Library and Information Science research areas: A content analysis of articles from the top 10 journals 2007–8

Abstract

The current study seeks to describe and analyze journal research publications in the top 10 Library and Information Science journals from 2007–8. The paper presents a statistical descriptive analysis of authorship patterns (geographical distribution and affiliation) and keywords. Furthermore, it displays a thorough content analysis of keywords and abstracts extracted from 10 leading Information Science journals in 2007–8, using Zins’ (2007) classification scheme of Information Science. The main results suggest the tendency of authors towards collaboration in authorship. North American and European authors – from the core discipline of Librarianship and Information Science – can be considered as leaders in the top 10 LIS journals. Furthermore, there are three major cores of research in these journals: information technology, methodology and social information science. It is important that LIS researchers, professionals, teachers and students be keenly aware of the updated main spheres of research in top leading LIS journals.