Seats at the table: the network of the editorial boards in information and library science

TL;DR

This paper analyzes the network of editorial board members in information and library science journals, revealing a structure of mainly two subfields with limited interconnection, reflecting the field's developmental stage.

Contribution

It applies network analysis to editorial boards to uncover the structural organization and subfield distinctions within information and library science journals.

Findings

Two main subfields identified: LIS and MIS.

Weak links between these subfields.

Presence of isolated journals based on content focus.

Abstract

The structural properties of the network generated by the editorial activities of the members of the boards of "Information Science & Library Science" journals are explored through network analysis techniques. The crossed presence of scholars on editorial boards, the phenomenon called interlocking editorship, is considered a proxy of the similarity of editorial policies. The evidences support the idea that this group of journals is better described as a set of only relatively connected subfields. In particular two main subfield are identified, consisting of research oriented journals devoted respectively to LIS and MIS. The links between these two subsets are weak. Around these two subsets there are a lot of (relatively) isolated professional journals or journals characterized more by their subject-matter content than by their focus on information flows. It is possible to suggest that this configuration of the network may be the consequence of the youthfulness of Information Science & Library Science, which has not permitted yet to reach a general consensus through scholars on research aims, methods and instruments.