Doctoral dissertations of Library and Information Science in China: A co-word analysis

The aim of this paper is to map the intellectual structure of research in doctoral dissertations of Library and Information Science in China. By use of Co-word analysis, including cluster analysis, strategic diagram and social network analysis, we studied the internal and external structure and relationship of research fields in doctoral dissertations of Library and Information Science in China. Data was collected, during the period of 1994–2011, from six public dissertation databases and ten degree databases provided by the universities/institutes which have been authorized to grant doctoral degrees of Library and Information Science in China. The results show that Wuhan University is the most important institution of doctoral education in LIS in China. The focuses of researches, including information resource, ontology, semantic web, semantic search, electronic government, information resource management, knowledge management, knowledge innovation, knowledge sharing, knowledge organization, network, information service, information need and digital library. The research fields of LIS doctoral dissertations in China are varied. Many of these research fields are still immature; accordingly, the well-developed and core research fields are fewer.