Issues in Science and Technology Librarianship, the Official Journal of ACRL's Science and Technology Section: A Historical Perspective
Electronic Resources Reviews Editor
Issues in Science and Technology Librarianship
nosorio@istl.org
Abstract
The journal Issues in Science and Technology Librarianship (ISTL) is analyzed based on articles and other items published in the last 15 years to develop a sense of its historical background; growth and development; authors' productivity and their affiliations; subject coverage; most cited papers; and the overall impact of the journal in science and technology librarianship.
Introduction
The purpose of this paper is to record the major events related to the creation and development of the web based journal Issues in Science and Technology Librarianship (ISTL) as well as to present a description of the creativity and productivity of this publication. Using well recognized bibliometric techniques for the description of a journal, the author presents the major components of this publication. The author also describes the impact this publication has produced particularly in the area of science and technology librarianship. Since data is limited, a complete bibliographic analysis is not possible but the main purpose is to present a basic description of the journal and its contribution to the LIS field. The article analyzes the web version of the ISTL journal from its introduction in the Fall of 1996 to the Winter of 2011.
Historical Background
The two major publications in the last 20 years of the Science and Technology Section (STS) of the Association of College and Research Libraries (ARCL) are STS Signal, a newsletter, and the journal Issues in Science and Technology Librarianship (ISTL). STS Signal has been the official newsletter of the Section and began publication in the Spring of 1986. Initially published only on paper, it was distributed to the membership by mail; the electronic version of STS Signal began in the spring of 1996 (STS Publications: STS Signal 2011).
ISTL was first published as Premier Issue, Number 0, in December 1991. The first editor, Harry Llull (1991) introduced it in the first editorial piece as an electronic publication (text based) "not meant to be an electronic bulletin board" with the purpose of addressing "issues of concern to science and technology librarians in a timely and spontaneous way." ISTL (text version) was an electronic newsletter; including mainly columns and some invited papers. When planning started for STS Signal to also be produced in electronic format for the year 1996, the function of both newsletters became an issue of discussion in STS circles (Duda 2011). The duplication of efforts was considered unnecessary; this was also the time when the World Wide Web started catching the attention of the information community. The last issue of the ISTL newsletter in text version was its Number 12 issue of January 1995. This publication was temporarily discontinued until the new web version, the journal, appeared as Number 13, in Fall 1996-Winter 1997.
Some of the actions taken by the STS Publication Committee to formalize the creation of the new ISTL journal are presented here. Gayle Baker and Susan Starr's (1996a) report of the STS Publications Committee (ALA Midwinter meeting, San Antonio, Jan 1996) published in the STS Signal issue of Spring 1996 announced the creation of an editorial board of the new ISTL: Andrea L. Duda, University of California, Santa Barbara; Elizabeth Brown, Georgia Institute of Technology; Elizabeth Choinski, University of Mississippi; Karen Croneis, Washington University; Norma Kobzina, University of California, Berkeley; Nestor Osorio, Northern Illinois University; Flora Shrode, University of Tennessee, Knoxville; and Daryl Youngman, Kansas State University. It also indicated that this group would work with Harry Llull to establish the scope of the new version of ISTL.
In the next issue of STS Signal (Fall 1996), Gayle Baker and Susan Starr (1996b) in their report about the STS Publication Committee (ALA annual meeting, New York, June 1996) announced that the new ISTL board, chaired by Andrea Duda, was in the process of creating a web site for this publication. Andrea Duda had been the Editor of ISTL since its move to the web in 1996 and her leadership and contributions for maintaining a high level academic publication must be recognized.
ISTL, web version, has an important place in the history of library and information science (LIS) publications. It is recognized as being the first LIS open-access journal (web version in 1996, text version in 1991); one of the first LIS journals to give full authors' rights to the creator; and one of the first LIS web based open-access journals. Another important distinction is that this journal has been produced since 1996 entirely by volunteers and without receiving any external funding for its development. The University Libraries of the University of California, Santa Barbara, has provided (technical support) server space for its storage; the journal does not have a page charge for authors, and its access is free of charge to all the people in the world (Duda 2011). By the end of 2010 the number of subscribers for its mailing list was 4,618.
Throughout the years the membership of the Editorial Board has changed mainly due to changes in the professional interests of the members or for retirement. The current board members are:
- Andrea L. Duda, University of California, Santa Barbara, Editor
- Elizabeth Choinski, University of Mississippi, Refereed articles
- Edward Eckel, Western Michigan University, Tips from the Experts
- David Flaxbart, University of Texas at Austin, Opinion columns
- Michael Fosmire, Purdue University, Science and Technology Sources on the Internet
- Norma Kobzina, University of California, Berkeley, Book reviews
- Nestor Osorio, Northern Illinois University, Electronic resources reviews.
The emeritus board members are:
- Elizabeth Brown, Johns Hopkins University (1996-2000)
- Karen Croneis, Washington University (1996-1999)
- Deborah Huerta, Colgate University (2005-2010)
- Jean Poland, Cornell University (2001-2004)
- Flora Shrode, University of Tennessee, Knoxville (1996-2001)
- Daryl Youngman, Kansas State University (1996-2009).
Scope of ISTL
The initial scope of the journal according to its number 20, Fall of 1998, was:
"Purpose: ISTL publishes substantive material of interest to science and technology librarians. It serves as a vehicle for sci-tech librarians to share details of successful programs, materials for the delivery of information services, background information and opinions on topics of current interest, to publish research and bibliographies on issues in science and technology libraries, and to communicate in more depth than the STS-L mailing list" (Issues in Science and Technology Librarianship 1998).
The Editorial Board in 2010, under the leadership of its editor Andrea Duda, decided to update the purpose of the publication. As a consequence of this initiative, the Editorial Board redefined the scope of the journal as:
"Purpose: Issues in Science and Technology Librarianship publishes substantive content of interest to science and technology librarians. It serves as a vehicle for sci-tech librarians to share successful initiatives and innovative ideas, and to publish peer-reviewed or board-accepted papers, including case studies, practical applications, theoretical essays, web/bibliographies, and research papers relevant to the functions and operations of science and technology libraries in all settings. Through its columns, ISTL also publishes reviews, opinions, and best practices. ISTL is committed to Open Access and allows authors to retain copyright for maximum distribution of accepted articles" (Issues in Science and Technology Librarianship, About ISTL 2011).
Changes and Additions to the Journal
The following excerpts taken from the STS Signal about reports of the STS Publications Committee presented at the American Library Association (ALA) annual and midwinter meetings from 1997 to 2011 shows some of the activities of ISTL in the last 15 years (STS Publications, STS Signal, 2011).
Table 1. Development and progress of ISTL
STS Signal issue | STS Publications Committee report |
Fall 1997 | The STS Publications Committee suggested to publish in ISTL extended reports about the STS Discussion Groups and the Research Forum |
Fall 1998 | ISTL mailing list membership has reached 1200 names. In 1998 Library Literature and INSPEC started indexing the journal. |
Fall 1999 | It was reported that more than 13,600 visits from 67 countries has occurred, last month, and that the Editorial Board is considering the creation of a section for double-blinded refereed articles. |
Spring 2000 | The creation of a refereed section is in progress. |
Fall 2000 | The referred section has been added, the web site of the journal has been refined for ease of navigation, and the number of visits continued to grow. |
Spring 2001 | ISTL has acquired a new web location at http://www.istl.org. The mailing list has about 2,500 names and in the last six months of 2,000 there were over 100,000 visits. |
Fall 2001 | The mailing list reached 2,724 subscribers, and in the first six months of the year over 172,000 visits occurred. |
Spring 2002 | The mailing list has 2,902 names, the number of submissions for refereed papers has increased and soon ISTL will publish two refereed articles per issue |
Fall 2002 | Library and Information Science Abstracts (LISA) started indexing the journal; the mailing list has 2,924 subscribers. The number of refereed articles continues to increase and the journal now has webliographies and database reviews. |
Fall 2004 | The mailing list contains 3,725 subscribers. The Library Instruction Round Table recognized issue Number 37 of ISTL as one of the Top Twenty publications for 2003 |
Spring 2005 | ISTL winter issue for 2005 was cancelled. The journal discontinued the column on conference reports, a new column, Viewpoints, will be created. |
Fall 2005 | The number of subscribers has reached 3,976, and in March 2005 the Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health (CINAHL) began indexing ISTL. Also, an article published in the May 2005 issue of College & Research Libraries about information-seeking behavior of physical science librarians ranked ISTL as a Number 2 resource for librarians surveyed. |
Spring 2006 | The subscription list has reached 4,071 members. |
Fall 2006 | The subscription list has reached 4,148 members. For the first time, a supplement to the journal was published with issue Number 46. It represents the papers of two conferences. |
Spring 2007 | The subscription list has reached 4,235 members. |
Fall 2007 | The mailing list has reached 4,324 members. |
Spring 2008 | The mailing list has reached 4,386 subscribers. The numbers of refereed article submissions has increased considerably and the next few issues will contain only refereed articles. |
Fall 2008 | The mailing list has reached 4,443 subscribers. |
Spring 2009 | A new column "Tips from the Experts" was created; it will provide basic information about topics of interest such as patents, surveys, etc. |
Fall 2009 | The mailing list has reached 4,591 subscribers. The percentage of refereed articles continues to increase; the Editorial Board is considering moving into an all-refereed content. |
Spring 2010 | The mailing list has reached 4,618 subscribers. The Editorial Board is considering moving into an all-refereed content. |
Fall 2010 | The ISTL statement of purpose and scope of the journal was updated by its Editorial Board. |
Spring 2011 | The 15th anniversary issue of ISTL will be published in the fall of 2011. A special commemorative issue for this occasion is being planned. |
ISTL Mailing List
As mentioned before, ISTL is an open-access journal and no formal registration is required to access it. The mailing list is a mechanism to communicate with its audience and also provides a tool to determine how the publication is reaching out to that audience.
Figure 1. Growth of the subscriber list
While counts of visits to the journal's web site were not consistently indicated in the reports of the Publications Committee in STS Signal, it can be noted (see Figure 1) that the subscriptions to the ISTL mailing list have grown steadily from 1,200 subscribers in 1998 to 4,618 subscribers in 2010. This remarkable growth may be an indication that the journal is an important publication for science and technology library and information professionals.
Topical Issues and Supplements
Since its creation in 1996, ISTL Winter, Spring and Fall issues were developed around a specific topic (a theme). Themes were determined by the Editorial Board, and the Summer issue has always been an 'all topics' publication. Examples of themes developed are: Innovations in instruction (Number 56); Web 2.0 (Number 55); assessment (Number 46); outreach and marketing (Number 45); facilities (Number 44); open access journals (Number 42); nontraditional reference services (Number 41); information literacy for science and technology (Number 37); digital archiving (Number 36); partnerships in sci-tech libraries (Number 34); assessment in sci-tech libraries (Number 33); and public service in the electronic library (Number 32). Theme issues were discontinued in 2010.
In addition, ISTL has published one supplement: number 46, supplement: Spring 2006. Theme: Papers from the XXII IUFRO World Congress (August 2005) and Frontiers in Forestry Information: A Centenary Conference (December 2005)
Peer Recognition
It is important to mention that in at least two instances, ISTL has been recognized by its peers: The Library Instruction Round Table recognized issue Number 37 of ISTL as one of the Top Twenty Publications for 2003. In an article published in the May 2005 issue of College & Research Libraries about information-seeking behavior of physical science librarians, Brown and Ortega (2005) reported that librarians surveyed ranked ISTL as the second most valuable journal they used. ISTL has the distinction of being currently indexed (fully or partially) by Library Literature, INSPEC, LISA, and CIJE (ERIC); and ISTL was also featured in the Special Libraries Association (SLA) magazine Information Outlook in their column Web Sites Worth a Click in July 2006 (Sosnowski 2006).
First Issue and First Articles
The first issue of ISTL included five board-accepted articles; three columns; two conference & workshops reports, see Figure 2.
As indicated in Table 2, articles published in the first 13 issues of the journal were invited papers and articles submitted by authors. Both went through the process of being accepted by the Editorial Board.
By the end of the 1990s, the membership of STS requested the editor consider publishing articles that go through a double-blinded refereed process (Duda 2011). In response to this need, the Editorial Board selected Buffy Choinski as the editor for refereed articles. A Referee Board was created and the first selection of its member was done in early 2000. The first refereed article was published in the summer of 2000.
Figure 2. ISTL Number 13, Fall 1996-Winter 1997 Table of Contents
The first three refereed articles published were:
- Free Scholarly Electronic Journals: How Good Are They?
by Michael Fosmire and Song Yu, Purdue University,
Published in Number 27, Summer 2000
- Comparing Patterns of Print and Electronic Journal Use in an Academic Health Science Library
by David H. Morse and William A. Clintworth, University of Southern California,
Published in Number 28, Fall 2000
- Web Sites of Science-Engineering Libraries: An Analysis of Content and Design
by Nestor L. Osorio, Northern Illinois University,
Published in Number 29, Winter 2001
Refereed articles have been a very successful initiative due to the need of librarians to have in their record of publications papers published in refereed journals, for the purpose of attaining promotion and tenure status.
Production Output
The professional contributions of the web version of ISTL to the STS Section and to librarianship in general are significant. During the last 51 issues, ISTL has published: board accepted articles, refereed articles, book reviews, database reviews, electronic resources reviews, journal reviews, other reviews, columns, conference reports, Internet resources, ACRL STS Section reports, tips from experts, viewpoints, and letters to the editor. Table 2 shows in more detail the number of items published for each category and the starting date for each of them.
Type | Number | Starting date | Status |
Articles (Board accepted) | 200 | Number 13, Fall 1996-Winter 1997 | Ongoing |
Refereed Articles | 67 | Number 27, Summer 2000 | Ongoing |
Book Reviews | 108 | Number 13, Fall 1996-Winter 1997 | Ongoing |
Database Reviews | 29 | Number 27, Summer 2000 | Ended with Number 46, Spring 2006 * |
Electronic Resources Reviews | 22 | Number 47, Summer 2006 | Ongoing |
Journal Reviews | 13 | Number 13, Fall 1996-Winter 1997 | Ended with Number 46, Spring 2006* |
Other Reviews | 1 | Number 31, Summer 2001 | Occasionally published |
Columns | 1 | Number 13, Fall 1996-Winter 1997** | A one-time feature |
Conference Reports | 67 | Number 13, Fall 1996-Winter 1997 | Ended with Number 40, Summer 2004 |
Internet Resources | 56 | Number 13, Fall 1996-Winter 1997 | Ongoing |
ACRL STS Section Reports | 4 | Number 34, Spring 2002 | Occasionally published |
Tips from Experts | 9 | Number 55, Summer 2009 | Ongoing |
Viewpoints | 24 | Number 42, Spring 2005 | Ongoing |
Letters | 23 | Number 13, Fall 1996-Winter 1997 | Ongoing |
Notes: * Database Reviews and Journal Reviews were converted into the new column Electronic Resources Reviews. ** The Column From the Director's Chair was published only one time.
Since its creation, ISTL has published on average 42 items per year. On average, it publishes 18 articles, seven book reviews, six Electronic Resources Reviews (also including database and journal reviews), four Viewpoints (since 2005), and four Internet resources. The other items have been discontinued or are published less frequently. Refereed articles are increasing in numbers in the last three years, and there has been a decline of board accepted articles, which represents the current emphasis of the Editorial Board on publishing more or only refereed articles, and since 2006, a steady production of the column Viewpoints.
Authors
ISTL is a unique academic publication; it is the official journal of the Association of College and Research Libraries, Science and Technology Section. It is also an open-access journal run and produced by a group of academic science librarians that provides their pro bono service with the purpose of enhancing communication in the field of science and technology librarianship. Similar bibliometric studies of journals such as the one done by Mata-Acosta, Jiménez-Fragozo, and Gorbea-Portal, (1998) about the Revista Mexicana de Astronomía y Astrofísica; and the one done about the Journal of Business Research (Knight, Hult, and Bashaw 2000) suggest that it is important to identify those who are the most productive authors publishing in a journal. Data presented in Table 3 are taken from the Table of Contents of the issues of ISTL (Issues in Science and Technology Librarianship 2011); and from its Author Index (Issues in Science and Technology Librarianship, Author Index 2011).
Table 3. Most productive authors
Column A | Column B | Column C |
Authors of Board approved articles and Refereed articles | Authors of Board accepted articles, Refereed articles, Internet Resources, Viewpoints, and Tips of the Experts | Authors of all kind of contributions |
|
Duda, Andrea L. (5)
|
Flaxbart, David (7)
|
Gelfand, Julia (11) |
Three groups of the most productive authors are displayed. Column A is the list of authors of Board accepted articles and refereed articles. Column B expands the list of authors by including authors of Board accepted articles, refereed articles, Internet resources, Viewpoints, and Tips of the Experts. Authors of all kinds of contributions are presented in Column C.
From its first issue, Number 13 in 1997, to issue 64 in 2011, 562 library professionals have authored or co-authored contributions to ISTL; 50 of them have published three or more pieces, see column C. It was also determined from the raw data, that 34 authors have published two or more board accepted articles; eight authors have published two refereed articles; one author has published two Tips from the Experts columns; and two authors have published at least two items in the Viewpoints columns. In column A, authors with an asterisk have published two or more refereed articles.
The results shows that Andrea L. Duda (5); David Flaxbart (4); and Rosemary L. Meszaros (4) have been the three most productive authors of articles. The three authors with the most pieces published are: Julia Gelfand (11); David Flaxbart (10); and Flora Shrode (8). Duda, Flaxbart, and Shrode are current or past members of the Editorial Board.
Authors' Institutional Affiliations
According to Zibareva, et al. (2008), it is important to identify from which organizations authors are contributing to a journal during a period of time. This information can be used by an editorial board for purposes such as seeking contributions from some institutions. Knight, Hult, and Bashaw (2000) and Buznik, et al. (2004) have also studied the distribution of authors. For them, institutional affiliation of authors is the key information for identifying the geographical areas of the contributors and the effect this might have on the content of the publication.
The ACRL-STS section is an organization comprised mainly of professionals from the United States and Canada, and this fact is evident in where the affiliated institutions of ISTL authors are located; 42 states of the United States are represented, and they correspond to the majority of the affiliated institutions. The second country with representation is Canada with authors from several of its provinces. Other countries represented with at least one entry are: Australia; Denmark; Egypt; India; Nigeria; Switzerland; Trinidad and Tobago; and United Kingdom. ISTL is mainly a US publication but with an international audience. As early as 1999, it was reported that "over 13,600 readers from 67 countries have visited ISTL" (Atkins 1999).
Table 4. Institutional Affiliations of Authors
|
University of California, Berkeley (21) |
Table 4 shows the institutional affiliations of authors with 6 or more counts. As noted, they are all from the United States; and most of them are members of the Association of Research Libraries (ARL). Nevertheless, the complete list -- not shown here -- includes a diverse group of institutions such as academic and special libraries; corporations; publishers; federal agencies; and research laboratories. Among the non-academic libraries founded are, for example: Amgen Inc; Bibliotheca Alexandrina; Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc; Cadence Group; CrossRef; Merck & Co. Inc; ISI - Thomson Scientific; Kluwer Academic Publishing; Los Alamos National Laboratory; National Science Foundation; Research and Technology Organization, NATO; and Smithsonian Institution Libraries; and many others.
Subject Coverage
The purpose of this section is to show the most cited subject areas published in ISTL based on the subject terms assigned by the database Library Literature and Information Science (LLIS).
The coverage of the journal in LLIS is not complete because some issues are missing and some documents are not included, but the data obtained is robust enough to give a proper representation of the topical areas published in ISTL.
Table 5. Most cited subject terms in LLIS
Subject terms | Principal subject term | Secondary subject term |
|
The Web; Web portals; Web sites |
51 13 7 |
61 23 8 |
Note: *Internet or Internet resources
LLIS bibliographic records usually are assigned one to four subject terms which are listed in order of importance. In this study, the first and second subject terms were collected for each article. In Table 5, the 35 most relevant topics identified are listed. To have a better sense of what the major topics covered by ISTL are, Principal subject terms and Secondary subject terms with the most hits were considered. As it is shown in Table 5, the following Secondary subject terms have higher hits: Information systems; Publishers or publishing; Reference; Engineering or Engineering libraries; Collection development; and Serial publications. The first 12 Primary subject terms are: The Web; Web portals; Web sites; Bibliographic instruction; College and university libraries; Periodicals; Internet; Scientific and technical libraries; Science and technology; Electronic journals; Surveys; Use studies; Biology or Bioinformatics or Biotechnology; and Chemical or Chemistry. These Primary and Secondary subject terms may represent the major topics covered by ISTL.
These results show that the papers published in ISTL closely correspond to the scope of the journal and that they are oriented to the specific audience of science and technology library and information professionals. In addition, the Book Reviews section and the section on Electronic Resources Reviews finely complement the works presented in this journal.
Most Cited Papers
The open-access software Publish or Perish (POP) was used to determine which papers from ISTL have been cited the most. The search was performed on June 5, 2011. Publish or Perish <http://www.harzing.com/pop.htm> has been developed by Professor Anne-Wil Harzing of the Faculty of Economics and Commerce, University of Melbourne, Australia with the purpose of helping members of the academic community to create reports that demonstrate the impact of their research endeavors. POP can generate several citation analyses based on the productivity of the author and it can also provide impact analysis for a specific journal title. Data for these analyses are mined from Google Scholar; therefore the results are as effective and accrued as the search results in Google Scholar (Harzing 2011).
Table 6. List of most cited papers
Cites | Per Year | Author(s) | Title | Year |
65 | 5.42 | D.H. Morse, W.A. Clintworth | Comparing patterns of print and electronic journal use in an academic health science library | Fall 2000 |
57 | 5.70 | I. Lawal | Scholarly communication: The use and non-use of e-print archives for the dissemination of scientific information | Fall 2002 |
56 | 4.67 | L.S. Mercer | Measuring the use and value of electronic journals and books | Winter 2000 |
54 | 4.91 | J. Sears | Chat reference service: an analysis of one semester's data | Fall 2001 |
37 | 2.64 | V.H. Resh | Science and communication: An author/editor/user's perspective on the transition from paper to electronic publishing | Summer 1998 |
35 | 3.18 | A.M. Gooden | Citation analysis of chemistry doctoral dissertations: An Ohio State University case study | Fall 2001 |
32 | 2.91 | R.E. Luce | E-prints intersect the digital library: inside the Los Alamos arXiv | Winter 2001 |
31 | 3.10 | M. Fosmire, A Macklin | Riding the active learning wave: Problem-based learning as a catalyst for creating faculty-librarian instructional partnerships | Spring 2002 |
27 | 3.86 | E.M. Corrado | The importance of open access, open source, and open standards for libraries | Spring 2005 |
27 | 2.25 | M. Fosmire, E. Young | Free scholarly electronic journals: How good are they? | Fall 2000 |
26 | 2.60 | S. Hiller | How different are they? A comparison by academic area of library use, priorities, and information needs at the University of Washington | Winter 2002 |
22 | 2.00 | C. Brown | The coming of age of E-prints in the literature of physics | Summer 2001 |
20 | 1.67 | D. Huerta, V.E. McMillan | Collaborative instruction by writing and library faculty: A two-tiered approach to the teaching of scientific writing | Fall 2000 |
19 | 3.17 | M. Burright | Google Scholar -- Science & Technology [Review] | Winter 2006 |
18 | 1.80 | V.A. Reich | Lots of copies keep stuff safe as a cooperative archiving solution for e-journals | Fall 2002 |
17 | 1.55 | N.L. Osorio | Web Sites of Science–Engineering Libraries: An Analysis of Content and Design | Winter 2001 |
16 | 1.23 | C. Hooper-Lane | Spotlight on the subject knowledge of chemistry librarians: results of a survey | Summer 1999 |
16 | 8.00 | B. Wagner | Open Access Citation Advantage: An Annotated Bibliography | Winter 2010 |
16 | 2.00 | J. Lee, K.A. Hayden, D. MacMillan | " I Wouldn't Have Asked for Help if I had to go to the Library": Reference Services On Site | Fall 2004 |
15 | 1.67 | K. Alpi | Bioinformatics training by librarians and for librarians: developing the skills needed to support molecular biology and clinical genetics information instruction | Spring 2003 |
15 | 1.67 | J. Hallmark, M.F. Lembo | Leaving science for LIS: interviews and a survey of librarians with scientific and technical degrees | Spring 2003 |
14 | 1.08 | D. Deckelbaum | GIS in libraries: An overview of concepts and concerns | Winter 1999 |
14 | 1.27 | J. Nabe | E-journal bundling and its impact on academic libraries: some early results | Spring 2001 |
14 | 1.27 | E. Pentz | CrossRef: a collaborative linking network | Winter 2001 |
14 | 1.08 | A. Taylor, C. Buckley, M. Burright, A. Prendergast, | Electronic publishing of scholarly journals: A bibliographic essay of current issues | Spring 1999 |
14 | 1.08 | D.C. Youngman | Library staffing considerations in the age of technology: basic elements for managing change | Fall 1999 |
14 | 1.08 | C. Orians, L. Sabol | Using the Web to teach library research skills in introductory biology: a collaboration between faculty and librarians | Summer 1999 |
13 | 0.93 | L. Wishard | Precision among Internet search engines: An earth sciences case study | Spring 1998 |
13 | 1.44 | E.M. Smith | Developing an information skills curriculum for the sciences | Spring 2003 |
12 | 1.00 | J. Laherty | Promoting Information Literacy for Science Education Programs: Correlating the National Science Education Content Standards with the Association of College and Research Libraries Information Competency Standards for Higher Education | Fall 2000 |
12 | 2.00 | S. Fingerman | Web of Science and Scopus: Current features and capabilities [Review] | Fall 2006 |
12 | 0.92 | D. Krieb | You Can't Get There from Here: Issues in Remote Access to Electronic Journals for a Health Sciences Library | Spring 1999 |
12 | 1.50 | J. Hallmark | Access and retrieval of recent journal articles: a comparative study of chemists and geoscientists | Summer 2004 |
12 | 0.86 | R.B. McGeachin | Selection criteria for Web-based resources in a science and technology library collection | Spring 1998 |
11 | 1.00 | D. Mahoney, M. Di Giacomo | Flashpoint@ LANL.gov: a simple smart search interface | Summer 2001 |
11 | 0.85 | C. Peterson, S. Kajiwara | Scientific literacy skills for non-science librarians: bootstrap training | Fall 1999 |
11 | 1.10 | R.D. Llewellyn, L.J. Pellack, D.D. Shonrock | The use of electronic-only journals in scientific research | Summer 2002 |
10 | 0.71 | E.R. Mobley | Ruminations on the sci–tech serials crisis | Fall 1998 |
10 | 1.43 | J. Kinikin, K. Hench | Survey of GIS implementation and use within smaller academic libraries | Spring 2005 |
10 | 1.67 | T.E. Chrzastowski, L. Joseph | Surveying Graduate and Professional Students' Perspectives on Library Services, Facilities and Collections at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign: Does Subject Discipline Continue to Influence Library Use? | Winter 2006 |
10 | 1.00 | J. Quigley, D.R. Peck, S. Rutter, E. McKee Williams | Making Choices: Factors in the selection of Information Resources Among Science Faculty at the University of Michigan. Results of a Survey Conducted July– September, 2000 | Spring 2002 |
10 | 1.67 | J.D. Duke, S. Hartman, A. Locknar | Reaching the engineering and science communities: new technologies and approaches at MIT | Winter 2006 |
Table 6 has five columns which correspond to: The number of times a paper has been cited; the average of citing per year; the name of the author(s); the title of each paper; and the year and issue of publication. There were 42 found to be cited at least 10 times. These 42 papers together have been cited 854 times. In this group of papers, the earliest one was from the Spring 1998 issue, the most recently published was in the Winter 2010 issue. The distribution by year is: 1988 = 4; 1999 = 7; 2000 = 5; 2001= 8; 2002= 6; 2003 = 3; 2004 = 2; 2005 = 2; 2006 = 4; and 2010 = 1. It is expected that it will take some time before a paper is cited several times, therefore it is interesting to see that an article published in the winter of 2010 already has 16 cites.
The results in Table 6 should be taken with caution, but it appears to be the best estimate of the number of papers that have been cited. The raw data included 413 papers. In addition to the items listed above there were also eight papers cited nine times; seven papers cited eight times; 13 papers cited seven times; 13 papers cited six times; 10 papers cited five times; 11 papers cited four times; 27 papers cited three times; 39 papers cited twice; and 43 papers cited once.
Table 7. ISTL coverage in Google Scholar
Year | PoP | Total papers | Excluding letters |
1996 | 4 |
|
|
1997 | 12 | 42 | 42 |
1998 | 25 | 51 | 48 |
1999 | 18 | 53 | 51 |
2000 | 24 | 68 | 62 |
2001 | 24 | 46 | 43 |
2002 | 25 | 53 | 50 |
2003 | 18 | 22 | 22 |
2004 | 24 | 44 | 44 |
2005 | 21 | 30 | 30 |
2006 | 59 | 53 | 52 |
2007 | 43 | 35 | 33 |
2008 | 32 | 29 | 29 |
2009 | 37 | 39 | 38 |
2010 | 39 | 46 | 45 |
2011 | 8 | 13 | 12 |
| 413 | 624 | 601 |
Table 7 shows the year by year coverage from Google Scholar as compared to the data obtained from the Table of Contents of ISTL. In column 4, Letters to the editor were excluded because normally they are not part of citation counts.
By splitting the data in Table 7 as follows, it is possible to conclude that the number of citations collected by Google Scholar has improved in the last 9 years.
From 2003-2011 Google Scholar coverage = 281
From 2003-2011 ISTL papers non including letters = 305
For this period Google coverage = 92.1 percent
From 1996-2002 Google coverage = 132
From 1996-2002 ISTL papers non including letters = 296
For this period Google coverage = 44.6 percent
In the sample collected by Publish or Perish, 413 items are identified as having been published in ISTL, which is 68.7 percent of all papers listed in the ISTL's Table of Contents (601). No attempt was made to determine which papers were not captured by Google Scholar and the raw data of 413 items shows papers from all the categories (refereed articles, viewpoints, etc). Excluding letters to the editor (23), 188 items are not included in POP.
Finally, the number of citations attributed to ISTL by POP is 1,467. Based on this figure, some basic bibliometric characteristics of ISTL are shown in Table 8.
Table 8. Basic characteristics of ISTL
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Papers: 413 |
Conclusion
It has been 15 years since the new web-based ISTL was first published. The results from this initiative, under the leadership of the general editor Andrea Duda, have been remarkable. ISTL has become a significantly important publication not only for science and technology librarians but also for all library and information science professionals. The fact that it is an open-access journal with no cost per page for the authors and with the most generous copyright policy for its contributors makes this journal a one-of-its-kind in the LIS field. The journal has published over 600 pieces from research articles to book reviews and opinion papers; 562 library professionals have authored or co-authored contributions to ISTL; these authors are come from hundreds of institutions. The subject coverage of the journal is solid and has been recognized by professional organizations and others. The most cited list shows that 44 papers have been cited more than 10 times, and that on average ISTL papers have been cited 97.80 times per year. Finally, the mailing list of ISTL with members from a large number of countries is a validation of having a worldwide readership.
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