Publication of American doctoral dissertations on library science in academic journals

Abstract

A content analysis was made of library and information science doctoral dissertations. It was then determined how many of these dissertation authors publish their results in library journals. The sample consists of 419 abstracts from a nine year period, examining every second year in depth: 1986,1988, 1990, 1992, and 1994. The four variables examined for each year were university, degree, topic, and methodology. The library journal indexes were then searched for references to publication of the dissertation topic. Those dissertation topics which have been published were analysed to discover whether any of the four variables above are represented in greater proportions than in the dissertation sample. Trends over the nine year period were also examined. The theoretical basis for the study is that of diffusion of innovation, and scholarly communication through the journal literature. Results suggest that the journal publication record does not mirror dissertations in general in terms of topics chosen., although proportions of research methodology are fairly constant over time and between the two groups studied.