Landscape of Library and Information Science Research in India: An Analytical Study

Abstract

The article provides an in-depth information about the publications in the discipline of library and information science (LIS) that have been listed in the Indian Citation Index (ICI) online database during the time period (2014-2018). The study outlines the literature growth patterns, prolific authors, authorship collaboration patterns, major journal outlets, active research areas, productive institutions, etc. The overall growth rate of literature output was found to be negative with decreasing trend in LIS research throughout the study period. The year 2015 emerged as the most productive years in terms of research output with the highest number of publications (494, 25%). The multi-authorship articles (66.5%) were greater than single authorship.  The Degree of collaboration and Collaborative Index were 0.664 and 1.9 respectively. The study also found that the researchers in LIS move towards team research rather than solo research. The dominancy of male researchers was very much prominent. The thrust areas of research were ICT and library, followed by bibliometric study. A similar pattern was also seen in the keyword co-occurrence network. DESIDOC Journal of Library & Information Technology was the most preferred journals. The study also revealed scattering of journals through the implementation of Bradford's Law. Additionally, the data set was used to assess the Leimkuhler model's applicability. University of Delhi (0.31%) was the institution with the highest productivity. About 12.43% of the overall output throughout the study period came from the top five most prolific institutions.