Annual Review of Information Science and Technology, Vol. 45

Citation

Isfandyari‐Moghaddam, A. (2012), "Annual Review of Information Science and Technology, Vol. 45", Online Information Review, Vol. 36 No. 6, pp. 930-931. https://doi.org/10.1108/14684521211287963

The Annual Review of Information Science and Technology (ARIST) has been one of the most noteworthy publications in information science for nearly half a century (1966‐2011); thus it is sad to report that this 45th volume is the last according to the editor.

The 11 chapters in ARIST 45 are arranged in five sections:

1. 1.

   Information Management;

2. 2.

   Information Retrieval;

3. 3.

   Scholarly Communication;

4. 4.

   Technology Trends; and

5. 5.

   Public Policy.

Chapters 1 to 10 deal with personal information management with an emphasis on information curation and its three processes (keeping, managing, exploiting); pharmaceutical information in a 30‐year literature review; text mining in theory and practice; query formulation as a research area in terms of its types, cognitive frameworks in which query formulation can be studied and three related emerging trends (search engine query logs, query quality, and linguistic aspects of query formulation); scientific peer review from different dimension with special reference to the three quality criteria of peer review (reliability, fairness and predictive validity); data sharing across the sciences in the light of technical, social, ethical and policy challenges; a wide‐ranging exploration regarding economic aspects of the scholarly journal publishing system; human‐computer interaction, past, present, future; the history of information technology; and “online social movements” fuelled, fired and influenced by the digital revolution. The closing chapter provides us with a better understanding of fair use in US copyright law from its early codification to today.

Like its predecessors, this volume is a worthy addition to the literature of information science and technology, covering important developments and drawing attention to areas requiring research. In this reviewer's opinion, ARIST 45, with its valuable viewpoints rooted in systematic literature reviews, is a journey of discovery through a remarkable discipline in which we are standing on the shoulders of great explorers. It is a must‐read for anyone engaged in the fields of information science and technology, from students and practitioners to seasoned researchers. There will be a great need for a successor to ARIST, perhaps in electronic format.