SLIS Assistant Professor Lokman I. Meho has won the Association for Library and Information Science Education (ALISE) Bohdan S. Wynar Research Paper Competition for his study "Ranking the Research Productivity of LIS Faculty and Schools: An Evaluation of Data Sources and Research Methods." The award, which will be presented at the 2005 ALISE Conference in Boston, includes a $2,500 honorarium.
"I was very happy when I read the letter," Meho said. "I knew this was a good paper."
The award this year comes with additional distinction because ALISE Research Committee members, who serve as the competition judges, declined to select a winner in 2002, 2003, and 2004, when submissions were "considered unsatisfactory."
"This is a further statement about the quality of the paper and its contribution to the field as recognized by peers," Meho said.
The study evaluates the data sources and research methods that were used in earlier studies to rank the research productivity of Library and Information Science faculty and schools. This was done in order to identify (1) tools and methods that generate more accurate publication count rankings and (2) databases that should be taken into consideration when conducting comprehensive searches in the literature for research and curricular needs. The full version of the study can be found at the following address: http://www.slis.indiana.edu/faculty/meho/meho-spurgin.doc.
Coauthored with Kristina M. Spurgin, the paper has been accepted for publication in the Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology.
Posted December 08, 2004