Highly-cited papers in Library and Information Science (LIS): Authors, institutions, and network structures

TL;DR

This study analyzes the most highly-cited papers in Library and Information Science from 2002 to 2012, focusing on authors, institutions, and collaboration networks, revealing key contributors and research topics.

Contribution

It provides a detailed analysis of highly-cited LIS papers, including author and institutional contributions, and explores co-authorship networks and prevalent research themes.

Findings

Harvard University authors contributed most by whole counting.

Leiden University leads in fractional counting.

Three main research topics identified: clinical information, internet communication, scientometrics.

Abstract

As a follow-up to the highly-cited authors list published by Thomson Reuters in June 2014, we analyze the top-1% most frequently cited papers published between 2002 and 2012 included in the Web of Science (WoS) subject category "Information Science & Library Science." 798 authors contributed to 305 top-1% publications; these authors were employed at 275 institutions. The authors at Harvard University contributed the largest number of papers, when the addresses are whole-number counted. However, Leiden University leads the ranking, if fractional counting is used. Twenty-three of the 798 authors were also listed as most highly-cited authors by Thomson Reuters in June 2014 (http://highlycited.com/). Twelve of these 23 authors were involved in publishing four or more of the 305 papers under study. Analysis of co-authorship relations among the 798 highly-cited scientists shows that co-authorships are based on common interests in a specific topic. Three topics were important between 2002 and 2012: (1) collection and exploitation of information in clinical practices, (2) the use of internet in public communication and commerce, and (3) scientometrics.