Analyzing the status of theoretical framework by subfields in library and information science research articles

Based upon the assumption that both theory building and theory use are intertwined to construct a cohesive body of knowledge in the filed, this study attempts to identify the state of theoretical framework by examining the number and the quality of theoretical articles by subfield. Theoretical article is characterized as an incident in which in which the author contributes to the development or the use of theory in his/her own paper. Theoretical incidents were identified by a content analysis of 1,661 articles in four LIS journals from 1984 to 2003. The findings suggest that the four subfields, such as information seeking/use, information retrieval, library management, and scholar communication had great contributions to both theory building and theory use. Also, two research areas such as bibliometrics and professionals are very likely to be theoretical. Further, the analysis of the name of theories used by subfields could give an insight into the understanding of how the theoretical frameworks of each subfield are related.