KNOXVILLE –- The University of Tennessee’s School of Information Sciences (SIS) is ranked No. 1 in the nation for per capita journal articles published by its faculty, according to a study by researchers from the University of Missouri-Columbia.
Professor Carol Tenopir Additionally, SIS Professor Carol Tenopir, who joined the faculty in 1994, is ranked as the most research productive library and information science (LIS) faculty member in the United States.
The study, entitled “Scholarly Productivity of U.S. LIS Faculty,” was published in the Autumn 2006 edition of Library and Information Science Research which can be accessed at www.sciencedirect.com.
“The per capita ranking is an important and solid measure of a program’s research productivity, since it takes into account the significant variability of faculty sizes in LIS programs throughout the United States,” said Professor Ed Cortez, director of UT’s SIS.
“The School of Information Sciences currently has 13 faculty members, but at the time of the study only 11 faculty lines where filled. Just as per capita income is considered as a true measure of a nation’s wealth, a program’s per capita journal articles attests to its true measure of value and productivity. I am very proud of our faculty and congratulate them for their achievements.”
In the same study, UT’s SIS was ranked No. 2 among all U.S. library and information science programs in the number of journal articles published and No. 3 in the researchers’ cumulative program rankings.
“By doing research and publishing their findings, our faculty are staying on the cusp of trends in their fields and offering our students the newest and best information available,” said Mike Wirth, dean of the College of Communication and Information. “This study provides further confirmation that our School of Information Sciences is among the finest in the world.”
Tenopir said she frequently meets with journal editors and librarians and hears firsthand how important scholarly research is to keeping them on the cutting-edge of information science, as well.
“Research is an essential part of practice and teaching and, in an applied field like LIS, research is particularly important to the future of publishing, libraries and information access,” she said.
U.S. News & World Report in April ranked UT’s School of Information Sciences 16th out of 56 graduate programs in library and information sciences accredited by the American Library Association.
UT’s School of Information Sciences is one of four schools that make up the College of Communication and Information. The other three schools are the School of Advertising and Public Relations, the School of Communication Studies and the School of Journalism and Electronic Media.
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Contacts:
Joel Southern, (865) 974-6727, jsouthern@utk.edu
Amy Blakely, (865) 974-5034, amy.blakely@tennessee.edu