Iranian Journal of Information Processing & Management
Year:2021 | Volume:36 | Issue:2 (104)|Papers Count:10

The purpose of this study is to explore the thematic trend analysis of Iranian articles in Library and Information Science based on Topic modeling (LDA) and linear regression model. The population of this study consists of 709 articles indexed in Scopus during 2008-2009. In order to achieve the research objectives, the data were analyzed using text mining algorithms, especially LDA thematic modeling algorithms using R software. The results showed that among the extracted topics, there are topics that have high research popularity and are considered as hot topics. These topics include library services on social media, research models, social capital, medical databases, data mining, scientific production trends, interdisciplinary studies, cyberspace algorithms, knowledge management, social media studies, research approaches, and future studies. Also, topics that are less popular and are considered as cold topics include areas such as electronic resources, information management system, search engines, book loan services, distance services, e-learning, e-government, journal evaluation indicators, evaluation of web resources, and digital libraries. The results indicated that Library and Information Science research in Iran has developed in line with the growth of technologies and global topics and has established the relationship between Library and Information Science subject area and new fields of data mining, artificial intelligence, semantic retrieval, ontologies, information architecture, digital publishing, social networks, and databases.

Research data management involves all the processes and actions that ensure that research data is well organized, documented, stored, backed up, available, and reusable. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the management and identification of research data problems and needs in the research process among Iranian information and knowledge researchers from five perspectives: production and collection, recording and processing, backup and maintenance, publishing, and sharing. Data were collected through a questionnaire. The statistical population of the study consisted of 96 researchers, professors and postgraduate students in the field of information science and knowledge of Iranian universities. Excel software was used for statistical analysis of each question and the process of data aggregation and distribution were represented in frequency and percentage. The results show that in the process of producing and collecting data, the most common type of data produced is experimental data, most of the data is generated in the form of textual and processed data from software, the frequency of data generation during the research. It has been very high for researchers on a monthly basis and the volume of data generated for each respondent is on average GB level. In terms of data recording and processing, the most common way of recording data is in electronic documents. Different data processing software used are Excel and SPSS and then Word is the most used. Most respondents use personal computers to back up data. It was found that most respondents did not use any appropriate research data management software. In order to disseminate and share data, most respondents do not have sufficient knowledge of the sources, especially of their field magazines. They also have different views on journal data entry, but in fact they consider it a very good thing, while they are not well versed in the repositories and storage conditions and are most familiar with free access. In terms of the need for research data sharing and management services, they all point to problems such as lack of data sharing, data loss, storage, dissemination and data security. Libraries and research centers are also considered to be the most appropriate organization for data management and require services such as policymaking, standardization for data collection, storage, dissemination, and sharing and data security. Finally, referral and accountability services, workshops, social workshops, and seminars are found to enhance research data management and data sharing. Although the survey is conducted in the field of information science, it can be an inspiration for designing a site of library services for other disciplines, particularly in promoting, advising and managing data management, sharing research and research data storage.

Students as researchers need valuable resources related to their fields such as theses/ dissertations. Open access should be supported by educational and research institutes and faculty members so that information is easily available to scholars, scientists and students. However, some of the educational and research centers refuse to make their theses and dissertations available, and they announce a variety of reasons for this refusal of access. By identifying these reasons, this research tries to eliminate them. For this purpose, first, according to the results of previous researches, a list of factors influencing open access to theses and dissertations were extracted. Then, in order to complete and finalize the mentioned list, the impact of these factors has been investigated using Delphi method and questionnaire tool. In this research, Delphi panel consists of 14 faculty members of educational and research institutes in Tehran who have been selected by purposeful sampling method. The results show that the factors of laws and regulations, social impact, information technology, author’ s credibility, observability, perceived awareness, attitude toward open access, self-confidence in knowledge dissemination, controllability, perceptual compatibility and culture have influence on open access to theses and dissertations.

Information and communication technology (ICT) is a new paradigm in the field of education and learning. This study aimed to investigate the causal model of acceptance and use of information and communication technology by students of Tabriz University of Medical Sciences in educational and research purposes based on the UTAUT model. This research is quantitative on the basis of the natural and general features, applied on the basis of the purpose, and descriptivecorrelational on the basis of the structural equation model (SEM). The statistical population of the study is 1500 students of Tabriz University of Medical Sciences. The statistical sample of this study is 306 persons selected by proportional stratified random sampling. The data collection tool is the translation and combination of the standard questionnaire of Venkatesh et al. and Akbar, which has been refined by the researcher based on the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology. The validity of the questionnaire was confirmed based on content, face and structural validity. The reliability coefficient of the questionnaire was 0. 86 based on Cronbach’ s alpha coefficient. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics (frequency, mean, standard deviation and Pearson correlation coefficient) and inferential statistics (path analysis of structural equation model) using SPSS and LISREL software. The results indicate that performance expectancy, attitude toward using technology, social influences, facilitating conditions, and self-efficacy with the mediating role of behavioral intention have a positive and significant causal effect on students’ behavior in using technology. Effort expectancy with the mediating role of behavioral intention has no effect on students’ behavior in using technology. Anxiety with the mediating role of behavioral intention has a significant inverse causal effect on the behavior of students using technology.

Iran scientific information database (Ganj) which includes almost one million scientific records provides the search opportunity in dissertations, domestic scientific journals, articles, conferences, research projects, and governmental reports. A large number of researchers meet the needs of their scientific and research resources from Ganj database daily. Users’ needs and behaviors are variant and understanding it helps system administrators to use different strategies to manage the better databases and provide efficient services to users. One way to understand users’ needs is to cluster them based on their behavior and identify the features of each cluster. This study aims to cluster the users based on the analysis of their search behavior using the LRFM model. In this study, the search log data of Ganj users were collected for three months, the LRFM attributes were calculated, and then the K-means algorithm was applied to them. The optimal number of clusters was calculated based on different criteria. Based on customer value matrix the results of customer clustering users in four groups are efficient, suspicious, unreliable, and intermittent and based on customer loyalty Marcus users are categorized in loyal, potential, insecure and newcomers.

The purpose of this article is to evaluate and to rank the usability components in OJS, Sinweb, Yektaweb and Neoscriber3 journal management systems, as well as to observe each component measure on each system separately. The survey population consists of users of 4 most used systems such as Sinaweb, Yektaweb, and Neoscriber among 13 OJS at Iranian medical sciences universities. Evaluation of each interface was based on 4 layers of editors, reviewers, authors, and regular users. Four layers were selected for each system and 5 users for each layer in each system. In total, 80 users completed the research questionnaires. Data were analyzed by SPSS software using descriptive and inferential statistical tests. The results show that the consistency component in Sinaweb system was lower than Yektaweb, OJS and Neoscriber 3 systems, while it was not significantly different in the other three systems. The flexibility average of the systems interface was below middle, the user guidance average of the systems was in the middle and other areas were above average. However, averages showed that consistency of Yektaweb is more than neoscriber 3 and then Neoscriber 3 is more than OJS. Also, there were no significant differences between the four systems in other components including compatibility, flexibility, learnability, minimal action, minimal memory load and perceptual limitation. From the users’ point of view, it seems that the most attention is in the components of compatibility and consistency, and the least attention is in the components of flexibility and user guidance among the journal management systems studied. Also, the most important weaknesses include direct manipulation and apply settings in the system, lack of use of shortcuts and replacements keys, etc. and the strengths, including the use of consistent icons on different pages, familiarizing users with concepts and terms used in the system, etc. These strengths and weaknesses make it easier to select the appropriate systems for other scientific organizations and centers. Weaknesses can also be developed by system administrators and technical teams to gain desirable usability and find ways to attract the attention of other countries’ journals as well as internationalization. Moreover in this study, a new tool (not used in Iran) was introduced to be used in similar studies by librarians and system managers to select various kinds of information systems based on the applicability criteria.

The purpose of the present study is around knowledge organization, and it aims to discover and visualize its prominent patterns, hidden relationships, and thematic trends in the world. The research type is an applied one with an analytical approach, and is done using co-word analysis. The population of this study consists of knowledge organization articles’ keywords indexed during 1975-2018 in Web of Science (WoS). The total numbers of the retrieved and analyzed keywords in this study were 27124 and in this study softwares like SPSS, BibExcel, UCINET, NetDraw, VOSViewer and SPSS were used for data integration and analysis. The findings showed that during the first period (1975-1999), the keyword “ information technology, ” and during the second period (2000-2018), the keyword “ information literacy” has had the highest frequency. Also, the results of computing density and centrality scores showed that during the first period, cluster 5, which is “ knowledge management, ” with the number of 5. 500 had the highest centrality, cluster 7 “ strategic planning” with 0. 4804 had the highest density and finally, during 2000-2018 period, cluster 1 “ user instruction” with 6. 258 centrality have the highest centrality among clusters. The results also show that over time, topics such as “ cataloging and indexing” have declined, and keywords such as “ information technology, ” “ ontology, ” and “ E-government” have increased. The results of inclusion indexing showed that 32% of the subjects in the second period were also present in the first period. The results of the strategic diagram indicate that clusters “ information retrieval” , “ expert system-information retrieval” , “ user instruction” , and “ information systems’ management” are the main issues and clusters with a high co-occurrence. “ User instruction” , “ uncertainty health information behavior” , “ information behavior” , “ metrics studies” , “ classification and indexing” , “ computer cataloging and data mining” , are the significant clusters in the second period. Knowledge organization as an essential pillar of information science, the period studied (1900-2018), the keywords and search strategy that resulted in consulting experts, as well as the outstanding findings, are all part of the innovation of the article.

The purpose of this study was to explore the users’ experience of web content of the National Library and Archive of Iran. To investigate the user experience, a contextual inquiry was conducted to gain an in-depth understanding of users and the context of their real work. Data analysis was also used to complete the results. Contextual inquiry is an interpretive and qualitative approach in the form of semistructured interview which is based on conversation with users. “ Sentence completion” is a kind of UX method in which users completed some statements about the website of the national library and archive of Iran. The results revealed eight general categories about the user expectations and experiences on the web content of National Library and archive of Iran, including search, research utilities and knowledge development, personalization and customization, library space and in-site location, interaction, events, information architecture, and design and appearance. The results provide proper basis for the development of the website of national library and archive of Iran and similar libraries as well as digital library software. These results, along with suggestions for improving the user experience of the National Library Web site, provide valuable ideas for entrepreneurs and business startups and app designers about real needs and expectations of users.

This paper aims to improve the functionality of attribute properties and relationship properties between the entities of CreativeWorks of Schema. org by representing them in Library Reference Model (LRM) based on the content analysis method. The research community consisted of properties (attributes and relationships) of the book’ s entity from the subset of CreativeWorks of Schema. org. A checklist based on entities, attributes and relationships in LRM was used for checking correspondence with the properties of book’ s entity in Schema. org by structured observation method. To this end, each property of book in Schema. org was compared with the attributes and relationships in LRM and the most appropriate of them identified and extracted. The findings show that the properties ‘ author’ , ‘ fileformat’ , ‘ encoding’ , ‘ associated media’ , from CreativeWorks and ‘ seeks’ and ‘ gender’ from Person in Schema. org did not match to any attributes and relationships. LRM is a conceptual and high level model and deals with the bibliographic context entities, their properties and relationships at the highest level regardless of the four groups of standards in the field of knowledge organization (content standards, metadata standards, data exchanging standards, and formatting standards). So, these attributes should be considered in content and metadata standards. In LRM there are not any equivalents for roles of creators because it is independent from the four standards mentioned and there is the possibility of adding roles based on the policy of libraries or information centers. In other entities which was checked in this research: book, organization and thing, all properties fitted with attributes or relationships in LRM due to its comprehensive and general attitude of all. LRM has a complete view of the relationships between entities, these relationships are being narrated, and are identified in accordance with the bibliographic context, while in Schema. org many relationships between entities are not appropriate for the target context. The Shema. org should include properties that can cover relationships appropriate to any context. Considering the recommendations of the conceptual models of the cultural heritage context in determining and developing the properties, especially the relationships between entities by Schema. org, its deficiencies in the functionality in the data environment will be resolved and its applicability will be improved.

Keyword and phrase extraction is a prerequisite of many natural language processing tasks. However, a review on the related Persian and English literature showed that a few studies have already been done on how to extract keywords and phrases from Persian texts. Thus, aiming to shed light on the research status of Keyword and phrase extraction from Persian texts, the present study reviews the Persian and English publications which have assessed their research ideas over Persian texts. We also focus on each of the studies to challenge their methodologies, implementations and evaluation methods and measures. To our knowledge, a total number of 14 Persian and 6 English papers exist which have worked on the extraction of Persian keywords and phrases. Investigating on the papers revealed that they were mostly based on statistical and linguistic information. A majority of the papers suffered from the lack of either appropriate methodologies or lucid explanation of their research ideas. They generally used non-standard datasets and vague or problematic metrics to evaluate the experimental systems. Generally speaking, except 3 papers that appropriately reported their proposed methods, the other papers lacked reproducibility and generalizability. Hence, their results cannot be confidently used as a benchmark in evaluating future works, and their proposed ideas cannot be employed in developing applications for extraction of key words and phrases from Persian texts.