Reflections on ISTL
A Descriptive Review of ISTL: The Journal of the Science and Technology Section of ACRL
Nestor L. Osorio
Professor
Northern Illinois University
nosorio@niu.edu
Abstract
Issues in Science and Technology Librarianship (ISTL), a publication of the Science and Technology Section (STS) of the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL), was created as a web-based, open access journal in 1996. This article is a descriptive review of ISTL contributions during the last twenty-five years.
Keywords: STEM open access; Issues in Science and Technology Librarianship; Science and engineering information services; ACRL STS Section.
Recommended citation:
Osorio, N. L. (2021). A descriptive review of ISTL: The journal of the Science and Technology Section of ACRL. Issues in Science and Technology Librarianship, 99. https://doi.org/10.29173/istl2691
Introduction
The creation of the World Wide Web occurred at CERN in 1989, but it entered the public domain only in April 1993. This action allowed for the creation of web-based journals, making the second half of the 1990s the beginning of the transformation of the academic scholarly world.
Crawford (2002), from The Research Libraries Group (RLG), in looking at the early development of open access publications, studied the success and endurance of free electronic journals from 1996 to 2001. In this work Crawford concluded: "Librarians have one long-standing success story: Issues in Science and Technology Librarianship, sponsored by ACRL's Science & Technology Section" (Crawford, 2002, p. 119). Two other LIS journals are mentioned in this study: MC Journal: The Journal of Academic Media Librarianship and LIBRES. According to Crawford's study it is possible to conclude that ISTL is one of the first three academic web-based open access LIS journals in the world. The MC Journal started publication in 1998, LIBRES (as a web-based publication) in 1996.
The first issue of the web-based ISTL was the combined issue number 13 for Fall 96 - Winter 97, published in 1996. Therefore, with this celebratory issue number 99, the journal has published 87 issues in the last 25 years. Prior to 1996, ISTL had a humble beginning in 1991, it was an ASCII-based newsletter distributed by email to the members of the ACRL STS. A description of the origins of ISTL was presented by the author in the ISTL 15th anniversary issue (Osorio, 2011).
Issue number 13 (1996) had five “Board Accepted” articles, one “Book Review”, one “Science and Technology Resources on the Internet” article, two “Conferences and Workshops” contributions, and one “From the Director's Chair” item. As in its humble beginnings in 1991, this 1996 issue did not have an editorial announcement of its new format, access, and coverage. The author understands this announcement was made in messages posted in the ISTL listserv.
More importantly, the first web-based issues had two articles discussing the status of digital journals at that time (Brown & Duda, 1996, 1997). In the first of these articles, the authors presented a summary of the state of online journals. Fourteen prominent STEM publishers are surveyed. In most cases, all or a partial number of their journals began online access during 1995, 1996, or 1997, and print subscriptions were combined with online access with or without additional fees. It was the beginning of significant changes in the scholarly publishing industry.
Purpose
The purpose of this article is to summarize the most significant productivity elements of ISTL.
Methods of Data Collection
In this descriptive analysis, bibliometric principles and practices such those presented in De Bellis (2009) are used. The following bibliographic data collections are used:
- Bibliographic information from every single issue and contribution (articles, columns, reviews, and others) were captured from the ISTL journal website.
- Searches in databases such as Library Literature and Information Science (EBSCO), Scopus, and Inspec were performed.
- Data from Google Scholar was used in Publish or Perish.
- As necessary, data were prepared in appropriate formats (text, CSV, and others).
- Finally, visualization capabilities from Excel were utilized.
Chronology of Sections and Columns
Through the years, sections and columns have been created, while others have been discontinued. This is not a complete chronology, rather a description of some of the changes that occurred.
| Section | Numbers | Starting Issue and Date | Ending Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Refereed articles | 177 | # 27, 2000 | Active (#98, 2021) |
| Board accepted articles | 209 | # 13, 1996 | #80, 2015 |
| Book reviews | 121 | # 13, 1996 | #84, 2016 |
| Science and technology resources in the Internet | 67 | # 13, 1996 | Active (# 93, 2019) |
| Electronic resources reviews | 57 | # 27, 2000 | Active (# 98, 2021) |
| Viewpoints | 40 | # 37, 2013 | Active (# 96, 2020) |
| Tips from the experts | 35 | # 55, 2009 | Active (# 98, 2021) |
| There's an app for that | 17 | #76, 2014 | Active (#98, 2021) |
| Short communications | 10 | # 81, 2015 | Active (#98, 2021) |
| Science librarianship & social justice | 4 | # 94, 2020 | # 97, 2021 |
| Webliographies | 1 | # 93, 2019 | # 93, 2019 |
| Sub total | 738 | ||
| Others (see note below) | 111 |
Two important changes occurred: Board Accepted articles were discontinued after issue 80 (2015), and Book Reviews were published only until issue 84 (2016).
Some other sections with the number of contributions are:
- Conference summaries / Conference reports / Conference and Workshops, 56
- Journal Reviews & Reports, 19
- Letters to the editor / Letters / Letters and Comments, 20
- Letter from the Editor, 8
- Announcements, 3
- Review / Other Reviews, 2
- Abstracts, 1
- Invited article, 1
- From the Director's Chair, 1.
Sub-total= 111. Therefore, a total of 849 contributions have been published from issue 13 (1996) to issue 98 (2021) for an average of 9.87 contributions per issue. In addition, the journal has published 30 issues with a designated theme.
Figure 1 shows the continuous growth of major sections of the journal; of particular interest is the increase in the number of Refereed articles.
Authors and Institutions
A total of 952 names are found as authors or coauthors of the 849 contributions. Of those, 89 were in three or more articles, 38 were in four or more articles. Table 2 is the alphabetical list of the most productive authors; those with five or more contributions.
| Name of Author | Number of Contributions |
|---|---|
| Ayers, Meredith | 6 |
| Barsky, Eugene | 6 |
| Bussmann, Jeffra D. | 5 |
| Butkovich, Nancy J. | 5 |
| Duda, Andrea L. | 7 |
| Duffy, Jane C. | 5 |
| Flaxbart, David | 14 |
| Fosmire, Michael | 10 |
| Gelfand, Julia | 12 |
| Hughes, Janet | 5 |
| Jensen, Ann | 6 |
| Johnson, Bill | 6 |
| Lafferty, Meghan | 5 |
| Osorio, Nestor L. | 7 |
| Shrode, Flora | 6 |
A total of 320 institutions were found for the 952 contributors. Most of these institutions are colleges and universities; other types are publishers, government agencies, public libraries, and research laboratories. Geographically there is a strong presence from the USA, followed by Canada and UK. Table 3 shows the most represented institutions.
| Name of Institution | Frequency |
|---|---|
| Cornell University | 22 |
| Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta | 13 |
| Indiana University Bloomington | 11 |
| Kansas State University, Manhattan | 13 |
| Northern Illinois University | 17 |
| Oregon State University, Corvallis | 13 |
| Pennsylvania State University, University Park | 31 |
| Purdue University, West Lafayette | 25 |
| University at Buffalo | 15 |
| University of California, Berkeley | 29 |
| University of California, Irvine | 13 |
| University of California, Santa Barbara | 19 |
| University of Colorado at Boulder | 10 |
| University of Florida, Gainesville | 10 |
| University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign | 14 |
| University of Maryland, College Park | 15 |
| University of Minnesota, Minneapolis/ St. Paul | 18 |
| University of Saskatchewan | 10 |
| University of Tennessee, Knoxville | 20 |
| University of Texas at Austin | 22 |
| University of Washington | 10 |
| Wayne State University | 10 |
Cited Articles and STS Metrics
A Search in Publish or Perish (12/22/21) by publication/journal name produced 754 results during the period from 1996 to 2021.
The most cited articles are shown in Table 4. Of the top ten, articles ranked first, fifth, ninth, and tenth are Board Accepted, while those ranked second, third, fourth, sixth, and eighth are Refereed articles, and the seventh ranked is an Invited article.
| Rank | Cites | Authors | Title | Year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 150 | AB Wagner | Open access citation advantage: An annotated bibliography | 2010 |
| 2 | 149 | I Lawal | Scholarly communication: The use and non-use of e-print archives for the dissemination of scientific information | 2002 |
| 3 | 144 | AM Gooden | Citation analysis of chemistry doctoral dissertations: An Ohio State University case study | 2001 |
| 4 | 136 | DH Morse, WA Clintworth | Comparing patterns of print and electronic journal use in an academic health science library | 2000 |
| 5 | 133 | EM Corrado | The importance of open access, open source, and open standards for libraries | 2005 |
| 6 | 128 | R Gilmour, L Cobus-Kuo | Reference management software: A comparative analysis of four products | 2011 |
| 7 | 126 | RE Luce | E-prints intersect the digital library: inside the Los Alamos arrive | 2001 |
| 8 | 126 | JA Sears | Chat reference service: An analysis of one semester's data | 2001 |
| 9 | 97 | S Hiller | How different are they? A comparison by academic area of library use, priorities, and information needs at the University of Washington | 2002 |
| 10 | 93 | LS Mercer | Measuring the use and value of electronic journals and books | 2000 |
| 11 | 91 | K Hoffmann, F Antwi-Nsiah, V Feng, M Stanley | Library research skills: A needs assessment for graduate student workshops | 2008 |
| 12 | 83 | S Fingerman | Web of Science and Scopus: Current features and capabilities. | 2006 |
| 13 | 80 | HG Rempel, JR Davidson | Providing information literacy instruction to graduate students through literature review workshops | 2008 |
| 14 | 61 | VF Scalfani, J Sahib | A model for managing 3D printing services in academic libraries | 2013 |
| 15 | 57 | D Dietrich, T Adamus, A Miner, G Steinhart | De-mystifying the data management requirements of research funders | 2012 |
| 16 | 57 | JR Garritano, JR Carlson | A subject librarian's guide to collaborating on e-science projects | 2009 |
| 17 | 57 | NL Osorio | Web sites of science–engineering libraries: An analysis of content and design | 2001 |
| 18 | 56 | HM Dess | Scopus | 2006 |
| 19 | 51 | M Strutin | Making research guides more useful and more well used | 2008 |
| 20 | 49 | VH Resh | Science and communication: An author/editor/user's perspective on the transition from paper to electronic publishing | 1998 |
| 21 | 48 | C Hightower, C Caldwell | Shifting sands: science researchers on Google Scholar, Web of Science, and PubMed, with implications for library collections budgets | 2010 |
| 22 | 45 | M Fosmire, S Yu | Free scholarly electronic journals: How good are they | 2000 |
| 23 | 42 | C Gabaldón, J Repplinger | GIS and the academic library: a survey of libraries offering GIS services in two consortia | 2006 |
| 24 | 41 | J Arendt | Are article influence scores comparable across scientific fields | 2010 |
| 25 | 40 | M Burright | Google Scholar—Science & technology | 2006 |
Table 5 shows bibliometric data created in Publish or Perish from data in Google Scholar. It is important to note the good reported values for the h-index of 32, and for the g-index of 54. For the definitions of these metrics the reader can consult Harzing (2011).
| Metrics |
|---|
| Publication years: 1996-2021 |
| Citation years: 25 (1996-2021) |
| Papers: 754 |
| Citations: 5074 |
| Cites/year: 202.96 |
| Cites/paper: 6.73 |
| Cites/author: 4.55 |
| Papers/author: 0.68 |
| Authors/paper: 1.48 |
| h-index: 32 |
| g-index: 54 |
| hI, norm: 28 |
| hI, annual: 1.12 |
Subject Coverage
The subject coverage was obtained based on citations collected in Library Literature and Information Science, which produced 746 items for the period 1996-2021. The data was then converted into an Excel file. After deleting name of libraries, institutions, states, countries and other nonsignificant topical terms, Table 6 shows the descriptors with ten or more hits.
| Descriptor | Frequency | Descriptor | Frequency |
|---|---|---|---|
| Websites -- Directories | 151 | Academic library collection development | 16 |
| Databases | 74 | Bibliography (Documentation) | 16 |
| Information literacy | 72 | Academic libraries & faculty | 15 |
| Librarians | 69 | Publications | 15 |
| Academic librarians | 63 | National Center for Biotechnology Information (U.S.) | 14 |
| Academic libraries | 61 | Chemistry | 13 |
| Science & technology libraries | 56 | Computer network resources | 13 |
| Library science | 49 | Data libraries | 13 |
| Electronic journals | 40 | Information science | 13 |
| Websites | 40 | Information sharing | 13 |
| Engineering | 35 | Learning | 13 |
| Open access publishing | 35 | Science students | 13 |
| Electronic books | 34 | Continuing education | 12 |
| Library orientation for engineering students | 34 | Information science -- Computer network resources | 12 |
| Science & technology librarians | 28 | Library orientation | 12 |
| Electronic information resources | 27 | Library outreach programs | 12 |
| Data management | 26 | Research libraries | 12 |
| Information literacy research | 25 | Sciences | 12 |
| Science | 25 | Bibliographical citations | 11 |
| Geographic information systems | 23 | Data quality | 11 |
| Citation analysis | 22 | Management of library collection development | 11 |
| Institutional repositories | 20 | Medicine -- Computer network resources | 11 |
| Mobile apps | 20 | Bibliography (Documentation) -- Software | 10 |
| Academic library research | 19 | Collection development in libraries | 10 |
| Library orientation for biology students | 19 | Consumer preferences | 10 |
| Library resources | 19 | Library materials | 10 |
| Scholarly sources | 19 | Plagiarism | 10 |
| Medical libraries | 18 | United States. Patent & Trademark Office | 10 |
| Research | 17 |
Conclusions
Issues in Science and Technology Librarianship is a successful contribution to the open access movement, particularly because it is run by volunteers, authors are not subject to publication fees, and without cost to the ACRL Science and Technology Division, it has been housed initially at the University of California, Santa Barbara and presently at the University of Alberta, Edmonton. In addition, it has a generous author copyright policy.
It has been a very productive twenty-five years. A well-defined purpose, and consistent cooperation among teams have made it possible for this publication to continue. For this project to proceed for the next quarter century, maintaining this focus and collegial spirit will be of great importance. Finally, it is also proper to recognize the leadership of ISTL general editor and founder Andrea Duda.
Acknowledgements
I would like to acknowledge the insightful input provided by Edward Eckel from Western Michigan University as well as for the support provided by Northern Illinois University.
References
Brown, E. W., & Duda, A. L. (1996). Electronic publishing programs in science and technology: part 1: The journals. Issues in Science & Technology Librarianship, 13. https://doi.org/10.5062/F4N58JC9
Brown, E. W., & Duda, A. L. (1997). Electronic publishing programs in science and technology: part 2: Abstracting and indexing services. Issues in Science & Technology Librarianship, 14. https://doi.org/10.5062/F4JD4TSZ
De Bellis, N. (2009). Bibliometrics and citation analysis: From the Science Citation Index to cybermetrics. Scarecrow Press.
Crawford, W. (2002). Free electronic refereed journals: Getting past the arc of enthusiasm. Learned Publishing, 15(2), 117–123. https://doi.org/10.1087/09531510252848881
Harzing, A. (2011). The publish or perish book: Your guide to effective and responsible citation analysis. Tarma Software Research Pty Ltd.
Osorio, N. L. (2011). Issues in Science and Technology Librarianship, the official journal of ACRL’s Science and Technology Section: A historical perspective. Issues in Science & Technology Librarianship, 67. https://doi.org/10.5062/F4H41PB8
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Issues in Science and Technology Librarianship No. 99, Fall 2021. DOI: 10.29173/istl2691