Library and information science research in China: An international perspective

SummaryThis study is to quantitatively analyze the research activity in the area of Chinese Library and Information Science (LIS) from 1975 to 2004 based on Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI). Results show that there are increases in both the number of papers and the quality of publishing channels. It was higher than the world average for Chinese research effort in LIS area. About 79% of the total LIS papers in China were from universities. The web of science (WOS) journals are representative for the Chinese LIS publications in general. The quantity and quality of papers from Hong Kong were higher than that from Mainland China. About half of the papers from China were completed through either international or domestical collaborations. The major collaborators were from Europe and North America and the higher quality of collaborations were from Oceania and North America.