LIBRARIANSHIP AND INFORMATION ORGANIZATION STUDIES (JOURNAL OF NATIONAL STUDIES ON LIBRARIANSHIP AND INFORMATION ORGANIZATION)
Year:2020 | Volume:31 | Issue:2 (122)|Papers Count:7

Purpose: The social web provides a platform for publicizing open peer review reports. In this sphere, journal readers, authors, editors, and reviewers can involve in multilateral discussions on the reviewed papers and share their comments and viewpoints on the merits and probable pitfalls of papers. Open peer review comments may, hence, reflect the features of their mother articles. To identify this potential, the present study investigates to what extent similar comments accurately predict similar papers. Methodology: Applying natural language processing techniques, it analyzes the contents of a sample of papers in medicine and life sciences and the comments received by them. To do so, a test collection is built from the papers openly published on F1000Research, an open access publishing platform that adheres to an open peer reviewing process by transparently providing the public with peer review reports, authors’ responses, and users’ comments. The test collection consists of 2212 papers and their comments. 100 papers are randomly selected as seed documents that serve as queries. The similarities between the comments and the contents of the papers are calculated using Cosine similarity of TF-IDF values. The TF-IDF values are calculated for both unigrams and bigrams extracted from the contents and comments. The correlation between the content and comment similarities is analyzed using Spearman correlation, given the non-normality of the data distributions. The accuracy of prediction of the papers’ content similarity by the similarity of their comments is tested using Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curves. Findings: The results of the Spearman correlation revealed a significant correlation between the content and comment similarities. This signifies that similar papers are more likely to receive similar comments and vice versa. The ROC curves show that similar comments can significantly identify similar papers, either at unigram or bigram level. The prediction is highly accurate. Conclusion: Similar comments are effective in representing similar papers. In other words, similar comments are expected to present similar papers. This finding has implications for interactive information retrieval systems, where users are interested in reading experts’ comments on a given paper before viewing or downloading the paper itself. The findings also may pave the path towards new studies about the application of the comments in such spheres as information retrieval, evaluation or classification, where content similarity is of importance.

Considering the importance and role of scientific journals in advancing science and also the issue of determining the credibility of journals in scientific societies, the present study evaluates prestigious journals in the field of knowledge and information science based on the criteria of new regulations on determining the credibility of the country's scientific journals. The research approach is quantitative and its type is evaluative. Ten Persian journals approved by the Ministry of Science, Research, and Technology in the mentioned field from the website of the Commission for the Review of Periodicals were selected and reviewed. To collect the data, a researcher-made checklist was used with a range of different scores including 50 criteria in eight groups: 1) title, 2) editor-in-chief, 3) editors group, 4) journal format, 5) external features of journals, 6) structural editing, 7) authors, and 8) other criteria. The final results of the research indicate that 86% of the criteria of the mentioned regulation are observed in knowledge and information science journals. The results also reveal that the National Studies on Librarianship and Information Organization with a score of 90. 26 out of 100 points has the highest rank, followed by the Iranian Journal of Information Processing and Management and Scientometrics Research Journal. The results of this study will help the managers and editorial board of the surveyed journals to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the journal and try to improve its quality and its compatibility with the criteria of new regulations on determining the credibility of the country's scientific journals. Furthermore, the results of this research revealed some shortcomings and problems of the mentioned regulation.

Purpose: To analyze the cross impact of driving forces on the Future of Library Catalogs in Iran. Methodology: This is an applied study using desk research, survey, and cross impact analysis. Cross impact analysis and MICMAC software were used to analyze the cross impact and determine key driving forces to perform mathematical calculations of the cross impact of the influential and affective variables. Findings: The findings showed that the system was unstable. Among the variables, 3 variables were in the group of influential variables, 3 variables in the group of Relay variables, 4 variables in the group of Dependent variables, and 3 variables in the group of independent variables. Finally, four variables such as "quantity and quality of library catalogs in the virtual environment", "modification and updating of tools and standards", "library without walls", and "Interaction between library cataloging professionals and library system designers" were identified as strategic variables. Conclusion: The relationships identified among the driving forces affecting the future of library catalogs in Iran indicate the importance of changing the traditional environment of catalogs and their entry into the new information environment. Attention to identified strategic forces can also drive the chain movement for future of the system.

Purpose: Analyzing and visualizing the scientific output made by the National Studies on Librarianship and Information Organization (NASTINFO) from a scientometric perspective during 2009-2018. Methodology: By extracting needed data from ISC and unifying names and keywords, the scientometric indicators of NASTINFO were determined and made visualized by applying some scientometric software packages. Findings: NASTINFO had a multi-authored authorship pattern and its co-authorship network showed a significant collaboration among its authors. Co-word occurrence and keyword clustering networks revealed that NASTINFO considered its vast variety of related topics. Conclusion: In spite of its progression in the scientific indicators and appropriate development in its special field, NASTINFO needs to increase its citability and visibility for its more influence.

Purpose: To explore the concept of UX in the context of libraries. Methodology: To find literature about UX in libraries, we searched in online databases; along with we used cite tracking to enrich the results. Findings: Findings illustrated that how UX studies with focus on qualitative approach meet user needs and provide better interaction with library space, services and website. Conclusion: User experience is an emerging trend with similar philosophy of libraries mission statement. It will likely continue to grow as a recognized specialty within the librarianship profession. Librarians can learn UX methods to devise more innovative ways for meeting the user needs in all library system.

Purpose: Over the six decades since LIS education began in Iran, considerable number of theses have been defended with the National Library and Archives of Iran (NLAI) being the subject of them entirely or partly. This paper aims to inform the authorities of the NLAI as well as the LIS academics and students of this record. Methodology: Relevant titles were identified by examining numerous bibliographic databases. Titles, abstracts, and sometimes the content of the theses were closely studied to determine their subjects, then checked with subject authority lists to put them in subject groups. Findings: 409 theses were identified in four main areas, i. e. organizational management, organization of information, services and information dissemination, and collection management. More than half of the theses belonged to state public universities. NLAI academic staff supervised or co-supervised 28Z of the theses. Around 52% titles were surveys, and around 32% used questionnaires for gathering data. The Department of Processing Department and the Research and Education more than other parts of the NLAI were the subjects of the theses. Conclusion: Topics related to organizational management have attracted the interests of students the most. Few theses have addressed the chronic problems of the national collection and archives. Use and user studies are almost absent. A comparison between the works done by the NLAI staff and universities, as well as a study that examines the extent to which NLAI departments have employed the findings of the theses is suggested.

Purpose: To systematically review research literature on the use of systems concepts to explore information quality assessment criteria. Methodology: Data was collected from relevant research explored in domestic and foreign databases, published between 2009-2019. 58 works were identified of which completeness and relevance of was examined. As a result, 15 documents were selected and analyzed using Cochran's systematic review methodology Findings: Criteria for evaluating information quality in technical documentation information systems could be divided into organizational, individual, information, technological, and systematic. Conclusion: The categorization of such metrics helps knowledge-based and project-based companies to evaluate the quality of their company’ s information systems for further improvement.