Jordi Ardanuy

Scientific collaboration in Library and Information Science viewed through the Web of Knowledge: the Spanish case

This study analyzes the level of co-authorship of Spanish research in Library and Information Science (LIS) until 2009, the chronological development that has taken place, and the level of local, domestic and international cooperation. This bibliometric study was made using the data retrieved from the Web of Knowledge (WoK) following a dual strategy—on the one hand through the filter of the category Information Science & Library Science, and on the other hand through a subject search. In this way a significant number of works has been retrieved, some of which are in journals indexed in SCI or A&HCI and not in the SSCI. The results show a significant increase in all co-authorship, including publications in English and those involving international collaboration. As with the increase in Spanish participation in social science (WoK), this growth, coupled with the significant increase in Spanish scientific production in the area of LIS, suggests that the discipline in Spain has entered a more mature phase—although so far it has focused particularly on bibliometric studies.

A citation analysis of Catalan literary studies (1974–2003): Towards a bibliometrics of humanities studies in minority languages

A citation analysis was carried out on the most important research journals in the field of Catalan literature between 1974 and 2003. The indicators and qualitative parameters obtained show the value of performing citation analysis in cultural and linguistic areas that are poorly covered by the A&HCI. Catalan literature shows a similar pattern to that of humanities in general, but it could still be in a stage of consolidation because too little work has as yet been published.

Sixty years of citation analysis studies in the humanities (1951–2010)

This article provides an overview of studies that have used citation analysis in the field of humanities in the period 1951 to 2010. The work is based on an exhaustive search in databases—particularly those in library and information science—and on citation chaining from papers on citation analysis. The results confirm that use of this technique in the humanities is limited, and although there was some growth in the 1970s and 1980s, it has stagnated in the past 2 decades. Most of the work has been done by research staff, but almost one third involves library staff, and 15% has been done by students. The study also showed that less than one fourth of the works used a citation database such as the Arts & Humanities Citation Index and that 21% of the works were in publications other than library and information science journals. The United States has the greatest output, and English is by far the most frequently used language, and 13.9% of the studies are in other languages.

The academic-practitioner gap in Spanish library and information science: An analysis of authorship and collaboration in two leading national publications

It is not unusual to hear that a significant separation or divergence exists between the interests of library and information science professionals who work in library and information services and those who are university teachers. This division results in limited cooperation between the two communities and further debilitates already weak international collaboration in the discipline. This article first conducts a qualitative review of the various types of literary evidence that address the divergence and lack of cooperation, and subsequently presents quantitative evidence for the Spanish geographical context.

Scientific output in library and information science: A comparative study of the journals Anales de Documentación and BiD textos universitaris en biblioteconomia i documentació:

In recent years, academic journals have evolved to become a vehicle for scientific communication that is acknowledged by the official organizations that certify their quality. This enables assessments to be performed, determining how a discipline has evolved through the analysis of bibliometric indicators and the keywords used to index the articles. In the field of library and information science, it is particularly interesting to study the articles published in the journals specializing in this area but few studies have performed an in-depth analysis of the discipline. In order to gain a detailed view of the evolution of library and information science, we have carried out a bibliometric and thematic study of the journals Anales de Documentación (AD) and BiD textos universitaris en biblioteconomia i documentació (BiD) between 2000 and 2013. The analysis focuses on the number of articles and authors, the evolution of the sections and the contents. In addition, a thematic study determines the level of similarity between the two journals’ contents, the subject areas they belong to and whether there is any subject continuity during the period analysed. The results confirm that in BID, practitioner-focused subject matter is double that of the academic content, unlike AD, which shows a preference for academic content. The thematic study confirms that there is little similarity between the content of the two publications; that the subjects where there is overlap are basically concerned with information units, information technologies, auxiliary sciences and techniques, and library science; and that there is little continuity in the subjects covered during the period analysed.