Information-seeking behaviour of physicists and astronomers

Jamali, Hamid R. and Nicholas, David Information-seeking behaviour of physicists and astronomers. Aslib Proceedings, 2008, vol. 60, n. 5, pp. 444-462. [Journal article (Paginated)]

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English abstract

Purpose – The study examines two aspects of information seeking behaviour of physicists and astronomers including methods applied for keeping up-to-date and methods used for finding articles. The relationship between academic status and research field of users with their information seeking behaviour was investigated. Methodology/approach – Data were gathered using a questionnaire survey of PhD students and staff of the Department of Physics and Astronomy at University College London; 114 people (47.1 per cent response rate) participated in the survey. Findings – The study reveals differences among subfields of physics and astronomy in terms of information-seeking behaviour, highlights the need for and the value of looking at narrower subject communities within disciplines for a deeper understanding of the information behaviour of scientists. Originality/value – The study is the first study to deeply investigate intradisciplinary dissimilarities of information-seeking behaviour of scientists in a discipline. It is also an up-to-date account of information seeking behaviour of physicists and astronomers.

Item type: Journal article (Paginated)
Keywords: Physics, Astronomy, Information-seeking behaviour, User studies, Information behaviour
Subjects: C. Users, literacy and reading. > CB. User studies.
Depositing user: Dr Hamid R. Jamali
Date deposited: 12 May 2009
Last modified: 02 Oct 2014 12:14
URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10760/13096

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