Authorship Patterns and Collaborative Research in Malaysian Journal of Library and Information Science, 1996 - 2012

(ProQuest: . denotes formula omitted.)I. IntroductionBibliometric studies have been conducted on journals related mainly to scientific fields and are based principally on various metadata elements such as author, title, subject, citations and so forth. This type of analysis provides useful indicators of trends, scientific productivity, emphasis of research in various fields, and researcher preferences for publication. Typically, bibliometrics consider organization, classification, and quantitative evaluation of publication patterns as well as provide an analysis of macro-communication. The study discussed in this journal article provides some of these analyses related to the authorship patterns and collaborative research in the Malaysian Journal of Library and Information Science, published in the field of Library and Information Science (LIS). It is one of the most extensive journals that appears in the Directory of Open Access Journals, and will be the source of bibliometric data.II. History and Profile of Malaysian Journal of Library and Information Science (MJLIS)The Malaysian Journal of Library and Information Science (MJLIS) is an international online journal. It is a scholarly journal in English devoted to the various fields of Library and Information Science and was first published bi-annually in 1996. Professor Dr. Mashkuri Yaacob, Dean of the Faculty of Computer Science and Information Technology, University of Malaya, was the first Editor-In-Chief. Starting in 2009 it was three times a year in April, August and December by the Department of Library and Information Science, Faculty of Computer Science and Information Technology, University of Malaya. The journal publishes original research articles in the field of library and information science (LIS) as well as related domains that encapsulate information and knowledge. It also encourages contribution about professional policies, practices, principles and progress in the LIS fields. The journal aims to provide a forum for communications amongst LIS professionals, especially within the Asia Pacific region, to introduce new concepts, methodologies, systems and technology. Between 1996 and 2008 the journal was published both in print and electronic. The electronic version, available from 2009 onwards, is available http://ejum.fsktm. um.edu. my. The journal is being indexed and abstracted by Social Science Citation Index (ISI), SCOPUS, LISA (Library and Information Science Abstracts), Library Literature, LISTA and Journal of Academic librarianship. Based on Journal Citation Reports (JCR) 2011: Impact Factor 0.381, Ranked 60/82, Quartile 3III. Literature ReviewA Number of studies have been carried out that may be useful supplementary analysis for the study presented here;Authorship patterns and collaborative research in Psychology has been analyzed by Karisiddappa et.al (1990) based on the data collected from Psychological Abstracts. Narendra Kumar and Ramesh Babu (1999) analyzed the literature published in Indian Library Aassociation (ILA) bulletin during the years 1986-1996 and discussed authorship patterns, citation patterns, and subjects covered, ranking of the contributors, nature of contributions, bibliographic forms of cited documents. Bhagavathi Sudha and Ramesh Babu (2000) analyzed the Indian contributions on the topic of 'Information Technology' covered in the Indian library and information science literature during the period 1990-1993; with respect to degrees of collaboration, bibliographic forms, sub-fields of information technology etc. Farahat (2002) examined the pattern of authorship in 19 Egyptian journals of agricultural sciences. The scientific productivity of authors in theoretical population 'Genetics' was examined by Karisiddappa et al. (2002). Shirabe and Tomizawa (2002) studied the likelihood of overseas access to international co-authorship, and proposed a new index for international scientific co-authorship which was based on a simple model of domestic and international coauthorship. …