A Bibliometric Analysis on the Journal of Information Science

The purpose of this study is to explore the journal bibliometric characteristics of the Journal of Information Science (JIS) and the subject relationship with other disciplines by citation analysis. The citation data were drawn from references of each article of JIS during 1998 and 2008. The Ulrich’s Periodical Directory, Library of Congress Subject Heading, retrieved from the WorldCat and LISA database were used to identify the main class, subclass and subject of cited journals and books. The results of this study revealed that journal articles are the most cited document, followed by books and book chapters, electronic resources, and conference proceedings, respectively. The three main classes of cited journals in JIS papers are “library science,” “social sciences” and “science.” The three subclasses of non-LIS journals that were highly cited in JIS papers are “industries. land use. labor”, “mathematics. computer science,” and “science.” The three highly cited subjects of library and information science journals encompass “searching,” “information work,” and “World Wide Web.” The highly cited main classes of books in JIS papers are “Social sciences,” followed by “library and information science,” “science,” “philosophy. psychology. religion.” The three highly cited subclasses of books in JIS papers are “books (general). writing. paleography. book industries and trade. libraries. bibliography,” “industries. land use. labor,” and “mathematics. computer science,” and the most cited subject of books is “knowledge management.”