Informetrics: an emerging subdiscipline in information science

Irene Wormell

doi:10.1108/10176749810241838

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Asian Libraries

ISSN: 1017-6748
Merged into: New Library World

Online from: 1997

Subject Area: Library and Information Studies

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Informetrics: an emerging subdiscipline in information science

Document Information:
Title:	Informetrics: an emerging subdiscipline in information science
Author(s):	Irene Wormell, (Royal School of Library and Information Science, Copenhagen, Denmark)
Citation:	Irene Wormell, (1998) "Informetrics: an emerging subdiscipline in information science", Asian Libraries, Vol. 7 Iss: 10, pp.257 - 268
Keywords:	Decision making, Information engineering, Information retrieval, Methodology, Quantitative techniques
Article type:	Research paper
DOI:	10.1108/10176749810241838 (Permanent URL)
Publisher:	MCB UP Ltd
Abstract:	The Centre for Informetric Studies (CIS) was launched in 1996 by the Royal School of Library and Information Science in Copenhagen. The head of centre presents the CIS, giving a sample of activities and research programmes. The emerging field of informetrics is described in a historical perspective as a subfield of bibliometrics. The new approach combines advanced information retrieval theories and methodologies with the scientific study of information flows. CIS aims to apply improved bibliometric methods not only to scientometrics studies and research evaluations of science and technology, but also to the analysis of their mutual societal, industrial and other special relations. This means an extension of traditional bibliometric analyses to cover non-scholarly communities in which information is produced, communicated and used. It is also an appeal to modern LIS professionals to face the challenge of this new area of quantitative studies, and to explore the databases not only as a registry but also as a tool for analytical work. The possibilities for LIS professionals to raise their positions in information work hierarchies are emphasised, as well as the exploration of informetric techniques to support “informed” management decisions and policy making.