Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to know whether the authors’ productivity pattern of library and information science (LIS) open access journals adheres to Lotka’s inverse square law of scientific productivity. Since the law was introduced, it has been tested in various fields of knowledge, and results have varied. This study has closely followed Lotka’s inverse square law in the field of LIS open access journals to find a factual result and set a baseline for future studies on author productivity of LIS open access journals.

Design/methodology/approach

The publication data of selected ten LIS open access journals pertain to authorship, citations were downloaded from the Scopus database and analysed using bibliometric indicators like authorship pattern, collaborative index (CI), degree of collaboration (DC), collaborative coefficient (CC) and citation counts. This study has applied Lotka’s inverse square law to assess authors’ productivity pattern of LIS open access journals and further Kolmogorov-Smirnov (K-S) goodness-of-fit test applied for testing of observed and expected author productivity data.

Findings

Inferences were drawn for the set objectives on authorship pattern, collaboration trend and authors’ productivity pattern of LIS open access journals covered in this study. The single authorship pattern is dominant in LIS open access journals covered in this study. The CI, DC and CC are found to be 1.95, 0.47 and 0.29, respectively. The expected values as per Lotka’s law (n = −2) significantly vary from the observed values as per the chi-square test and K-S goodness-of-fit test. Hence, this study does not adhere to Lotka’s inverse square law of scientific productivity.

Practical implications

Researchers may find an idea about the authors’ productivity patterns of LIS open access journals. This study has used the K-S goodness-of-fit test and the chi-square test to validate the authors’ productivity data. The inferences found out from this study will be a baseline for future research on author productivity of LIS open access journals.

Originality/value

This study is significant from the viewpoint of the growing research on open access journals in the field of LIS and to identify the authorship pattern, collaboration trend and author productivity pattern of such journals.

中文翻译：

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Lotka 平方反比定律的作者生产力模式和适用性：对选定的 LIS 开放获取期刊的文献计量评估

目的

本文的目的是了解图书馆与信息科学（LIS）开放获取期刊作者的生产力模式是否符合洛特卡科学生产力的平方反比定律。该法自出台以来，在各个知识领域进行了检验，结果各不相同。本研究密切遵循 LIS 开放获取期刊领域的 Lotka 平方反比定律，寻找事实结果，并为未来 LIS 开放获取期刊作者生产力的研究奠定基础。

设计/方法/方法

选定的 10 种 LIS 开放获取期刊的出版数据与作者身份有关，引文从 Scopus 数据库下载，并使用作者身份模式、协作指数 (CI)、协作程度 (DC)、协作系数 (CC) 和引文等文献计量指标进行分析计数。本研究应用 Lotka 的平方反比定律来评估 LIS 开放获取期刊的作者生产力模式，并进一步应用 Kolmogorov-Smirnov (KS) 拟合优度检验来测试观察到的和预期的作者生产力数据。

发现

对本研究涵盖的 LIS 开放获取期刊的作者模式、合作趋势和作者生产力模式的既定目标进行了推论。单一作者模式在本研究涵盖的 LIS 开放获取期刊中占主导地位。发现 CI、DC 和 CC 分别为 1.95、0.47 和 0.29。根据 Lotka 定律 ( n = -2)的预期值与根据卡方检验和 KS 拟合优度检验的观察值显着不同。因此，这项研究不符合洛特卡的科学生产力平方反比定律。

实际影响

研究人员可能会发现有关 LIS 开放获取期刊的作者生产力模式的想法。本研究使用 KS 拟合优度检验和卡方检验来验证作者的生产力数据。从这项研究中发现的推论将成为未来 LIS 开放获取期刊作者生产力研究的基线。

原创性/价值

从 LIS 领域对开放获取期刊的研究不断增长的角度来看，这项研究具有重要意义，并确定此类期刊的作者模式、合作趋势和作者生产力模式。