Structures and patterns of information flow among Chinese-language Library and Information Science journals in Taiwan (2001-2012): A network analysis

This study aimed to examine the hidden structures and patterns of information flow in Chinese-language Library and Information Science (LIS) journals in Taiwan. Thirteen Chinese LIS journals and 2,914 articles published between 2001 and 2012 were selected as subject and an aggregated 13×13 matrix was generated to perform journal-to-journal citation analysis. The twelve-year period was further divided into three individual periods of four years each to conduct journal-to-journal citation analysis for evolutional comparison. Social network analysis was used to discover the implicit structures and patterns embedded in Chinese-language LIS journals in Taiwan in terms of network structure. The embedded structures and patterns in the Chinese-language LIS journal network were characterized by Bonich's Eigenvector degree centrality, Stephenson and Zelen's information centrality and Freeman's betweenness centrality. These were used to measure journal prominence and role, bottom-up clique to find core journals, and structural equivalence to show alternative publication outlets. The limitations of this study and future research directions are also discussed.