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LIS Research in Pakistan: An Analysis of Pakistan Library and Information Science Journal 1998-2007

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Mirza Muhammad Naseer at Imam Abdul Rahman bin Faisal University
Mirza Muhammad Naseer
Khalid Mahmood at University of the Punjab
Khalid Mahmood
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This article reports the results of an analysis of literature published in Pakistan Library andInformation Science Journal (PLISJ) during 1998-2007. Various characteristics of literature were analyzed to observe prevailing trends in Library and Information Science (LIS) research in Pakistan. Analysis includes subject covered in articles published in PLISJ; geographic distribution of authors; country of origin of authors; collaboration among authors; contributions to literature on the basis of gender; type of research; language of the article and publication output of PLISJ. Results of the study are compared to previous studies and some recommendations are given for the advancement of LIS research in Pakistan.
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“LIS Research in Pakistan: An Analysis of Pakistan Library and Information Science Journal 1998-2007,” Mirza Muhammad Naseer,
Dr. Khalid Mahmood. Library Philosophy and Practice 2009 (June)
1
Library Philosophy and Practice 2009
ISSN 1522-0222
LIS Research in Pakistan: An Analysis of Pakistan Library and
Information Science Journal 1998-2007
Mirza Muhammad Naseer
Librarian
Institute of Space Technology
Islamabad, Pakistan
Dr. Khalid Mahmood
Chairman, Department of Library and Information Science
University of the Punjab
Lahore, Pakistan
Introduction
Pakistan has a long history of library research which starts as early as 1916 when Asa Don
Dickinson wrote the Punjab Library Primer for library training classes at the University of the Punjab,
Lahore (Kaser, 1992). This was the first ever textbook written outside the United States in the field of
Library Science. Since then this tradition has continued and LIS professionals have been regularly
contributing to library and information science literature. A number of journals and magazines emerged in
Pakistan from time to time but could not continue due to variety of problems.
Pakistan Library & Information Science Journal (PLISJ), which was known as Pakistan Library
Bulletin (PLB) till 2003, is the only journal in the field of library and information science which has survived
despite the hardships of the time and is being continuously published by Library Promotion Bureau since
1968 (Khan & Samdani, 1997). It started as an irregular publication in 1966 but changed to a regular
quarterly publication in September 1968 (Haider, 1988). Dr. G. A. Sabzwari was its founding chief editor
and he is still performing this work. Mr. M. Adil Usmani also worked as its chief editor (Samdani, 1998). A
total of 38 volumes (102 issues) of PLISJ/PLB have been published till December 2007.
PLISJ has played an important role in keeping the library professionals aware of latest national
and international issues. It has also helped LIS community in Pakistan and abroad to disseminate their
professional ideas and knowledge through their writings. It published special issues on different
occasions to emphasize on the topics of current interest for Pakistani librarianship (Usmani, 1995).
Articles published in PLISJ portrayed the changing situation of librarianship in Pakistan over the years. It
is the major source of information for anyone who wants to know about librarianship in Pakistan during
last four decades. Its progress was in line with the professional growth of the country. It faced problems
when Pakistani librarianship was at its low pace and it flourished when Pakistani librarianship did well.
Therefore, systematic analysis of PLISJ can reveal trends in Pakistani librarianship.
Analysis of PLISJ was considered essential to understand the trends in LIS research in Pakistan.
An analysis of the subject covered and authorship characteristics of literature published in Pakistan
Library & Information Science Journal during 1998-2007 have been presented in this study. Type of
research publications, language of the articles and publication output of PLISJ has also been analyzed.
“LIS Research in Pakistan: An Analysis of Pakistan Library and Information Science Journal 1998-2007,” Mirza Muhammad Naseer,
Dr. Khalid Mahmood. Library Philosophy and Practice 2009 (June)
2
Literature Review
A review of related literature reveals that a number of authors have presented the results of the
analysis of library and information science literature in different countries. For example, Khan & Samdani
(1997) analyzed the literature published in Pakistan Library Bulletin (PLB) during 1968-1997. They
presented subject review of the literature along with authorship characteristics and analysis of citations.
Major areas of interest for the authors of PLB, according to this study, were academic libraries,
librarianship, information and computer technology, bibliography and bibliographical control.
Mahmood (1996) presented a statistical and subjective review of the status of Library and
Information Services in Pakistan by analyzing journal articles written on Pakistani librarianship in foreign
journals. Findings of this study show that the most popular subject among the authors on Pakistani
Librarianship in foreign journals was Library and Information Science education. This study also
presented various authorship characteristics for the articles included in the analysis.
Kajberg (1996) conducted a content analysis of Danish LIS serial literature to determine the
subject focus of the literature from 1957-1986. Analysis of two non-research journals, Bibliotek 70 and
Bogens Verden, was conducted. The most popular subject area in the profession was Individual
Libraries/National Library System, or the geographical viewpoint on libraries and library systems. Area of
major concern in the profession was Cooperation, Networks, and Resource Sharing. This study reveals
that theoretical aspects of librarianship and information science received little attention.
Tiew (2006) explored the authorship characteristics in Sekitar Perpustakaan, one of the LIS
periodicals published from Malaysia, during 1994-2003. The results of this study discovered that 79%
articles were written by single author and female authors dominated by contributing 65.74% articles.
Tiew, Abrizah & Kiran (2002) carried out a bibliometric examination of the articles published in
Malaysian Journal of Library and Information Science during 1996-2000 and found that the percentage of
multi-authored articles was slightly higher than the single authored articles. The most popular subject,
according to this study, was scientific and professional publishing.
Alemna (1996) analyzed the articles published in The African Journal of Library, Archives and
Information Science (AJLAIS) during 1990-1995 and found that the major areas of interest were
information technology, rural libraries and status/image of librarians. The study noted an increase in
publications from Africa and increase in number of female contributors.
Ocholla & Ocholla (2007) investigated the research in LIS in South Africa during 1993-2006 and
observed that research collaboration through co-authorship was encouraging at 69 percent. According to
the results of this study management, information retrieval and information services dominated the LIS
research in South Africa.
Zemon & Bahr (1998) examined the articles published by college librarians in two journals,
College & Research Libraries and Journal of Academic Librarianship, during 1986-1996 and concluded
that college librarians contributed less number of articles to professional literature than their counterparts
in universities. Study shows that college librarians wrote less about technology, systems-related issues
and cataloging. Roughly equal number of articles was contributed by both male and female authors.
Buttlar (1999) conducted a citation analysis of 61 library science and information science
dissertations to acquire knowledge about the Information Sources used in LIS doctoral research. Analysis
showed that about 80% of citations were to single authors and that LIS scholars relied heavily on journal
literature for their research.
“LIS Research in Pakistan: An Analysis of Pakistan Library and Information Science Journal 1998-2007,” Mirza Muhammad Naseer,
Dr. Khalid Mahmood. Library Philosophy and Practice 2009 (June)
3
Objective
The objectives of this study, covering the period 1998-2007, were:
To analyze LIS literature published in PLISJ so that areas of interest for LIS researchers and
current trends may be explored.
To examine authorship characteristics of LIS literature published in PLISJ.
To know the publication output of PLISJ.
To study the type of research and language of articles published in PLISJ.
Significance
Professional development of a country in any field can be gauged through the literature produced
in that field. As PLISJ published major part of LIS research output during the period of the study, analysis
of this research output is important to understand status of LIS research in Pakistan. Results of this study
will help the researchers to identify the prevailing trends and interests of LIS researchers in Pakistan.
Areas of least interest can be focused for future research so that all areas of the profession can progress
concurrently. Results for the growth of library and information science literature published in PLISJ will
illustrate how library and information profession has progressed over the years in Pakistan.
Finally, some recommendations have been made for the promotion and encouragement of library
and information science research in Pakistan on the basis of the findings of this study. These
recommendations will help in improving the future LIS research in Pakistan.
Methodology
A total of 236 articles from 30 issues of PLISJ (formerly PLB) were examined for subjects
covered, geographic distribution of authors, country of origin of authors, collaboration among authors, and
gender of authors. Research type, language of articles and publication output of PLISJ were also
analyzed. An identification and coding frame was prepared for identification and reliable coding of articles
to be analyzed. Data were then entered in SPSS software and analyzed to observe different
characteristics of the published literature.
Different classification schemes including DDC, LC Classification, JITA and a number of
classification schemes prepared by individuals for their studies were considered for subject categorization
of the articles. It was noted that JITA provided comprehensive classification of different LIS subjects and
at the same time it was found very simple. It was, therefore, decided to use JITA for subject
categorization of articles in this study.
Porto & Marchitelli (2006) explain that JITA is the acronym of the names of authors (Jose Manuel
Barrueco Cruz, Imma Subirats Coll, Thomas Krichel and Antonella De Robbio) of the scheme. It is a
specialized scheme for LIS field and was created to classify the documents of E-LIS (E-prints in Library
and Information Science). In this scheme LIS subjects have been divided into 12 main categories which
are further divided into more than 120 sub categories.
Limits of the Study
This study was limited to subjects covered and authorship characteristics of the literature
published in PLISJ during 1998-2007. Besides this, type of research, language of the articles and
publication out of PLISJ were also examined. News & Views, book reviews, and editorials were not
included in the study.
“LIS Research in Pakistan: An Analysis of Pakistan Library and Information Science Journal 1998-2007,” Mirza Muhammad Naseer,
Dr. Khalid Mahmood. Library Philosophy and Practice 2009 (June)
4
Results and Discussion
Analysis of data discovered some interesting trends in LIS research in Pakistan. It was observed
that fewer articles were published during 1998-2002 and mostly combined issues were published
whereas number of articles increased and publication of the issues was regular during 2003-2007. On
average, 7.87 articles per issue and 23.60 articles per year were published during the period under study.
Other results and a brief discussion are presented in the following paragraphs.
Table 1. Ranked List of Subjects Covered in PLISJ (1998-2007)
Rank
Subject Categories
Frequency
Percentage
1
Industry, profession and education
93
39.4
2
Libraries as physical collections
42
17.8
3
Information technology and library technology
24
10.2
4
Theoretical and general aspects of libraries and information
15
6.4
5
Users, literacy and reading
14
5.9
6
Information sources, supports, channels
10
4.2
7
Technical services in libraries, archives, museum
9
3.8
8
Information treatment for information services
8
3.4
8
Management
8
3.4
9
Publishing and legal issues
7
3.0
10
Information use and sociology of information
5
2.1
11
Housing technologies
1
0.4
Total
236
100.0
Table 1 shows that the most popular subject category among the authors of PLISJ is “Industry,
profession and education” with 93 articles out of 236 (39.4%) followed by “Libraries as physical
collections” with 42 articles (17.8%) and “Information technology and library technology” with 24 articles
(10.2%). Other categories received little attention of the authors. These results are similar to the results of
the study conducted by Mahmood (1996) where “Library and Information Science education” was found
as the most popular subject.
Management (3.4%); Publishing and legal issues (3.0%); Information use and sociology of
information (2.1%) and Housing technologies (0.4%) were found to be the subjects of least interest for
authors of the journal. This result shows a trend opposite to the one observed by Ocholla & Ocholla
(2007). They found management as the dominant area of LIS research in South Africa.
The result of this study illustrates that PLISJ authors are writing comprehensively about their
profession so that fellow professionals remain aware of different developments in the profession. Result
for “Information technology and library technology” (10.2%) is not very much encouraging in the age of
information and communication technologies. Information technology was found as the most popular
subject in the study conducted by Alemna (1996). However, when we compare these results to the results
presented by Khan & Samdani (1997), we see almost 200% increase (10.2% from 5.13%) in this category
of literature which is very encouraging.
Table 2 shows that most contributions to PLISJ (69.9%) came from the Asian countries followed
by authors from North America (5.1%). One article was jointly written by authors from Asia and Europe.
The journal could not get much attention of the authors from other parts of the world. Geographic details
for authors of 54 articles (22.9%) were not available.
“LIS Research in Pakistan: An Analysis of Pakistan Library and Information Science Journal 1998-2007,” Mirza Muhammad Naseer,
Dr. Khalid Mahmood. Library Philosophy and Practice 2009 (June)
5
Table 2. Geographic Distribution of Authors
Geographic Area
Frequency
Percentage
Asia
165
69.9
North America
12
5.1
Europe
4
1.7
Asia and Europe
1
0.4
Not available
54
22.9
Total
236
100.0
Table 3. Country of Origin of the Authors
Country
Frequency
Pakistan
158
USA
10
Saudi Arabia
5
U.K.
4
Canada
2
Kuwait
1
Bangladesh
1
Pakistan and U.K.
1
Not available
54
Total
236
When we go into further details for authors' location (Table 3), we find that Pakistani authors are
dominant in PLISJ with 158 articles (66.9%) followed by American authors (4.2%). This trend is due to the
fact that PLISJ is a Pakistani journal and it supports Pakistani LIS researchers in publishing. This trend
was supported by the study of Ocholla & Ocholla (2007) which reported that South African authors largely
published in local journals.
When we analyze the state of collaboration among authors of PLISJ (Table 4), we observe that
they prefer individual work as 209 articles (88.6%) out of total 236 were written by a single author. Only
17 articles (7.2%) were jointly written by two authors. At five occasions (2.1%) authorship details were not
available.
Table 4. State of Collaboration among Authors Contributing to PLISJ
Number of Collaborating Authors
Frequency
Percentage
Single Author
209
88.6
Two Authors
17
7.2
Three Authors
4
1.7
Four Authors
1
0.4
Not Known
5
2.1
Total
236
100.0
“LIS Research in Pakistan: An Analysis of Pakistan Library and Information Science Journal 1998-2007,” Mirza Muhammad Naseer,
Dr. Khalid Mahmood. Library Philosophy and Practice 2009 (June)
6
This trend of working single-handedly is in conformity with the results of previous studies like
Tiew (2006) and Buttlar (1999). It also does not seem very strange keeping in view that male-female
interaction is not very common in higher education institutions in Pakistan.
Analysis revealed that male authors dominated the LIS research scene in Pakistan with 144
(61%) contributions (Table 5). Both male and female authors joined hands to write only nine articles
(3.8%). Gender of the author could not be determined for seven articles (3.0%). Five articles were found
without author details while this author was unable to determine the gender of two authors due to
unfamiliar names.
Table 5. Articles Contributed on the Basis of Author's Gender
Gender
Frequency
Male
144
Female
76
Both (Male & Female)
9
Cannot determine
7
Total
236
Comparison of this result with that of Khan & Samdani (1997) reveals that contribution to PLISJ
from female authors has increased considerably (from 8.89% to 32.2%). It highlights that female LIS
professionals are now taking active part in research activities resulting in increased number of
publications from them. These results are in accordance with the findings of Alemna (1996).
Tiew (2006) found results opposite to the results of this study i.e. female author contributed more
than male authors in Malaysian journal Sekitar Perpustakaan. However, he acknowledged that his finding
differ much from the previous studies. Buttlar (1999) also observed results similar to this study.
Major part of PLISJ comprises of descriptive articles (Table 6) with 144 articles (61%) followed by
historical research based articles (17.8%). Writings based on empirical research accounted for 12.3%
only. These findings differ a great deal from that of Tiew et al (2002) where 69.74% of articles were
research oriented.
Table 6. Articles Published by Type of Research
Type of Research
Frequency
Descriptive
144
Historical
42
Empirical
29
Case Study
21
Total
236
Comparison of these results with that of Khan & Samdani (1997) shows that percentage of
descriptive writings in PLISJ has decreased (from 77.27% to 61%) in last decade while percentage of
articles based on empirical research has increased (from 4.15% to 12.3%). It is definitely a healthy sign
for LIS profession in Pakistan and needs to continue in future also. Proportion of case studies has
decreased (from 13.43% to 8.9%) during the last decade.
“LIS Research in Pakistan: An Analysis of Pakistan Library and Information Science Journal 1998-2007,” Mirza Muhammad Naseer,
Dr. Khalid Mahmood. Library Philosophy and Practice 2009 (June)
7
PLISJ published articles in English and Urdu languages. Two third (65.7%) of them were in
English while one third (34.3%) were in Urdu (Table 7). This trend is due to the reason that medium of
instruction at higher education level in Pakistan is English and most of LIS literature available in Pakistan
is also in English language. Though it is the second official language of Pakistan but most of the office
work is done in it. Therefore, authors feel comfortable to write in English.
Table 7. Distribution of Articles Published by Language
Language
Frequency
Percentage
English
155
65.7
Urdu
81
34.3
Total
236
100.0
The comparison of the result with that of Khan & Samdani (1997) discloses that percentage of
articles published in PLISJ in Urdu (Pakistan's national language) in last 10 years has increased from
23.51% to 34.3%.
PLISJ published a total of 236 articles during 1998-2007 at the rate of 7.87 articles per issue and
23.6 articles per year (Table 8). It published 67 articles in 10 issues during first five years of the study
(1998-2002) while 169 articles were published in 20 issues during last five years (2003-2007). A sharp
increase was observed during last two years which accounted for 85 articles (36%).
This result is fairly understandable because LIS profession in Pakistan is facing a number of
problems and research is not an easy job here. These problems have been discussed in detail by Haider
(1978), Anwar (1981) and Asghar (1992). However, sharp increase in articles contributed to PLISJ may
be attributed to the efforts of Higher Education Commission (HEC) to promote research culture in
Pakistan and the commencement of M. Phil and PhD programs at University of the Punjab in Lahore and
University of Karachi in Karachi.
Table 8
Publication Output of PLISJ (1998-2007)
Year of Publication
Frequency
1998
10
1999
13
2000
18
2001
14
2002
12
2003
31
2004
26
2005
27
2006
48
2007
37
Total
236
“LIS Research in Pakistan: An Analysis of Pakistan Library and Information Science Journal 1998-2007,” Mirza Muhammad Naseer,
Dr. Khalid Mahmood. Library Philosophy and Practice 2009 (June)
8
Conclusion
The results of this study provide insight into different characteristics of literature published in
PLISJ during 1998-2007. On the basis of these results we can conclude that the most popular subject
area for the authors of PLISJ is “Industry, profession and education” and they are now contributing more
articles on Information technology. Housing technologies (Resources Centre, Library archive and
museum buildings, Furniture, Vehicles and Safety etc) is the most neglected area of LIS research in
Pakistan.
Mostly Asian authors, predominantly Pakistanis, contribute to the journal. The state of
collaboration among authors of PLISJ is not very encouraging as majority of the authors prefer to work in
isolation. Male authors lead the LIS research scene but contributions from female authors have
increased. Descriptive articles still represent major part of PLISJ but articles based on empirical research
have increased. Mostly, articles written in English language are published in the journal but number of
articles written in Urdu has improved.
PLISJ published fewer articles during 1998-2002 and its publication was not regular as two issues
were combined for whole of this period. However, situation changed during last five years and publication
of the journal is regular now with sharp increase in the number of articles published. There are variations
in details of information about authors as information was either missing, not provided or intentionally left
by authors.
Recommendations
Working and future Pakistani LIS professionals should be trained in research methodology and
use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) so that they can actively participate
in research activities.
Research facilities and environment, which is conducive for research, should be provided to
promote LIS research in Pakistan.
LIS researchers, especially faculty members, should also pay attention to the neglected areas of
research like Management, Publishing and legal issues, Information use and sociology of
information, and Housing technologies.
Team work should be encouraged by LIS faculty through assigning group projects so that habit of
collaboration is developed among future LIS professionals.
Publicity of PLISJ should be done actively to attract authors from other parts of the world.
Launching of the journal website may be helpful in this regard.
Despite the fact that contribution to LIS literature from female professionals has increased, they
need to be encouraged by providing them incentives to take part in research activities.
Emphasis on practical research should be increased in LIS schools so that future professionals
are trained for such research activities.
LIS professionals in Pakistan should consider their national language also for dissemination of
their knowledge and ideas while PLISJ should encourage writing of articles in Urdu by providing
more space for them.
PLISJ should provide detailed information about authors. It will certainly help readers to know
about the background of authors. It will also facilitate future analysis of literature published in the
journal.
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... Mahmood and Shafique (2010) acknowledged that outstanding efforts were being made by HEC to promote the research culture in Pakistan. However, despite these efforts, various studies conducted in the current decade have painted a grim picture of the research culture prevailing in Pakistan (Ameen, 2013;Haider and Mahmood, 2007;Mahmood and Shafique, 2010;Naseer and Mahmood, 2009;Samdani and Bhatti, 2011). ...
... Wu (2020) and (Candy et al., 2019) also argued the need for training for PGRs. Mahmood and Shafique (2010) and Naseer and Mahmood (2009) suggested that better research training in research methods and promotion of research culture through conferences, seminars and workshops could improve the research scenario in Pakistan. The authors suggest that research facilities, capacity building of researchers in research methodology and promoting the use of information technology can help develop a progressive research culture in Pakistan. ...
... However, the skills most highly desired by them were found including "topic selection, research design and methodology, mixed-methods approach, checking the reliability and validity of the scale, methods of discussion of the results/findings with the help of published research, qualitative data analysis techniques, quantitative data analysis tools, publishing the research work, effective academic report writing, citing the information sources in scholarly writings, literacy skills (ILS) for literature searching and evaluating and reference management tools." The present findings are consistent with the studies by other researchers (Ameen, 2013;Ameen et al., 2019;Aryani et al., 2020;Aslam et al., 2004; GKMC Aslam et al., 2005;Hyder et al., 2003;Khan et al., 2009;Khan et al., 2006;Mahmood and Shafique, 2010;Moley and Wiles, 2011;Naseer and Mahmood, 2009;Rehman, 1992;Samdani and Bhatti, 2011;Wanigasuriya, 2011), who have also found that researchers are required to be equipped with the research skills of topic selection, critical and logical thinking, writing skills, proposal writing, research design and methodology, data analysis techniques, report writing, analytical and critical literature reading skills for the mobility of published research, use of information technology tools, reviewing the literature, techniques for analyzing data, information literacy and critical evaluation of sources. Results also proved that differences regarding research skills exist between PGRs of different institutions and of programs. ...
Training needs assessment of postgraduate researchers of Pakistan
Article
Full-text available
  • Aug 2021
Purpose Researchers’ competencies are directly related to the quality and effectiveness of the research they produce. However, training opportunities for education and conducting research seem to be limited for the growing research culture in Pakistan. The purpose of this study is to assess the research-related training needs of postgraduate researchers (PGRs) of Pakistan. Design/methodology/approach A quantitative research approach was used to conduct the study using a questionnaire. Non-random sampling technique was used to collect the data from the postgraduate (MPhil/MS and PhD) researchers enrolled in the two well renowned Pakistani Universities. Findings Results of the study confirmed that PGRs were interested in developing their skills in various areas of a research project such as topic selection, research design and use of data analysis software. Findings also highlighted that respondents were interested in learning reference management tools for citing and managing the sources of information in their research work. Originality/value This is the first study, which investigated the training needs assessment of PGRs enrolled in two major Pakistani universities. The results may help in designing training programs, promoting a conducive research culture in the country and improving the quality of research being produced. This study provided a framework likely to be beneficial for quality enhancement cells, universities and organizations in organizing effective research training and development programs for researchers of Pakistan.
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... Wani et al. (2008) studied the growth of LIS literature and confirmed an increasing trend in the scholarly literature with USA and UK among the top contributors. Naseer and Mahmood (2009) conducted a study on the LIS Research in Pakistan with the aid of Pakistan Library and Information Science Journal from 1998 to 2007. The study confirms an increasing trend in the subject field. ...
... Previous studies also support our findings that validate an increasing and positive trend in the field (Bhakta et al., 2019;Garg and Sharma, 2017;Khanchandani, 2019;Larivière, 2012;Li et al., 2019;Naseer and Mahmood, 2009;Pandita et al., 2021;Siddique et al., 2021aSiddique et al., , 2021bSun and Yuan, 2020;Wani et al., 2008). ...
Tracking the research trends in the library and information science: a case study of India
Article
  • Jun 2022
Purpose The study aims to present an insight into the research landscape of Library and Information Science (LIS) by India using a bibliometric visualization tool. The study analyses the research growth and trends, highly cited articles, productive publication titles, institutional and country collaboration. Design/methodology/approach The data were downloaded from the Web of Science Core Collection for a period of 20 years and analysed through VOSviewer, a data visualization software. Findings The results indicate that the overall annual contributions are increasing, although with uneven and slow growth from 2001 to 2014. However, the highest contributions and impact is witnessed over the past few years. All the top 10 cited papers are related to the area of information processing and management. The visualization technique made it clear that the area of research has made a transition from traditional concepts of library and information to novel ones involving big data, machine learning, altmetrics, etc. Also, the Indian Institute of Technology System, the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research and the Indian Institute of Management System have made the highest contributions. Furthermore, India shares maximum collaborations with the USA, followed by England and China. Research limitations/implications The findings of this study would help readers to gain understanding about the contribution of India for the development of the LIS. It would also help researchers to identify the hotspots and left out areas of research in the Indian context that require further investigation, thus would help in policy decisions and future research. Furthermore, researchers will be sensitized about the network visualizations that can also help them to get connected with the peers. The study can also help the journals to recognize the trending topics, which will provide the researchers with the opportunities to work on the same. Funding agencies can also be benefitted by the findings of the current study as they will be informed about the research areas which need to be funded. Originality/value There are not many research studies that highlight the research trends in the area of LIS from India and visualize the collaboration among institutions and countries. The study tries to showcase the research trends and collaborative frameworks in the field of LIS in terms of network visualization.
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... The study suggested to publish articles in PLISJ on contemporary LIS trends and improves the peer-review quality of papers before publication. Naseer and Mahmood (2009) scrutinized the 236 papers published in PLISJ from 1998 to 2007. A promising increase of papers has been observed from 10 papers in 1998 to 37 in 2007. ...
... Anwar and Saeed (1999) collected the data from LISA-PLUS, they included both locally and internationally published LIS material in their analysis and stated that more than half of the literature was published in PLB. Naseer and Mahmood (2009) (Haq, Faridi &Tanveer, 2021). ...
A Citation Analysis of Pakistan Library & Information Science Journal from 2004 and 2020
Article
Full-text available
  • Apr 2021
Aim: The citation analysis is one of the quality indicators of research publications. An attempt has been made in this study, to examine the impact of citations on the documents published in the Pakistan Library & Information Science Journal (PLISJ) from 2004 to 2020. Research Methodology: A retrospective research method was applied on the bibliographic detail of documents published in PLISJ and indexed in Library, Information Science & Technology Abstracts (LISTA) - EBSCO Host. The publication data of PLISJ consisted of 17 years from 2004 to 2020 was available on the website of EBSCO (http://web.b.ebscohost.com/). A total of 68 issues were published in this period but the record of 66 issues was available on the EBSCO website, the data of two missing issues was retained from the hard copies of the journal. The selected dataset was entered in the spreadsheet of the Micro-Soft Excel Sheet for analysis. The record of citations was taken from Google Scholar. Standard Error of Means (SEM) of total publications and citations was calculated by SPSS-22. The articles published in the English Language have been included for analysis. The editorials, book reviews, news items and Urdu Language documents have been excluded. The number of citations gained by each record has been retrieved from Google Scholar from 25th to 30th November 2020. Results: A total of 361 (SEM 21.24±1.32) articles have been identified with an average annual growth rate of 4.04. These documents received the ratio of the citations with SEM 37.94±4.90 and almost half of the documents (49.30%) have been cited. Ten papers quantified the status of h-Index. A strong correlation (0.958349) is found between the authorship pattern and number of citations, as multi-authors papers received more citations as compared to a single author. Dr. Rubina Bhattia and Dr. Khalid Mahmood emerged as the leading authors with 39, 21 papers, respectively. The highest citation impact has been received the document contributed by Dr. Mirza Muhammad Naseer and Dr. Khalid Mahmood. The maximum h-index scale (n=7) is gained by Dr. Khalid Mahmood. A bulk of documents was written on the subject category of “Biographical studies” whereas the highest citation impact has gone to the documents on “Reference Services”. Conclusion: The growing inclination of papers in PLISJ has been observed in the study. As the papers are getting older, the number of citations is also increasing. The authorship pattern has explicitly enhanced from single to multiple authors. Faculty should encourage scholars to submit quality research in national journals.
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... PLISJ started its publication in 1966 and it has been published on a quarterly basis. Three different bibliometric studies were performed on the PLISJ and these studies highlighted the various attributes of publications (Khan & Samdani 1997;Naseer & Mahmood 2009;Haq & Alfouzan 2019). PJIM&Ls is the official journal of Institute of Information Management University of the Punjab, it was started in 1995 as a Pakistani Librarian, later it was renamed as Pakistan Journal of Library and Information Science. ...
Research on Library and Information Science Services by Pakistani Authors from 2011 to 2020
Article
Full-text available
  • Jul 2022
The main objective of the current study is to quantify the research productivity in Library and Information Science (LIS) Services produced by Pakistani authors during the period of ten years from 2011 to 2020. The retrospective research method by applying the bibliometric technique has been used. The data of the publications on LIS Services by Pakistani authors has been browsed from various online and print sources. The selected bibliographic parameters of publications were inserted in Microsoft Excel-2016 for data analysis. The findings have been presented in tabular and graphic formats. A total of 1,258 documents were identified, contributed by 3,110 authors including multiple counts with an average of 2.47 authors per document. As a distinct name, a total of 858 authors were recognized and the share of international authors was slightly more than one-fifth (21%). About one-third of the total documents were published in the last two years of the study. Eighty-three percent of the documents were the results of research collaboration and the two-author pattern was found the preferred authorship pattern. The majority of documents (91%) were published as journals articles, followed by conference papers, book chapters and books. The highest number of papers were published in Pakistan Library and Information Science Journal, followed by Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal). Sixty-four percent of the authors contributed in one paper each while 69 authors contributed ten or more than ten papers each. Dr. Rubina Bhatti, Dr. Kanwal Ameen and Dr. Khalid Mahmood were found the top-three most productive authors with 103, 94 and 77 publications, respectively. The introduction of LIS doctorate programs and the establishment of the National Digital Library of Higher Education Commission put a healthy impact on the growth of publications. There is a need to inspire the practicing librarians that they should come forward to contribute to the research progress to develop LIS services. 1
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... It was also identified that out of 516 articles, 151 were published in impact factor journals. Naseer and Mahmood (2009) scrutinized the 236 articles published in "Pakistan Library and Information Science Journal" from 1998 to 2007. Chang and Huang (2012) used three bibliometric methods to investigate the interdisciplinary approach in LIS from 1978 to 2007, using direct citation, bibliographic coupling, and co-authorship. ...
Growth and Research Productivity on Library Automation: A Bibliometric Analysis
Article
  • Mar 2022
Purpose: This study examined the research productivity of library automation from 2015-to 2020. The study's objectives were to access the publications based on various parameters such as year-wise distribution, authorship pattern, the total count of citations, most cited publications and the most prolific authors. Methodology: The bibliometric method was applied in the study to analyze the characteristics and trends of papers published on library automation during the years 2015-2020. The data for the study was extracted from Google Scholar by using the bibliometric analysis software “Publish or Perish” and was further analyzed with MS Excel 365. Key Findings: It was found that 342 authors wrote a total of 190 papers during the study period. The results show that the highest number of publications (45) were published in 2019. The single personal authors' pattern was dominant, with 50.52% publications. A total of 355 citations were received by the papers and 118 (33.2%) citations were received in 2017. The paper also highlighted information about the most cited on the topic papers during the study period.
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... Anwar and Saeed (1999) Four studies were conducted on the publication's patterns of the Pakistan Library and Information Science Journal at different times. (Khan & Samdani, 1997;Naseer & Mahmood 2009;Haq & Alfouzan 2018; University Lahore Pakistan from 1908 to 2020. A total of 6,008 documents were identified and more than one-fourth (n=1,596; 26.56%) were published during the last three years of study. ...
Evaluation of Research Productivity of the Islamia University of Bahawalpur, Pakistan
Article
Full-text available
  • Dec 2021
The aim of this paper is to evaluate the research output and publications trends of the Islamia University of Bahawalpur (IUB), Pakistan for the last 42 years as observed in the Scopus database. IUB is the premier degree-awarding institution of the Southern Punjab, Pakistan and considerably subsidized their valuable share in national research growth. A quantitative bibliometric research technique was employed to enumerate the documents and their parameters. The publications record of IUB from 1980 to 2021 was retrieved on 2nd January 2022. The Microsoft Excel and VOSviewer software were used to appraise the dataset and presented the findings in tabular/graphic formats. The authors affiliated to IUB contributed the share of 2.52% in the national research growth of Pakistan with 6,209 documents and 62% of the documents were published in the last five years (2017-2021). The review papers and subscription-based documents gained more citations as compared to articles and open-accessed documents. The highest numbers of the documents were published on the subject area of "Agricultural and Biological Sciences" and about 15% of the documents were published in top-10 journals. Bahauddin Zakariya University was found on the top among the research collaborative institutions and China emerged as the top preference in the international research collaboration. The findings confirmed that a promising research growth has been explicit in the JIMP Vol.1 No.2 Haq, I. U (2021) 52 last decade. The outcomes of this study are significant for the IUB authorities and they can review their efforts to promote research culture. The findings of this paper would also serve as a benchmark for the future studies on IUB as well as the other universities of Pakistan.
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... Bibliometric studies are used for evaluating the written communication regarding their characteristics, behavior, productivity, and gauging of library services as well as nowadays it's also used for curriculum analysis (Naseer, 2009). Phugnar, Prashant stated in his Ph.D. thesis with the reference of (http://www.ref.ac.uk) "The UK government is considering using bibliometrics as a possible auxiliary tool in its Research Excellence Framework, a process which may assess the quality of the research output of UK universities based on the assessment results, allocate research funding" (Phugnar, 2014). ...
Evaluative Study of Ph. D. LIS Dissertations of Pakistani Library & Information Science Schools
Article
Full-text available
  • Jan 2021
The main objectives of the study were to acquire knowledge about the Information Sources used in LIS Doctoral research, to explore the use of impact factor research sources in their research productivity, to find out the used Pakistani journals fall in HEC criteria (W, X, Y, Z), to know the citation style which is mostly used and to know the geographical affiliations of journals and other resources. This research deals with Quantitative research design, in this research. Researchers used statistical methods with help of an excel sheet to check the sources used by Ph.D. researchers. Sources of Journals, books, theses, websites, conference proceedings, newspaper articles, reports, and online databases were evaluated according to Geographical Location, author Pattern (single author, co-authors are multiple authors), chronologically (Decade wise). Findings of the study reveal that 93 Websites were cited having different domains like gov, edu, org, and com. Pakistani websites were mostly used and other counties' websites are also used like USA, UK, Canada, Australia, and India. 56 Conference proceedings were cited, mostly used during the year 2005 to 2014, Conferences were organized in Pakistan and the USA mostly. 8 Newspaper articles were cited from only two countries, 6 articles from Pakistan and 2 from the USA. 103 Reports were cited from different countries mostly used from USA (40.7%), Pakistan (33.9%), and France (4.8%). However, (14.5%) data was used from other different countries, and (4.8%) data not identifying the country. these reports are mostly published from 2004-2013. 10 Online Databases the Library & Information Science Ph.D. Scholars have also used many online databases like Emerald Insight, Elsevier, SAGE Publications, etc. It is observed that the four databases are mostly cited. The database Emerald Insight has been cited the maximum number of times which is covering 49.22% (222) of the total database citations out of 451 database citations. Elsevier database has been placed at 2nd position by 19% (85), SAGE Publications placed at 3rd position 17% (77) and Taylor & Francis Group placed at 4th position 14% (60).
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... Three studies were found on Pakistan Library and Information Science Journal (PLISJ), first study was conducted by Khan and Samdani (1997), they included 506 papers published between 1968 and 1997, while the second study was done by Naseer and Mahmood (2009) All these studies disclose the various characteristics and publication growth of single LIS journals over the period of time. In the light of the literature review, it is found that S&TL has been part of some comparative bibliometric studies (Slutsky and Aytac (2016) but as a single journal, no comprehensive study has been conducted so far. ...
Science & Technology Libraries: A Bibliometric Analysis from 1980 to 2020
Article
  • May 2021
Science & Technology Libraries (S&TL) is the prestigious LIS journal, providing a platform for LIS practitioners serving in the libraries related to science and technology disciplines. S&TL has an adequate history of publications spread over four decades. The data for this retrospective study were obtained from the Scopus database. All kinds of documents, published between 1980 and 2020 were collected to evaluate the bibliometric indicators, such as periodic growth of publications, citations, average annual growth rate, authorship pattern, most productive authors, institutions, and countries. An explicit fluctuation rather decreasing trend in the number of documents was observed. The highest number of documents was published in the first decade (1980–1989), while the lowest number was found in the last decade (2011–2020). The documents published during the third decade (2000–2010) gained the maximum citation impact. The majority of documents consisted of articles and single-author pattern dominated; however, the review paper and multi-author publications received more citations. More than one-fifth of the publications were contributed by the United States, and the 18 topmost contributing institutions also belonged to the United States. The analysis of the flow of knowledge reveals that more than 60% of the citations are considered as the country’s self-citation.
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Library and Information Science Research at University of Karachi, Pakistan from 2000 to 2022: A bibliometric analysis
Article
Full-text available
  • Jul 2022
The study aimed to evaluate the bibliometric research of Library and Information Science (LIS) research contributed by the authors affiliated with the University of Karachi (UoK), Pakistan. The dataset was limited to 22 years from January 2000 to December 2021 and a list of evaluated papers has been proved from various online and print sources. Google Scholar has been employed to access the record of citation(s). Ninety-two papers were identified with at least one author affiliated with the UoK on the subject category of LIS and these papers were cited 707 times. Two-author collaboration was found to be the preferred authorship pattern and the papers written in this pattern got a better citation result. A number of research articles' contributions have been found that female authors are more than male authors. Syed Jalaluddin Haider, Munira Nasreen Ansari and Farhat Hussain emerged as the most prolific authors with 26, 25 and 15 papers, respectively. The papers published in international journals got higher citations and about three-fourth of the papers were published in the top 11 sources which in found from these research. The subject dispersion revealed that LIS Education and Library Management were the favorite areas. The characteristics of the ten most cited papers revealed that 60% citations were gained by these papers. The findings of this paper support understanding the research trends in LIS at UoK. There is a need to accelerate the research activities, revisit the research policies and promote the research culture in the UoK.
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Citation Analysis of Doctoral Theses Submitted During 2007 to 2016 in Pakistani Library Schools
Article
  • Jan 2021
Citation analysis means the analysis of the citation or reference which are available in reference section of the any research like journals article, reports, and MPhil, PhD theses or any communication, Citation analysis can be used as a tool for knowing reading habits of users in all field of knowledge. It is also helpful to librarian for understanding the interesting valuable literature of research scholar and to recognize the core journals of any field of knowledge. The primarily concerns of this research are to evaluate of the PhD theses which are submitted in the Pakistani library schools. The main objectives of the study were to reveal citations according to types of documents, to know geographical affiliation of publication, to find out authorship patterns and to know citation trends in journals. This study shows the worth of LIS research produced in Pakistan, trend of research in LIS community and which type of information format was popular among the LIS researchers. Total 1821 references were evaluated in this study. 374 Books were cited; the data showed that single author books were 258, co-authors 85 and multiple authors 31. 63 Theses were cited. 93 Websites were cited having different domains. 56 Conference proceedings were cited. 103 Reports were cited from different countries mostly used from USA (40.7%), Pakistan (33.9%) and France (4.8%). 1114 International Journal citation were found these journals were published different countries like USA, UK, Netherlands etc. The most cited journals were found JCR listed. In the case of Pakistani journals mostly from X and Y category journals, it means that Pakistani LIS researchers used high ranking references in their research.
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The Effect of Personal Characteristics on the Use of Information Sources by Social Science Researchers at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka
Article
Full-text available
  • Apr 2008
A study of the effect of some personal characteristics on the use of information sources by social science researchers was conducted at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. Forty lecturers were surveyed using a questionnaire. Three hypotheses were evaluated through the analysis of variance and F-statistic. Multiple comparison of item means as well as group means was conducted using Scheffé's test. The results show that position and education are good predictors of information use while professional experience has little power in explaining variations in information source use. The findings of the study support the notion that information source use is a result of complex set of interactions among variables. The examination of the interaction of some of the variables such as education, position, and experience provides insight in understanding the factors that influence the use of information sources.
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Library and Information Services in Pakistan: A Review of Articles Published in Foreign Journals
Article
Full-text available
The paper presents a statistical and subjective review of the journal articles on various aspects of library and information services in Pakistan. Only the articles published in the journals outside Pakistan are included. Articles are selected from four abstracting services, i.e. LISA, ISA, LSA, and ERIC. Authorship characteristics of 97 articles are analysed and compared with the previous studies of LIS periodicals. Authorship details include collaboration, occupation, affiliation, and the author's country. Other publication details of the articles include year, language, journal, and the country of publication. The findings show that library science teachers write more than the other professionals and the most popular subject is the library and information science education. Library science faculty at Karachi University contributes more articles in international journals. The articles are mostly published in English language journals and in English speaking countries, i.e. UK and USA.International Information and Library Reviewpublished more articles on this topic. Problems in library research in Pakistan are discussed and recommendations are made. A brief review of the articles is given according to 16 major subjects. A bibliography of the articles reviewed is also compiled.
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The Periodical Literature of Library and Information in Africa: 1996–2000
Article
An analysis of the papers published in the African Journal of Library, Archives and Information Science (AJLAIS) during the period 1996–2000. It is a follow-up of a similar study that covered the period 1991–1995. Seventynine papers were analysed by various factors, including the status of the authors, gender, country of origin, and types of research. When compared to the previous study, this study reveals an increase in the number of cited publications from Africa. The major areas of interest are information technology, publishing and records management.
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The Periodical Literature of Library and Information in Africa: 1990–1995
Article
  • Jun 1996
TheAfrican Journal of Library, Archives and Information Science(AJLAIS) is 5 years' old. Despite its relatively young age, it has become the most consistent and reliable journal for information professionals in Africa. This study is an analysis of the papers covered in the first five volumes (1990–1995). Sixty-nine papers are analysed including the status of the authors, gender, country of origin, and types of research. The type and origin of cited documents the authors used in writing articles were also explored. When compared to previous studies, this study reveals an increase in the number of publications from Africa. Of particular interest is the increase in the number of female contributors. The major areas of interest are information technology, rural libraries and status/image of librarians.
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An Analysis of Articles by College Librarians
Article
College librarians recognize research and publication as important components of professional growth and communication. Yet, compared to their counterparts in universities, they author fewer articles in the professional literature. This paper examines articles published by college librarians in College & Research Libraries and Journal of Academic Librarianship from 1986 to 1996 to provide a profile of college librarian authors and to identify factors that contributed to their success in publishing.
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What Do Students Want? A Focus Group Study of Students at a Mid Sized Public University
Article
  • Mar 2008
Presents the findings of a focus group study to determine how students find information and what role they see the library playing on campus. Results indicated that relied heavily on the Internet for their information needs but felt the played a vital role.
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Availability and Accessibility of Information Sources and the Use of Library Services at Michael Okpara University of Agriculture
Article
  • May 2008
Using the case study method, the author investigated the availability and accessibility of information sources and the use of library services in the university library, Michael University of Agriculture, Umudike, Abia State, Nigeria. The population was made up of 1,000 registered library users, with a random sample of 200. A response rate of 168 was recorded. The study revealed that information sources in the library are not readily available nor easily accessible and concludes that the independent variables of availability and accessibility have influence on, and a significant relationship with, the use of library services.
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