کتابداری و اطلاعرسانی (Aug 2023)
Thematic analysis of scientific productions of Iranian researchers in the field of knowledge and information science with text mining approach
Abstract
Objective: Considering the role of studying the thematic trend of knowledge and information science research in showing the weaknesses, shortcomings and the path of progress and development of that field, the present study intends to study the topics of articles conducted by Iranian researchers at the national and international levels in this field.Methodology: The present study is applied and has been done with the approach of text mining and automated classification analysis. The study population includes articles extracted from the website of Iranian journals indexed in the ISC database during 1977-2019, and the articles done by Iranian researchers that have been indexed in the Web of Science website from 2019-1945. All preprocessing and classification processes are implemented in the Python programming language.Findings: In order to categorize the studies of knowledge and information science, by examining the study backgrounds and combining the existing classifications and consulting experts in this field, a plan consisting of 31 subject areas was prepared and based on the analysis. The findings showed that most of the researches in this field are focused on libraries and information centers and archives; respectively; Research, study and publication; Scientometrics and informatics; and Internet and web studies. In contrast, areas of artificial intelligence; Semantic and ontological web; Information and knowledge-based society; and information systems have the least amount of research. An examination of the concepts and vocabulary used in the studies of this field showed that the word "library" in Iranian articles is the most frequent concept among other concepts in this period. Other commonly used concepts in this course include: Information, University, Science, Study, Knowledge, Management, Evaluation, Web, Library, Technology, Services, and Librarians. Among co-occurrence terms, the terms university library, public library, knowledge management, information science, information retrieval behavior, information technology, medical sciences, national library, digital library, central library, and information retrieval were among the most commonly used terms. Common use of terms such as knowledge, management, technology, knowledge management and information technology, digital, digital library, social network, information literacy, cloud computing and e-government shows the increasing attention of Iranian researchers to interdisciplinary and technology-based topics. Concepts and topics of Iranian research, especially in recent years, have undergone changes in various economic, social and cultural dimensions under the influence of web development and the development of semantic technologies, smart tools, globalization and advances in communication, and comprehensive development.Conclusion: The results of the present study can help in planning and decision-making regarding recognizing educational and research needs, formulating curricula, and guiding future scientific outputs towards priorities and optimal allocation of resources to them. These results can also guide researchers in deciding to select future research topics in knowledge and information science.
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