, was excluded from the study.

  4. Naver (http://www.naver.com) is the most popular search portal in Korea with a market share of over 70%.

  5. International publications written in languages other than English (e.g., Chinese, Japanese, German) were excluded from the study.

  6. Conference papers with five pages or less were excluded from the study.

  7. In the case of a paper with multiple authors, each author in the study sample was counted as having published that paper.

  8. Four of 159 LIS faculty in the study received only master's degrees.

  9. The official faculty retirement age in Korea is 64.

  10. An outlier in Table 6 is defined as a faculty member with 29 or more publications, which is approximately double the mean publication count. A publication count of 29 is chosen instead of 30 because there are four faculty with 29 publications.

  11. The typical faculty lifecycle in Korea consists of 2 years as an instructor, 6 years as an assistant professor, 6 years as an associate professor, and a full professor at which point tenure is granted.

  12. The rank order of total publication counts in Table 10 closely approximates that of LIS faculty alumni counts.

  13. Journal of the American Society for Information Science was aggregated with JASIST.

  14. Domestic conference papers, which are typically not peer-reviewed, are excluded from the study. Some international conference proceedings, on the other hand, have the acceptance level comparable to those of journals (e.g. Proceedings of the ASIST Annual Meeting: 30%).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Library and Information Science, Keimyung University, Daegu, Korea

    Kiduk Yang

  2. Information Service Center, Korea Institute of Science and Technology Information, Daejeon, Korea

    Jongwook Lee

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  1. Kiduk Yang
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  2. Jongwook Lee
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Correspondence to Kiduk Yang.

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Yang, K., Lee, J. Analysis of publication patterns in Korean library and information science research. Scientometrics 93, 233–251 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-012-0663-3

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