Hard science or soft science: A bibliometric analysis of selected library science/information science journals.

摘要

The purpose of this study was to determine whether the discipline of library science is presently a hard or a soft science according to Price's Index, and to establish any trends developing over the last twenty years. In a 1978 dissertation by Cline, library science proved to be a soft science, with no discernible trends in the direction of a hard science.;A basic list of journal titles was sent to library school professors for their selection of ten library science and ten information science journals. The twenty resulting titles were studied, using citation analysis, for the years 1965, 1970, 1975, 1980, and 1985, and the data collected was loaded into a database to be analyzed by StatPac.;Major findings were: (1) According to Price's Index, the literature was a hard science. Two other Price norms for a hard science were applied and the literature did not satisfy either of the norms; (2) A comparison of library science and information science showed that information science journals ranked higher on Price's Index. When the other Price norms were applied, information science journals satisfied the citations per article norm and scored higher than the library science journals on the 80% periodical citation norm; (3) There is only a small percentage of author and journal self-citation, with a recent decline in both; (4) The list of most cited journal titles contained almost exclusively titles within the discipline; (5) There has been a continual increase in both the numbers of citations to journals outside the discipline and the ratio of these citations to the total journal citation count.;Five questions were answered: (1) Has there been a trend in the field of librarianship toward its becoming a hard science over the past twenty years? (2) Are the more traditional library science and less traditional information science journals different in regard to the issue of hard science vs. soft science? (3) How much self-citation occurs within the profession? (4) What are the more frequently cited journals? and (5) What are the more frequently cited journals from outside the profession?