+44 330 818 7254Editorial - International Research Journal of Arts and Social Sciences ( 2021) Volume 9, Issue 5
Received: 06-Sep-2021 Published: 23-Sep-2021
Altimetry’s are becoming increasingly important in assisting scholars in demonstrating their intellectual influence. Citations in syllabi or examining the way journal material is presented and used in syllabi are two examples of altimetry’s. This exploratory study examines citations in syllabi of journal articles from three top library science journals using data from the Open Syllabus Project. According to the findings, the papers cited in syllabi were predominantly research articles produced by practitioner librarians on a variety of issues in library science. The results demonstrate that syllabi citations of these papers are less common than journal citations, making a citation in a syllabus a more rare occurrence. The publications listed in the syllabi were mostly published in the last 15 years and were mostly utilised in library science courses, while there is evidence that library science articles are also used in other fields. Traditional areas of library science are represented more than newer or developing issues, according to an analysis of the subjects and phrases connected with the papers cited in syllabi.
In “Metric Culture: Ontologies of Self-Tracking Practices,” the author argues that we live in a time when data, algorithms, and measurements play a significant role in all sectors of society. The growing desire to demonstrate the impact of research outputs in higher education is part of a metric culture fueled by both internal and external influences. Accountability, assessment, and competitiveness are some of the key driving reasons behind the Metric Tide, which has resulted in a proliferation of metrics to measure research effect. Indeed, the advent of altimetry’s to supplement and investigate various dimensions of scholarly influence exemplifies this expanding tendency.
Citations of scholarly publications in syllabi are one of the more recent altimetry’s that is gaining traction. Over two decades ago, the idea of using citations in syllabi as an effect indicator was proposed, but only recently have syllabi been systematically gathered and made easily searchable. Syllabi citations offer another way for scholars to demonstrate the impact of their work on future researchers in a field. There are limitations to any metric, and the principles of responsible metric use should always be kept in mind.
The periodicals with the most citations in syllabi cover a wide range of topics. Many of the journals in cover broad topics in library science (for example, Library Trends), but there are also some more specialised journals (e.g., RBM: A Journal of Rare Books, Manuscripts, and Cultural Heritage). While many library science journals cut over the academic-practitioner divide, the majority of people would recognise both academic and practitioner journals among those listed.
This research has a number of drawbacks. Over a set length of time, this study only looked at three journals in the subject of library science. While the authors feel the journals are representative of academic librarianship, other library science journals could have different results.
Beyond typical citation metrics, examining the prevalence of journal article citations in syllabi provides another way to investigate scholarly influence. The findings of this study reveal that citing a library science journal article in a syllabus is a more rare and distinctive occurrence than citing a standard journal article. In fact, getting a citation in another journal paper is easier than getting one in a syllabus. Textbooks are used in most classes, with journal articles serving as extra and secondary reading. This emphasises the rarity of a journal article being cited in a syllabus.
Copyright: © 2021 International Research Journals This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.