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Mapping recent information behavior research: an analysis of co-authorship and co-citation networks

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Abstract

There has been an increase in research published on information behavior in recent years, and this has been accompanied by an increase in its diversity and interaction with other fields, particularly information retrieval. The aims of this study are to determine which researchers have contributed to producing the current body of knowledge on this subject, and to describe its intellectual basis. A bibliometric and network analysis was applied to authorship and co-authorship as well as citation and co-citation. According to these analyses, there is a small number of authors who can be considered to be the most productive and who publish regularly, and a large number of transient ones. Other findings reveal a marked predominance of theoretical works, some examples of qualitative methodology that originate in other areas of social science, and a high incidence of research focused on the user interaction with information retrieval systems and the information behavior of doctors.

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  1. History of Science and Documentation Department, University of Valencia, Blasco Ibañez, 17, 46010, Valencia, Spain

    Aurora González-Teruel, Gregorio González-Alcaide & María-Francisca Abad-García

  2. Department of Methodology of Behavioral Science, University of Barcelona, Passeig de La Vall d’Hebron 171, 08035, Barcelona, Spain

    Maite Barrios

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  1. Aurora González-Teruel
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  2. Gregorio González-Alcaide
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  3. Maite Barrios
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  4. María-Francisca Abad-García
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Correspondence to Gregorio González-Alcaide.

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González-Teruel, A., González-Alcaide, G., Barrios, M. et al. Mapping recent information behavior research: an analysis of co-authorship and co-citation networks. Scientometrics 103, 687–705 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-015-1548-z

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