Qualitative Analysis of the Intellectual Structure of Library and Information Science Based on the Viewpoint of Subject Experts

The purpose of this study was to investigate the intellectual structure of global research in Library and Information Science based on the analysis of the views of Iranian experts. In the present study, the semi-structured interview method was used to obtain the views of the Iranian specialized experts, and in order to evaluate the results of the interviews, a qualitative content analysis method was used with deductive approach. Considering the qualitative nature of the research, the use of purposeful sampling and snowball method ultimately led to the identification of 10 experts. The qualitative analysis of the results of the interview with the experts of Library and Information Science led to the identification of 8 main categories and 37 sub categories. The findings showed that the methodological and interdisciplinary nature of research in scientometrics has led to its superiority over the other subsectors of Library and Information Science in terms of number of documents and number of citations. Also, the results of the content analysis of the interviews indicated that the recent trends in Library and Information Science can be summarized as a general category of "information studies". The interdisciplinary nature of the study areas has a significant role in the amount of scientific publications and citations received by their researchers. The results showed that countries' awareness of the close relationship between scientific growth and economic development, comprehensive investment in promoting scientific status, the allocation of significant GDP contribution to research topics, and the comprehensive support of research projects in the form of grants Research is one of the most important factors influencing the intellectual structure of the field. According to the results of this study, the weakness of the theoretical bases and the native nature of study areas can affect their reliance on scientific papers; while areas with more powerful theoretical foundations are more likely to come into the book because of the retrospective nature of the book.