An Eventful Decade

Abstract

Presents an analysis of the articles published in the periodical, Journal of Librarianship and Information Science (JOLIS), in the period 1991-1999. The analysis was carried out to compare JOLIS' and was intended as a comparison with a similar survey of the periodical's first 21 years' existence , as Journal of Librarianship. Both surveys were conducted by the Editor as his first and final editorials, respectively. The initial analysis was based on coverage by type of library and by geographical area. The subject headings assigned by Library and Information Science Abstracts (LISA) for these articles were analyzed and the most frequently occurring headings were listed and compared to the earlier study. Results suggest that the Editor was successful in his goal of increasing the coverage of special libraries and the range of countries featured in the articles.In August 1990, I was both surprised and flattered to receive an invitation to take over the editor's chair of what was then The Journal of Librarianship, and was shortly to become the Journal of Librarianship and Information Science. The first issue for which I was responsible appeared in March 1991, with a new format, publisher and title. My appointment was for three years in the first instance, subsequently extended for a further three, and was then made openended. I have thoroughly enjoyed the last 10 years and have derived enormous benefit from the experience gained, and professional contacts made, in connection with the journal. However, when I took over the role I had no idea how much of a treadmill, the editing of a quarterly journal would be, in addition to my normal teaching, administration and research duties as a university lecturer. I have therefore decided that 10 years is enough for me, and in any event it is time to hand over to someone else with fresh ideas for the sake of the journal. After this issue JOLIS will be the responsibility of my successor, Dr Anne Goulding of Loughborough University, who will take the journal into the 21st century. My final editorial will therefore offer some thoughts on what, if anything, has been achieved over the last decade, before recording my thanks to the hundreds of people who have contributed to the journal in one way or another over the last 10 years.In my first editorial (March 1991), I offered a brief analysis of the contents of the Journal of Librarianship during the 21 years of its existence, based upon the subject headings allocated by Library and Information Science Abstracts. I have therefore downloaded those for 1991-1999 for purposes of comparison (the entries for 2000 were not available at the time of writing). I do not claim that these two sets of figures are strictly comparable as the indexing practices have changed and new terminologies and subject areas have developed. Nor do I claim that they are complete, but they do provide an approximate picture of the changes that have taken place over the last decade.My initial analysis in 1991 was based on the type of library to which many of the ar...

Forty years of the Journal of Librarianship and Information Science: A quantitative analysis, Part I

“…In his valedictory editorial, Stoker (2000) reviewed some of the goals that he had set himself 10 years earlier, claiming some 'minor' and 'modest' success in reaching them. Quantitative, diachronic analysis of publication data of certain kinds can help us validate his findings, and determine the level of success with which the editors of JoL/JOLIS have pursued related goals over the first 40 years of the journal's life.…”

“…Percentages do not sum to 100% due to rounding. Stoker (2000) mentions that only about one-third of submissions to JOLIS are 'accepted without amendment' -but unfortunately even this statement is ambiguous, since it is not clear if he really means to say that, of those submissions that are accepted, about one-third are accepted without amendment. No new data on submissions and rejections were collected for the present study.…”

“…In the final editorial of his 10-year editorship, Stoker (2000) revisited his earlier study with a comparison of 22 years of JoL and nine years of JOLIS, and clarified that his earlier study had been based on the subject headings assigned to records for JoL items in Library and Information Science Abstracts (LISA). He drew the following conclusions from his analysis of the period 1991-9:…”

“…In his discussion of evaluation criteria for bookreview submissions, reviews editor Dudley (1993: 58) recognizes a 'need to review material from and about countries other than the UK and to have material reviewed by non-UK reviewers'. Stoker (2000) notes that, during his tenure as editor, he enjoyed 'modest success' in internationalizing the journal, given that subject headings for 30 different countries were assigned by Library and Information Science Abstracts to JOLIS articles in that period, and that the proportions of contributions on Western European and African practices had both increased, in the case of Western Europe from just under 4 per cent in 1969-90 to over 10 per cent in 1991-9, and in the case of Africa from 5 per cent in 1969-90 to almost 10 per cent in 1991-9.…”

Editorial: Lines of Communication

“…David Stoker, Editor of this journal for the decade ending in December 2000, noted in his valedictory editorial that 'The development of information and communication technologies are having a far more fundamental impact on the future of the journal than the subject content of its articles … Already JOLIS and many similar publications are being made available simultaneously in hard copy and electronic formats. The time has not yet arrived when the future viability of hard-copy academic journals is seriously under question, but this will undoubtedly be an issue for my successor and the publishers to consider in years to come' (Stoker, 2000).…”