Patterns and Problems of Information Use in the Production of Articles by Academics in the Humanities and Social Sciences in Thailand

Abstract

This study aimed to analyze the patterns of the use of information by academics in the humanities and social sciences in Thailand when producing academic articles, and to study and compare the problems encountered in their use of information based on the variables: gender, age, education, academic role and discipline. Citation analysis includes 3,464 citations from 203 articles in six qualified journals indexed in the Thai Citation Index Centre and international databases. A survey research using a questionnaire was sent to 203 academics who had published articles in the selected journals. The statistics for data analysis were frequency, percentage, range, t-test, and F-test. The key findings showed that the most widely used sources were books, journals, master's theses, PhD dissertations, websites, newspapers, research reports, interviews, proceedings, and lecture notes. They preferred single-author works published within the last 10 years. The average to publish one article, the researcher used approximately 18 citations. The problems of information use encountered included those related to information resource centers/libraries, the academics in the humanities and social sciences themselves, humanities and social sciences information, and publisher, all of which were at a moderate level. However, there were problems at a high level in respect of information resources, and the staff of the information resource centers/libraries, and also in respect of the users being able to think of search terms, using library tools, and evaluating information.

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“…To publish one article, the researcher used approximately 18 citations on average (Saechan 2014). In academia, number of citations per academic staff is often used as a criteria to rank the university Worldwide.…”