A Study on Doctoral Research Output in Library and Information Science in India during 2010-2014: with special reference to Association of Indian Universities (AIU)

D.Chinnadurai University Deputy Librarian Kalasalingam University Anand Nagar, Krishnankoil Tamil Nadu. India [email protected]

B. Suresh University Librarian Madurai Kamaraj University, Madurai, India

Abstract

Library and Information Science has completed its 100th year in 2011. The craze for PhD in library and information science is growing rapidly in India. The main reason being that today most of the universities are demanding a doctoral degree for library and information science faculties as well as for the post of Librarian, Deputy Librarian and Assistant Librarian in university. This led to an increased research activity at various library schools in India. The present study investigates the PhD research output in period of 2010-2014. The data of the doctoral research output has been analysed chronologically, subject wise, guide wise, university wise and date wise.

Keywords: Library and information science, LIS, PhD, Doctoral research

Introduction:

The Library and Information Science (LIS) education in India may be said to have taken place with the introduction of a training course in 1911, in the erstwhile State of Baroda. The next development was acknowledging the participants with certificates. The real pedestal for growth took place when universities started offering certificate programmes in library training. University training provides a stamp of class in higher education. The programmes were later upgraded to diploma and further to postgraduate diploma. Admission was made stringent when only graduates could get admission to it. Thus, library science education was accorded a status of International Research: Journal of Library & Information Science | Vol.6 No.4, Dec., 2016 652

postgraduate education setting the roots for library science as a discipline. The next step in the evolution of LIS education came when the postgraduate diploma was re-named and upgraded to a BLIS and later to MLIS. This development was an important factor giving the academic recognition to the discipline. It all required the hard work and vision of committed and dedicated professionals, like S.R. Ranganathan, S. Dasgupta, Asadullah Khan, and M.O. Thomas to name a few. Introduction of PhD programme and the award of the first PhD was another landmark in LIS education in India. Library and Information Science (LIS) education in India will be completed 100 years in 2011. Ph.D. programmes thereafter, mushroomed even despite the lack of facilities or adherence to standards.

Review of Literature:

Thavamani. K and Pushparaj. A 1, study shows that the maximum research was done in the area of Information Sources and Services i.e.10 (47.61%). and the state of Meghalaya is the highest contributor i.e., 8 (38.09%) to the field of LIS in terms of doctoral research productivity. Sivalingaiah. D 2, reports that the output of doctoral researches in LIS field is increasing since 1980 and the growth is significant from 1990s. A steady development has been observed till 78 While the maximum number of Doctoral dissertations was during 1995 and 2003, the minimum was found during 1998 and 2000-01. Universities in South India have produced more doctoral researchers as compare to North India. Shashi Prabha Singh and Parveen Babbar 3, his study reveals that research in LIS was at low ebb up to late 1970s, but after that the number of PhDs has been continuously increasing decade by decade. But in the year 2010-2012, the number of PhDs has increased at the highest average rate of 144 PhDs/year. Probably this increase is happening because majority of the departments are now having qualified research guides and are paying due attention on developing adequate infrastructure for research.

Objectives of the Study:

The objectives of the study are as follows,

 To know the growth of the research productivity (doctoral theses) in India.  Identify the contributions made by individual universities.  To identify the most predominant subject areas in the field of LIS research.  To find out the top five ranking of research guides.

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 To find out the top five ranking of state produced the LIS research. Methodology

The Association of Indian Universities is a premier organization formed in 1973 with a view to promote university activities by the way of sharing information and cooperation in the field of education, culture, sports and allied discipline. The dada for the present study have been collected from “Bibliography of Doctoral Dissertations Social Sciences 2010,2011,2012,2013 and 2014 written by Youd Vir Singh and S.Rama Devi Pani Published by Association of Indian Universities. A total of 177 bibliographic records were collected, tabulated and analyses.

Data Analysis and Interpretation

It is evident from Table 1 that 50 PhDs awarded in 2011 and 47 PhDs awarded in 2010. Thereafter declined and steady growth the LIS research i.e. 25 PhDs awarded in 2012, 27 PhDs awarded in 2013 and 28 in 2014. Table 2 reveals that Dr.Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University is highest PhD awarded University i.e. 15 research scholars passed during the period of 2010-2014. Followed by 13 PhD degree awarded from Hemchandracharya North Gujarat University, 12 PhD degrees awarded from Karnataka University, 10 PhD degrees awarded from Dr.Babasaheb Ambedkar Open University, 8 PhD degrees from four various institutions, 7 PhD degrees from University of Calcutta, 6 and 5 PhD degrees awarded from 2 various institutions, 4 PhD degrees awarded from four various institutions, 3 PhD degrees awarded from 8 different institutions, 2 PhD degrees awarded from 9 different institutions and single PhD degree awarded from 7 different institutions from India.

For subject analysis, all 177 PhDs were grouped into 99 subject headings using controlled vocabulary developed for this study on the basis of Sears List of Subject Headings, Table 3, subjects are ranked based on maximum number of PhDs awarded. Based on the research, subject user studies have been found to be the popular area of the research with 25 (14.12%) PhDs, followed by Library services and Information Marketing 19 (10.94%) PhDs, IT application 18 (10.16) PhDs, Bibliometrics and Scientometics taken together 15 (8.5%) PhDs, Information Seeking Behaviour 12 (6.78%)PhDs , Collection Management 7 PhDs, Library Management 7 PhDs, Information Literacy 6 PhDs, Public Library 5 PhDs and other subject areas like LIS

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Education, School Library, Special Library, Social Networking etc . 50 (28.27%) research output.

According to this study, total 177 PhDs have been awarded under the guidance of 88 supervisors. Table 4 provides the list of supervisors name in accordance of rank. From this study, Dr.M.K.Prajapati have supervised highest number of scholars with 10 PhDs. Followed by Dr.A.A.Vaishnav and Dr.Shivdanbhai M Charan shared the second spot with 7 PhDs each, Dr.Mohd. Shafi Sheikh supervised 6 scholars, three supervisors shared 4th rank with 5 PhDs, 6 supervisor shared 5th rank with 4 PhDs, 6 supervisor shared 6th rank with 3 PhDs, 21 research supervisors guided 2 scholars and 48 supervisors guided only one scholars.

There are many universities offered PhD program for library and information science. Table 5 provides data of 42 universities awarded 177 PhDs from 18 states during the period of 2010 to 2014. Among the 18 states, Gujarat is on the top with highest contribution of 16.95% PhDs, followed by Madhya Pradesh 14.69%, Maharashtra 12.99%, Karnataka 9.6%, West Bengal 6.78%, Odisha 6.21, Andhra pradesh and Manipur 4.52% each and remaining 10 states contributed 23.74% of research output.

Table 1 Year-wise distribution of doctoral research output

No of Doctoral S.No. Year % Research output

1 2010 47 26.56

2 2011 50 28.25

3 2012 25 14.12

4 2013 27 15.25

5 2014 28 15.82

Total 177 100

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Table 2 University wise distribution of LIS research output

S.No. Name of the University 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 Total

1 Aligarh Muslim 1 1 University

2 Andhra University 2 1 1 1 5

3 Anna University 1 1

4 Bangalore University 1 1

5 Bhavnagar University 1 1

6 Dayalbagh Educational 1 1 Institute

7 Dr.Babasaheb Ambedkar 2 5 2 6 15 Marathwada University

8 Dr.Harisingh Gour 2 4 1 1 8 Vishwavidyalaya

9 Hemchandracharya North 3 5 1 4 13 Gujarat University

10 IGNOU 2 2

11 Jiwaji University 2 2

12 Karnataka University 2 2 3 2 3 12

13 Kuvempu University 1 1 2 4

14 Madhyapradesh Bhoj 1 2 3 Open University

15 Mahatma Gandhi 2 1 3 Chitrakoot Gramodaya Vishwavidyalaya

16 Makhanlal Chatruvedi 2 2 University of Journalism and Communication

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17 Mizoram University 3 2 1 6

18 Pandit Ravishankar 1 1 2 Shukla University

19 Pt. Sunderlal sharma 1 1 2 University

20 Sambalpur University 2 3 1 2 8

21 Sourashtra University 1 1 2

22 Srivenkateswara 2 1 3 University

23 University of Calcutta 2 2 3 7

24 University of Delhi 4 4

25 Vikram University 4 1 1 2 8

26 Yashwantroa Chavan 1 1 1 3 Maharashtra Open University

27 Manipur Universtiy 2 3 3 8

28 Osmania University 1 1 1 3

29 Shivaji University 4 4

30 University of Kashmir 5 1 6

31 Utkal University 2 1 3

32 Gujarat University 1 1

33 Dr.Babasaheb Ambedkar 10 10 Open University

34 North Eastern Hill 1 1 2 4 University

35 Kachchh University 2 1 3

36 Centre for South Central, 1 1 South East Asian and South West pacific Studies

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37 University of Burdwan 5 5

38 Punjabi University 2 2

39 Kurukshetra University 3 3

40 Babasaheb Bhim Rao 2 2 Ambedkar University

41 Sri Chandrasekharendra 2 2 Saraswathi Viswa Mahavidyalaya

42 North Maharashtra 1 1 University

Total 47 50 25 27 28 177

Table 3 Subject-wise distribution of doctoral research output

S. Subject 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 Total % Rank No.

1 User Studies 5 8 2 6 4 25 14.12 1

2 Library Service and 2 19 10.74 Information Marketing 7 7 3 2

3 MIS / IT / LIS software 6 2 1 6 3 18 10.16 3

4 Bibliometric / Scientometric 4 15 8.5 Study 4 3 1 3 4

5 Human Relations / Job 5 13 7.35 Satisfaction 4 5 1 2 1

6 Information Seeking 6 12 6.78 Behaviour 2 2 5 2 1

7 Collection Management 3 2 1 1 7 3.95 7

8 Library Management 6 1 7 3.95 7

9 Information Literacy 4 1 1 6 3.39 8

10 Public Library 3 1 1 5 2.83 9

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11 LIS Education 2 1 3 1.7 10

12 E-Resource Management and 11 2 1.13 Service 1 1

13 Library Development 2 2 1.13 11

14 School Library 1 1 2 1.13 11

15 Special Library 1 1 2 1.13 11

16 Information Repository 1 1 0.57 12

17 Information Retrieval 1 1 0.57 12

18 Intellectual Property Rights 1 1 0.57 12

19 Social Networking 1 1 0.57 12

20 Others 9 8 5 5 8 35 19.77 13

Total 47 50 25 27 28 177 100

Table 4 Distribution of doctoral research by research guides

S.No. Name of the Guide 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 Total % Rank

1 Dr. M K Prajapati 1 6 1 2 10 5.65 1

2 Dr. A A Vaishnav 5 1 1 7 3.95 2

3 Dr. Shivdanbhai M 2 7 7 3.95 Charan

4 Dr. Mohd. Shafi Sheikh 5 1 6 3.39 3

5 Dr. B P Shrivastava 5 5 2.82 4

6 Dr. C R Karisiddappa 1 1 2 1 5 2.82 4

7 Prof Biplab Chakrabarti 1 1 3 5 2.82 4

8 Dr. Krit M Vyvas 1 3 4 2.27 5

9 Dr. Skhakuntala Lomte 2 2 4 2.27 5

10 Dr. Surender singh 1 1 1 1 4 2.27 5

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11 Prof B K Choudhury 1 2 1 4 2.27 5

12 Prof K C Panda 1 1 2 4 2.27 5

13 Prof K C Sahoo 2 1 1 4 2.27 5

14 Dr. B S Biradar 1 1 1 3 1.69 6

15 Dr. Gitaben S Patel 1 2 3 1.69 6

16 Dr. S L Sangam 1 2 3 1.69 6

17 Dr. S N Singh 2 1 3 1.69 6

18 Dr. Subal Chandra 6 3 3 1.69 Biswas

19 Dr. Th Purnima Devi 1 2 3 1.69 6

20 Dr. B D Kumbar 1 1 2 1.13 7

21 Dr. Ch lbohal Singh 1 1 2 1.13 7

22 Dr. D K Veer 1 1 2 1.13 7

23 Dr. Hemant sharma 2 2 1.13 7

24 Dr. M P Singh 2 2 1.13 7

25 Dr. Madhuri Devi 1 1 2 1.13 7

26 Dr. Moses M Naga 1 1 2 1.13 7

27 Dr. P Hangsing 1 1 2 1.13 7

28 Dr. P V Konnur 2 2 1.13 7

29 Dr. Puspanjali Jena 1 1 2 1.13 7

30 Dr. R K Bhatt 2 2 1.13 7

31 Dr. R P Bajpai 2 2 1.13 7

32 Dr. Rajendra Kumbhar 1 1 2 1.13 7

33 Dr. Ramesh R Naik 1 1 2 1.13 7

34 Dr. Shailendra Kumar 1 1 2 1.13 7

35 Prof C Sasikala 1 1 2 1.13 7

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36 Prof Jagtar Singh 2 2 1.13 7

37 Prof Pravakar Rath 1 1 2 1.13 7

38 Prof S Kumar 2 2 1.13 7

39 Prof V Pulla Reddy 1 1 2 1.13 7

40 Prof V Vishwa Mohan 1 1 2 1.13 7

41 Research guides with 8 19 6 3 9 11 48 27.11 single output

Total 47 50 25 27 28 177 100

Table 5 State-wise distribution of doctoral research output in LIS

% of S.No. State 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 Total Output

1 Gujarat 5 12 7 2 4 30 16.95

2 Madhya Pradesh 13 7 2 1 3 26 14.69

3 Maharashtra 3 9 3 7 1 23 12.99

4 Karnataka 4 3 3 4 3 17 9.6

5 West Bengal 2 2 3 5 12 6.78

6 Odisha 2 5 1 2 1 11 6.21

7 AP 4 1 2 1 8 4.52

8 Manipur 2 3 3 8 4.52

9 New Delhi 6 1 7 3.95

10 Jammu and Kashmir 5 1 6 3.39

11 Mizoram 3 2 1 6 3.39

12 Chhattisgarh 2 2 4 2.26

13 Meghalaya 1 1 2 4 2.26

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14 UP 2 2 4 2.26

15 Haryana 3 3 1.7

16 Telangana 1 1 1 3 1.7

17 TN 1 2 3 1.7

18 Punjab 2 2 1.13

Total 47 50 25 27 28 177 100

Conclusions

Research in LIS was at low ebb up to late 1970s, but after that the number of PhDs has been gradually increased. The present study reveals that steady growth in the PhD output during the period of 2010 and 2011 and thereafter a decline and sharp growth has been noticed. Although the reason for the decline not clear but negative trend needs to be addressed and corrective action taken. More number of universities in India that are involved in LIS education and research, there should be more doctoral research output come out especially in the field such as electronics resource management, digital library and application of information and communication technologies in library is very important.

References

Singh, Youd Vir and Pani, S Rama Devi (2015). Bibliography of Doctoral Dissertations Social Science 2010, Association of Indian Universities, New Delhi.

Singh, Youd Vir and Pani, S Rama Devi (2015). Bibliography of Doctoral Dissertations Social Science 2011, Association of Indian Universities, New Delhi.

Singh, Youd Vir and Pani, S Rama Devi (2015). Bibliography of Doctoral Dissertations Social Science 2012, Association of Indian Universities, New Delhi.

Singh, Youd Vir and Pani, S Rama Devi (2015). Bibliography of Doctoral Dissertations Social Science 2013, Association of Indian Universities, New Delhi.

Singh, Youd Vir and Pani, S Rama Devi (2015). Bibliography of Doctoral Dissertations Social Science 2014, Association of Indian Universities, New Delhi.

Thavamani, K and Pushparaj, A (2013). An analysis of Research output of Library and Information Science (LIS) Subject in terms of Doctoral Degrees awarded (PhD) in India during

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Krishan Kumar and Jaideep Sharma (2010), Library and Information Science Education in India: A Historical Perspective. DESIDOC Journal of Library & Information Technology, Vol. 30, No. 5, pp.3-8.

Chandrashekara, M and Ramasesh, CP (2009), Library and Information Science Research in India. Asia-Pacific Conference on Library & Information Education & Practice, 530 – 537.

Shivalingaiah, D., Sheshadri, K.N and Manjunatha Keralapura, (2009). LIS Research in India 1980-2007: An Analysis of Doctoral Dissertations. Asia-Pacific Conference on Library & Information Education & Practice, 409 – 420.

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