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20SOCIAL SCIENCES
SCIENTOMETRIC ANALYSIS OF DOCUMENT FLOW IN LIBRARY SCIENCE OF AZERBAIJAN
(2014-2018)
Kazimi P.
Associate Professor, Doctor of Philosophy, Baku State University
Abdullayeva A.
Doctor of Philosophy, Director of the UNEC Library Information Center
Ismayilov N.
Associate Professor, Doctor of Philosophy, Baku State University
Abstract
The article examines the scientific innovations and achievements of library science over the past five years. At that time, the existing document mass on different areas of library science was studied and books, scientific articles, dissertations, conference materials, methodical publications published in the field for five years were analyzed by bibliometric methods. It was noted that for the past 5 years, the most productive year in terms of book publishing was 2018, for articles 2014, thesis defense 2017, and most of the conference was held in 2016. The article also examines bibliographic references in publications on library science, with more cited scientists. In the course of scientific analysis of the document flow on library science in Azerbaijan, existing problems were identified and several recommendations and suggestions were made.
Keywords: library science, scientometrics, bibliometrics, documentary flow, bibliometric research
The role of science is undeniable in ensuring the economic, social, political and cultural development of the country, improving the welfare and scientific level of every citizen of the Republic of Azerbaijan, acquiring new knowledge and understanding the world. The Law of the Republic of Azerbaijan on Science, dated June 14, 2016, states that science is the area of human activity that involves the acquisition, collection, sys-tematization, processing, dissemination and application of objective knowledge and information about the nature of events and reality; scientific activity - the process of scientific research and creativity aimed at acquisition, application and promotion of scientific knowledge; scientific product (scientific result) is the result of material and social value (new knowledge, technical solutions, workings, etc.), reflected in a specific media, intended for application of scientific and scientific-technical activities. (5,p.3-4) Today, scientometric and bibliometric research methods are widely used to investigate the effectiveness of scientific research in various fields of science in Azerbaijan, to identify scientific achievements and scientific productivity in the field, and to determine the level of development of one or another science. Scientometrics is a field of measurement and analysis of scientific information. The origin of scientometrics is associated with the writing of "The Social function of science" by John Bernal in 1939, who is a professor at Cambridge University and London, a member of the Royal Society of London. (10, p.15) However, the term "scientomet-rics" was first introduced by the professor of the Moscow State University Vasiliy Nalimov. (7, p.5) Mathematician scientist V.Nalimov, is coauthor with Z.M.Mulchenko, in his monography "Scientometric: learning the development of science as an information process" in 1969, noted that learning science as an information process is interesting and important as theoretical and practical tasks of scientometric,
provided detailed information about statistical analysis of the content, the study of internal relations in the science with language of bibliographic references, the development of scientific directions, the creation of feedback between the author and the active creative reader, the reference ethics, the study of scientific journals as communication channels, and the evaluation of world scientific information treasures, the use of scientometric ideas and methods in the management of science development. (7)
In the last 10 years, science-based approaches have been used extensively in bibliometric methods that have been fundamental to the calculation, coordination, interpretation, and comparison of some document flow elements. The information obtained with the help of bibliometric studies is used effectively in various evaluation processes, which can determine the development or decline of a particular scientific field. (3, p. 86) The bibliometry is aimed at finding information about scientific directions, country, region, organization, specific author's publication activity: the number of publications and references. (6, p. 53)
Library science is one of the young fields of science that has a special place in the system of science in Azerbaijan. A series of librarianship sciences includes systematic, interconnected consecutive sciences. A systematic study of library science in the preparation of highly qualified librarian-bibliographic staff is one of the great importance both in the world system of science and in Azerbaijan. The main goal in this research is to conduct an investigation on different areas of this science for the last five years, to make comparative analyses and to show what has been achieved.
First of all, it should be noted that over the past five years, 94 publications - 62 books, 32 methodical materials have been published on librarianship, bibliology and bibliography, also in the various periodicals as
"Librarianship and Bibliography", "Librarianship and Information", "Bibliology and publishing" journals by the faculty of Library and information science, "Cul-ture.Az" magazine of the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Azerbaijan, scientific works of the National Library of Azerbaijan and the Institute of Manuscripts named after M. Fuzuli were published 392 articles. It should also be noted that the articles of the specialist in the library science published in the world scientific journals did not cover, as it was not possible to obtain information about them. One of the main reasons is that these publications are not registered in Azerbaijan's library-information systems and catalogs. Unfortunately, during the investigated period, only 6 books on library sciences were published in foreign languages-3 in Russian and 3 in English.
In addition, 15 dissertations (2 of them as doctors of sciences) were defended in the field of librarianship, bibliography and, bibliology for the studied period. Some actual research work was carried out on current topics such as "Librarianship education in Azerbaijan (creation, development and the present state)" (R.Gar-dashov), "History and modern problems of computerization of library work" (N.Ismaylova), "Usage of mechanisms for the creation of modern electronic library network"(E.Mammadov), "Participation of libraries in the formation of information literacy in society" (A. Abdullayeva), "Azerbaijan libraries in the international information environment (based on experience of the Central Scientific Library of ANAS)" (N. Babakhanova).
Scientific conferences were organized by various universities, research institutes, and other institutions during the investigated period. Over the five years, 26 such conferences have been held, of which 11 are republican scientific conferences and 15 are international scientific conferences. International scientific conferences on topics "Application of theoretical and practical achievements in library-information sphere", "Library-information science: new challenges in training and practice", "Library-information activities and interdisciplinary integration", "Azerbaijani manuscripts in the world libraries", "New challenges for libraries, new ideas, new requirements: books, readings, innovations ", "innovations in National Libraries- as the basis for change and development" organized by Baku State University Library and Information Faculty, Azerbaijan National Library, Institute of Manuscripts named after M.Fuzuli and ADA University. At the same time, republican scientific conferences such as "Modern problems of library-information and publishing activities", "Modern problems of library-information activity and bibliology in modern times", "Problems of formation of e-libraries", "Contemporary problems of library science in Azerbaijan in information society", "Library-information activities and knowledge societies: integration tendencies and challenges", "Haydar Aliyev and library work in Azerbaijan", "Actual issues of librarianship, bibliography and bibliology in the information society" were held.
According to the "One-Year Azerbaijan Book" published by the National Library, we can say that in
2014, 2997 books and brochures were published in various fields of science across the country, of which only 8 books cover library science. (11) These books are "History and methodology of librarianship", "The source study of book and library culture of the Turkic peoples", "The development of school libraries in Azerbaijan", "The prospects of the formation of electronic libraries at modern times", "Fundamentals of librarianship, bibliography and bibliology", "Creation and activity of scientific and special libraries in the Azerbaijan SSR: 1920 - June 1941", "Republican Youth Library named after J. Jabbarly: yesterday, today and tomorrow", "Wise ideas about the words, books, readings, libraries and librarian". The authors of the books are prof. Abuzar Khalafov, academician Rasim Aliguliyev, Ph.D. in history Parviz Kazimi, Ph.D. in technical sciences Elchin Mammadov, Yusif Gaziyev, Rasuli Irada, Aypara Rustamova and Tahir Sadigov. 3 of the books have been published in Mutercim Publishing, and others published in the Baku University, Science and Education, Apostroff, and MBM. Books are preserved in the funds of the National Library of Azerbaijan and the Presidential Library.
When we look through the articles published in 2014, we see that 95 scientific articles have been published on library science. In particular, the scientific researches were carried out on the following topics: Organization of management in the library, a conceptual model of modern libraries, information literacy in society, technology of creation of electronic libraries, museum activity of libraries, training in a new aspect on the subject "Library Information Resources", higher librarianship education in the background of regional cooperation in Azerbaijan, Azerbaijani libraries are in the context of international bibliographic collaboration, directions of bibliometric research, bibliometric methods, actual problems of publishing work in Azerbaijan, development of the theory of library classification, application of information and communication technologies in the organization and use of library resources.
In 2015, approximately 2,738 books and booklets on various sciences were published in the Republic of Azerbaijan, of which 7 books (1 in Russian), 8 methodical publications and 7 subject programs were devoted to the important issues of library science. (12) "Scientific-theoretical and practical issues of library innovation", "Azerbaijan Library Encyclopedia", "Library- information provision system of architecture in Azerbaijan", "Information search systems in the Republican scientific libraries: (1990-2005)", "The Youth Library named after Jafar Jabbarli: analysis of scientific, methodological and practical activity","Using the Internet in Library Processes ", "Library work in the Republic of Azerbaijan: history, theory, practice" books have been published.
Note that 2015 was a very important year for the library community. In accordance with the "State Program for the Development of Library and Information sphere in the Republic of Azerbaijan for 2008-2013" signed by the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Mr. Ilham Aliyev published as a joint project of the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of
Azerbaijan and the National Library of the Republic of Azerbaijan, the first fundamental publication "Azerbaijan Library Encyclopedia" was published. The project manager of the encyclopedia was the Minister of Culture of the Republic of Azerbaijan, doctor of philosophy Abulfas Garayev and the scientific editor was professor Abuzar Khalafov, the founder of the Azerbaijan national library science. The Encyclopedia was prepared as a result of several years of hard work of the editorial staff and working group of main scientists and librarians of leading scientific libraries in our republic.
If we look through periodicals, we'll see that in 2015, 79 articles (1 in Russian) were investigated in the country on various topical problems of library science. The organization of work with libraries in electronic resources, a bibliometric analyses of books and dissertations, features of classification and advertising publications, multiculturalism traditions in libraryinformation infrastructure, distance education and digital libraries, in modern conditions, copyright protection and other issues have been explored in the article. innovations in the field of librarianship has also been reflected in scientific research, expanding bibliometric research, distant education, advertising publications, intensive use of electronic resources and such directions have become a priority.
Methodical materials published on topics such as the activities of rural libraries in accordance with the requirements of the present time, the approximate plan of seminars, the promotion of ethnography literature in libraries, the organization of methodical activity in libraries, task instructions of Centralized Library System staff the role of libraries in the child's world, mass events and propaganda forms in libraries of educational institutions are also important to further improve and optimization of the library activity.
Note that, 3112 books and booklets in various languages were published in 2016 in different languages across the country. (13) Among them, 14 books and 7 methodical publications were on library science. One of the published books is "Fundamentals of computerization of libraries" (A. Khalafov, A. Gurbanov), 2 textbooks - "Socio-political information resources" (S. Sadigova; in Azerbaijani and in English languages), 4 monographs - "Library and information support for children and youth" (E. Ahmadov), "Bibliographic provision of users in the field of ecology in Azerbaijan: current state and ways of improvement "(A. Aliyeva-Kangarli, I.Aliyeva), "National libraries of the Turkic world" (A.Khalafov, P.Kazimi), "Development of technical libraries in Azerbaijan" (M.Mammadov), 2 books - "Main directions of service to readers, experience of applying new innovations" (A. Ismailova), "The role of the Republican Youth Library named aftrer Jafar Jabbarly in the promotion of national heritage" (T.Sadigov), 1 book translated to Azerbaijani - "Reaching your reluctant reader" (J.Gunhus), 2 subject program "Socio-political information resources" (S. Sadigova; in Azerbaijani and in English languages), two of them dictionary -"Explanatory Dictionary of Library-bibliography and information terms", "Innovative Library-Information
Service". All methodical publications have been prepared by the staff of the National Library and are devoted to the actual and important issues in the library science: "The rules of using MARC 21 format in automated library systems", "Bibliographic service in libraries: traditions and innovations", "Abridgement of the word and word combinations in bibliographic descriptions of documents","The main directions of open library activities","The problem of copyrights in the use of library resources", "Organization of library services for persons with disabilities", "Multiculturalism is the lifestyle of Azerbaijan".
The number of scientific articles in various fields of library science is 77 (1 in Russian and 1 in English). Scientific articles have been published mainly in the scientific journals of the Library and information faculty of the BSU, in the scientific works of the Institute of Manuscripts named after M. Fuzuli of ANAS, and the National Library, in the "Culture.Az" magazine and other publications of the Ministry of Culture. Topics such as professional competencies of librarians-bibliographers, creation, development, and modernity of library design, international databases for bibliometric studies, library-information support for entrepreneurship development in the regions, online services in electronic libraries, the culture of libraryinformation management and other relevant topics have been studied by young scientists.
An analysis of the 2017 edition of the "One-Year Azerbaijani book" suggests that 2,229 books and booklets were published in the country during the year. (14) These include 7 books on librarianship and 9 methodical publications: one monograph -"International information environment and scientific-cultural integration" (N. Babakhanova), one textbook -"Bibliographic description of the documents" (X. Ismayilov, S. Mustafayeva), one textbook -"Organization and methodology of bibliographic work in libraries" (N.Ismayilov, Kh.Agayeva), one book -"Library work in Azerbaijan during the independence" (comp. H. Gasimly), one book in Russian -"Bibliometry as a model of analyzing for documentary-informational flow" (A. Hajiyeva), one syllabus "Bibliographic description of documents" (S. Mustafayeva), one dictionary - "Contemporary libraryinformation terms" (comp. Y. Mammadova). Methodical publications consist of methodical recommendations on the organization of mass events in libraries of various significant and historical dates, reading literacy, rules of book handling and library use, and support of the activities of secondary school libraries, library-bibliographic classification. During the year there were 78 articles (one in English) published in the periodical and continuing publications. Mainly traditional and electronic library studies, Turkish national libraries in the modern information society, scientific references of information resources, scientific researches on the problems of information security in electronic document management systems, location of library and information resources of the regions and the current state of human resources and other issues were conducted.
In 2018, as a result of research in information retrieval systems, it was revealed that 19 books, 8 methodical publications, 63 articles (2 of them in English) were published about library science. One of them is "Bibliographic classification of documents" (X.Ismayilov, S.Mustafayeva), 3 of them are textbooks "Electronic Libraries" (A.Gurbanov, P.Kazimi, O.Guliyev), "Information resources in centralized library systems" (Z. Rzayeva), "Bibliography of the literature on pedagogics" (Kh.Agayeva), 5 of them are monography "Linguo-conceptual problems of librarianship and library ethics" (A.I. Aliyeva-Kangarli, J.A Jafarov),"The periodicals of the National Library of Azerbaijan named after M.F.Akhundov: history, modern state, readers' service and development prospects: (1923-2007) "(E.
Mammadov),"Librarianship education in Azerbaijan (creation, development and current state)" (R. Gardashov), "National Bibliography of Azerbaijan in the global information space" (S.Sadigova), "LibraryInformation service for urban population in Azerbaijan" (O. Guliyev), one is in English "Azerbaijan libraries as data & metadata hubs" (J.Jafarov), one in Russian "Issues of the publication of Azerbaijani fairy tales and their bibliographic analysis" (V.Hasanova) and 8 educational programs such as "Introduction to library science", "Electronic publications", "Library service", "History of Azerbaijan libraries", "Organization and methodology of bibliographic activity in libraries", "Bibliographic classification of documents", "Electronic cataloging", "Structure and design of library information systems" were published during the investigated year. Articles published in 2018 focus on current and important issues in the field: automation of the existing libraryinformation environment and rapid information exchange processes in Azerbaijan, management culture of library work, modern concepts of bibliography,
Azerbaijan model of library marketing, inclusive education and library services, activity of libraries in virtual environment, creation of innovative communications, etc. The methodical publications reflect methodical recommendations on the important and historical days, celebrations of outstanding persons in order to fulfill the tasks facing the libraries.
Bradford's Law of Spread is widely used in bibliometric studies. This law will determine the most productive journals in the relevant field of science and their place and role in the development of science. Thus, when examining the degree of dissemination of articles in a particular area under Bradford law, it becomes clear that in most of the scientific journals only 1 article was published; in the second group journals, from 5 to 10; magazines of the third group publish more articles than the first two groups of magazines. (8, p. 93) According to our research in the field of library science, the scientific periodicals we studied were mostly field-based publications, which also belong to the third group under Bradford law. However, to get more accurate results, various periodicals have been investigated for the study period. "Baku University News: Humanities Series"of Baku State University, ANAS Youth Intellectual Development Center's publication "Works of young scientists", "Manuscripts don't burn" journal, published by the Institute of Manuscripts of ANAS named after M.Fuzuli, Journal of "Information Society Problems" of the Institute of Information Technology of ANAS, "The news collection of the National Academy of Sciences of Azerbaijan" of ANAS and others. In the scientific publications mentioned before, a totally of 11 articles were identified over a five-year period in various areas of library science.
Follow the state of document flow in various areas of library science for five years:
Dissertation ■ Conference Proceedings ■ Methodical edition ■ Article ■ Book
It is clear from the diagram that the most productive year in terms of publication of books on library science in 5 years has been 2018, 2014 year for articles, 2017 year for the defense of the dissertation, and most of the conference was held in the 2016 year.
In general, the scientometric analysis of the documents flow on librarianship in Azerbaijan suggests that books published over the past five years have been written in theoretical and historical aspects, but practical issues of modern library and information activities weren't investigated widely. Important issues, such as centralization of library funds in the modern world, the function of formation of the libraryinformation literacy, scientometric and bibliometric research, international and local databases, the development of national standards for librarianship, international staff exchange and training seminars by international trainers, the study and publication of manuscripts about Azerbaijan in the world libraries, should be involved in fundamental scientific research.
Now, let's take a look at the references and citations in books and articles published over the 1 year, for example, in 2018. The theoretical basis of the reference indicators is that references are symbols of scientific concepts. As a form of scientific communication, references allow us to follow the works provided by the author in the field of research. Scientists, researchers often refer to relevant sources (articles, books, notes, reviews, etc.)., evaluate the research that influences them, or make the necessary assessments beyond those publications. (9, p.22) It is also a recognition of the importance of source, respect for the intellectual work of colleagues.
Taking into account the bibliometric study, it has been revealed that the most widely used author in the books on librarianship published in 2018 is Professor Abuzar Khalafov with 64 references, the second is professor Zohrab Aliyev with 30 references and Khalil Ismailov with 24 reference, followed by doctor of philology science Aybaniz Aliyeva-Kangarli and doctor of philosophy in history assoc. prof. Javid Jafarov with 9 references. The most cited author in the article with 32 references is professor Abuzar Khalafov, the second (29 references) is professor Khalil Ismailov, the 3rd ranked academician Rasim Aliguliyev with 12 references, and the associate professor Nadir Ismayilov with 10 references. The references to other authors are relatively low.
During our research, there were many books and articles published in the topical and scientific value, either with little or no citations. The unfortunate issue here is that specialists are either unaware of the existence of their colleague's works or simply do not read them. Therefore, very valuable publications are sometimes overlooked. The term "Sleeping beauties in science," used by Dutch scientist Van Raan, refers to publications that haven't noticed. The scientist divides such publications into 2 groups: articles that receive only one citation each year after publication ("deep sleep") and articles that receive one or two citations each year at a specific time interval after publication ("less sleepy"). (10, p.42) There are dozens of such
valuable articles and books that have not been cited over the five years we have researched.
We hope that these publications will become regular references and sources of citations within a short period of time and will not become "Sleeping beauties in science" used by Dutch scientist Van Raan.
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