Students use of academic journals : a bibliometric study of the citations given in LIS students master theses 1999-2001

Previous research indicates that the academic journal in many cases is the most valuable and important source of information in scientific work. The aim of this study is to investigate students usage of academic journals in comparison to their usage of other document types, as illustrated by the citations given in LIS students master theses 1999-2001. By comparing the students use of LIS journals with the use of LIS journals by international scholars we also wish to examine whether students and scholars use the same journals in their work. The international scholars are represented by references given in LIS journals 1999-2001, recorded by the citation index Journal Citation Reports. Questions: 1. How are the citations to academic journals distributed in master student's theses in comparison to the distribution of citations to other document types? 2. To what extent have the students cited academic journals within their own discipline? 3. What are the relations between the students usage of academic LIS journals on a master level, and the scholars usage of academic journals? The citation analysis shows a restrictive use of academic journals in the students theses. The claimed importance of academic journals in scientific work is therefore not reflected by the citations given by the students. The majority of the cited academic journals were LIS journals. The journal title comparison with the scholars usage of academic LIS journals show a moderate overlap of journals used.Uppsatsnivå: