Intellectual Structure and Community Detection of iSchools from the Perspective of Community Identity

iSchools are a representative academic community that explores disciplinary integration from the perspective of Library and Information Science (LIS). A thorough research on its intellectual structure and composition can provide references for Chinese LIS schools in the transition period towards information resources management. From the perspective of community identity, this study conducted the LDA model and Louvain algorithm on the research interest texts of scholars from iSchools to detect its overall intellectual structure and community composition. It is found that the current intellectual structure of iSchools can be summarized into four modules: interdisciplinary frontier, LIS, information technology, and humanities informatics. Further, Four typical models of discipline construction are discovered within iSchools, which are multidisciplinary information studies, library, information and archives management, information technology, and humanities information studies. In addition to strengthening the discipline foundation and shaping discipline identity, it is suggested that Chinese LIS schools construct a novel intellectual structure with Chinese characteristics, based on referring to foreign experience.

对iSchools这一学科整合社群的内部体系进行调研，可为国内图书情报学的学科转型提供借鉴。从社群认同理论出发，基于iSchools院校的学者研究兴趣文本，利用LDA主题模型和Louvain社群发现算法探测联盟整体的知识结构，并分析联盟内部的社群分化现状。研究发现，联盟的知识结构可归纳为跨学科前沿、图书情报学、信息技术、人文信息学四个模块，集群分布格局对应多学科信息研究、图书情报与档案管理、信息技术、人文型信息研究四类典型学科建设模式。研究建议国内院校应夯实学科传统根基，塑造学科认同，在学习国外学科建设经验的基础上构建具有中国特色的学科知识体系。

Recommended citation: Hu, Z., & Pei, L. (2024). Intellectual structure and community detection of iSchools in the context of community identity. Journal of Information Resources Management, 14(1), 108–117 [in Chinese]. doi:10.13365/j.jirm.2024.01.108
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