Relationship Between Conceptual Knowlege and

Research Front. On Example of Information Science

Research Production

Đilda Pečarić (dpecaric@ffzg.hr)The University of Zagreb

Faculty of Humanities and Social SciencesDepartment of Information Sciences

Ivana Lučića 3, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia

The Future of Information Sciences, INFuture 2009, 4 – 6 November 2009.

Problem

• Information Science has not examined relationships between: – research front: authors determined by impact

factor, i.e. speed of citation on one side, and – continuity of dominant authors in certain

scientific paradigm, on the other side.

Problem

• Information Science has not examined relationships between: – Constants in Scientific Communication

• and

– Different role of citation in Scientific Communications

Problem

• The objective of analysis: – we explored, by citation analysis, features of

communication models that are dominant in scientific communication

The object of analysis: doctoral dissertations

• Research is done on the example of biblometric analysis of doctoral dissertations in Information Science at Croatian Universities

Data about dissertation

• From 1978 to 2007 at Croatian universities 134 doctoral dissertations were done in seven different disciplines: – information systems: 53 – communicology: 22 – information science: 21 – librarianship: 20– museology: 9 – archivistics and documentation: 8 – lexicography: 1

Data about cited documents

• From 22,210 cited bibliographic units :– 22.76% of cited documents are without author– 37.35% of documents are cited just once– 39.99% of documents are cited more then once

Data about cited documents

• Cited half-life of all documents is 7.5 years. Certain differences exist according to:– The type of cited documents

• Monographs: 9,1• Journals:7,2• Semi-publications: 9,3

– Disciplines • Information systems: 5,9• Information science: 7,1• Librarianship: 7,8• Communicology: 8,5• Archivistics and documentation : 8,6• Museology: 12,6

Constants in Scientific Communication

• we determined existence of constant in scientific communication models – according to the citation frequency – according to the age of cited literature

Citation frequency (average age of cited literature to 50 years old)

0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

1400

1600

1800

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 91011121314151617181920212223242526272829303132333435363738394041424344454647484950

Average age of cited literature

Cita

tion

frequ

ency

Total citation frequency Croatian Foreign languages Authors with citation frequency one

t/4 t/2 t

Distribution of citation

• The pattern is the following:– until cited half-life (t/2) 50% of documents are cited

– until half of cited half-life (t/4) 25% of documents are cited

• maximum frequency from overall number of cited documents.

– In the second time period of cited half-life (t), following 30% of documents are cited

– After double cited half-life, 20% of documents for which age cannot be predicted are being cited.

Differences in Communications Models

• Based on previously described regularity we could identify three communication zones based on the nature of citation usage :– empirical knowledge zone – research front zone – conceptual knowledge zone

Empirical Knowledge Zone

• This zone consists of citations (of authors and documents) that are cited only once– holds 60% of citations– is equally distributed and presented during

entire communication process

• linear communication

Research Front Zone• In research front zone t/4, first 25% of

authors and documents are cited – maximum frequency of overall document’s

citation is reached– understanding of the problem and – communication with everyone in their

surroundings relevant for the problem.

• bidirectional communications – in which empirical and conceptual knowledge

are being overlapped, compressed and reinterpreted

Conceptual Knowledge Zone

• The most cited authors are in this zone – They define scientific paradigm that binds

members of certain communication community

• The age of cited literature is older than citation half-live

• linear communication

Citation frequency and knowledge zones

0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

1400

1600

1800

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 91011121314151617181920212223242526272829303132333435363738394041424344454647484950

Age of literature

Cita

tion

frequ

ency

Overall citation frequency Croatian language Foreign languages Author with citation frequency one

t/4 t/2 t

conceptual knowledge

zone

empirical knowledge

zone

research

front

Authors alterations in conceptual knowledge zone

45 most cited authors according to periods

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45Sr

ića, V

.No

vose

l, P.

Plen

ković

, M.

Tuđm

an, M

.Kl

asin

c, P.

P.St

ràns

ký, Z

.Z.M

artin

, J.

Mar

oević

, I.Žil

jak, V

.Sa

rače

vić, T

.Ga

rfield

, E.

Sher

a, J.H

.La

sić-La

zić, J

.Ve

rona

, E.

Žuga

j, M.

Lube

tzky,

S.Br

ooke

s, B.

C.Ze

lenika

, R.

Baue

r, A.

Vreg

, F.

Gorm

an, M

. Šo

la, T.

Prelo

g, N.

Mih

ajlov

, A.I.

Lanc

aste

r, F.W

.Bu

rrell

, Q.L.

Topo

love

c, V.

Borg

man

, C.L.

Line,

M.B

.Be

lkin,

N.J.

Price

, D.J.

de S

.Br

umec

, J.

Žont

ar, J

.Đo

rđev

ić, J.

Krža

k, M

.M

acCr

oske

y,Pe

tz, B

.Te

žak,

B.Vi

cker

y, B.

C.Fo

skett

, D.J.

Dobr

enić,

S.La

mza

, V.

Mirn

ik, I.

Eco,

U.

Bene

š, J.

Cita

tion

frequ

ency

Period from 1978. to 1989. Period from 1990. to 1999. Period from 2000. to 2007.

Authors alterations in conceptual knowledge zone

• In the analyzed range of 30 years, only 22 authors out of 45 of the most cited authors are cited in all three periods.

• Out of the 45 most cited authors:– In the period from 1978 to 1989: 31 authors

are cited – In the period from 1990 to 1999: 44 authors

are cited– In the period from 2000 to 2007: 39 authors

are cited

Authors alterations in conceptual knowledge zone

• From 1978 to 1989 - 31 out of 45 authors are cited.

• 14 authors are not cited, some of whom are among the most cited authors in following periods:– e.g. P. Klasinc, I. Maroević, J. Lasić-Lazić, V.

Žiljak, N. Prelog

• From 1990 to 1999 - 44 out of 45 most cited authors are cited.

Authors alterations in conceptual knowledge zone

• From 2000 to 2007 - 34 authors are cited.

• 11 authors, some of whom are the founders of Information Science, such as:– J. Martin, J. Shera, B. C. Brookes, A. Bauer, A.

I. Mihailov, B. Težak, D. J. Foskett, S. Dobrenić

Researchers, Scholars and Predecessors

Authors alterations in knowledge zones

• Authors’ space and placement in any knowledge zone are neither constant nor lasting

• According to the placement in knowledge zone we recognized:– Researchers, – Scholars and – Predecessors

Predecessors’ time

• authors whose cited publications are older than double cited half-life (older than 15 years)

• authors in the time of predecessors: are highly relevant for the development of Information Science

• group of authors that belong to predecessors– not the same from one period to the next (in

spite of the fact that there is often overlapping)

Predecessors’ time

• Predecessors according to periods:– 1978-1989: E. Garfield, A. Bauer, F. W. Lancaster,

Z. Z. Stranski, E. Verona, S. Lubetzky, B. C. Vickery, D. de S. Price.

– 1990-1999: E. Verona, D. de S. Price, J. H. Shera, S. Lubetzky, A. Bauer, B. C. Vickery, E. Garfield, etc.

– 2000-2007: S. Lubetzky, D. de S. Price, Z. Z. Stranski, E. Verona, etc.

Time of researchers

• authors whose publications are not older than cited half-life (in our corpus a half-life of citation obsolescence is 7.5 years) – maximum frequency of citation is reached

Time of scholars

• On time scale between time of researchers and time of predecessors, which is between citation half-life and life of literature’s obsolescence, it is positioned third group of authors, which we named scholars

• Author alters his/her role from researchers to the scholars to the predecessors

Authors cited through three periods according to the average age of cited literature in a certain period:

  Author

Average age of cited literature

Period from 1978 to 1989 Period from 1990 to 1999 Period from 2000 to 2007

1 Price, D.J. de S. 19 23 38

2 Vickery, B.C. 17 21 6

3 Lubetzky, S. 17 22 39

4 Verona, E. 15 27 31

5 Strànský, Z.Z. 14 14 37

6 Lancaster, F.W. 13 13 21

7 Garfield, E. 13 21 21

8 Gorman, M. 10 8 12

9 Eco, U. 10 14 24

10 Đorđević, J. 9 16 23

11 Novosel, P. 8 11 8

12 Vreg, F. 8 12 13

13 Belkin, N.J. 8 11 14

14 Saračević, T. 8 13 17

15 Srića, V. 7 6 11

16 Plenković, M. 7 8 13

17 Line, M.B. 7 9 14

18 Petz, B. 5 10 4

19 Šola, T. 4 5 9

20 Brumec, J. 2 3 7

21 Tuđman, M. 2 9 11

22 Kržak, M. 0 10 14

Conclusion

• Three zones are permanently present:– empirical knowledge zone– conceptual knowledge zone, and– research knowledge zone

• we identify three groups of authors in three knowledge zones:– predecessors – scholars– researchers

Conclusion

• we identify three groups of authors in the conceptual knowledge zone

• we identify regularities – i.e. why some authors can occur in a certain

group, but not necessarily in all groups that we identified in this analysis

Conclusion

• Based on the empirical data it can be concluded that the influence of certain authors from researchers via scholars to predecessors does not depend on the publication obsolescence time, but on a sequence of factors that were not the topic of our analysis.

Conclusion

• This paper shows by qualitative indicators the alterations of authors and their role in scientific communication.

• Only qualitative analysis of the publications of most cited authors would prove our hypothesis completely.

Conclusion

• we believe in Kuhn’s hypothesis about scientific paradigms that “incomers” suppress “old” authors, regardless of whether they work on old scientific problems in a new way or deal with new problems

• Thank you

• Questions?

45 most cited authors in Information Science

  Authors Citation frequency

1Srića, V. 55

2Novosel, P. 53

3Plenković, M. 49

4Tuđman, M. 47

5Klasinc, P.P. 43

6 Strànský, Z.Z. 42

7Martin, J. 38

8Maroević, I. 36

9Žiljak, V. 35

10Saračević, T. 32

11Garfield, E. 31

12Shera, J.H. 30

13Lasić-Lazić, J. 29

14Verona, E. 26

15Lubetzky, S. 25

16Žugaj, M. 25

17Brookes, B.C. 25

18Zelenika, R. 24

19Bauer, A. 22

20Vreg, F. 23

21Gorman, M. 23

22Šola, T. 22

23Prelog, N. 21

45 most cited authors in Information Science

  Authors Citation frequency

24Lancaster, F.W. 20

25Burrell, Q.L. 20

26Mihajlov, A.I. 20

27Belkin, N.J. 19

28Price, D.J. de S. 19

29Line, M.B. 19

30Borgman, C.L. 19

31Topolovec, V. 19

32Žontar, J. 18

33Brumec, J. 18

34Đorđević, J. 18

35MacCroskey, J.C. 17

36Kržak, M. 17

37Vickery, B.C. 16

38Foskett, D.J. 16

39Težak, B. 16

40Petz, B. 16

41Eco, U. 15

42Mirnik, I. 15

43Dobrenić, S. 15

44Lamza, V. 15

45Beneš, J. 15