Informetrics is the study of quantitative aspects of information and involves the measurement of information phenomena and the application of mathematical methods to information problems. It encompasses fields like bibliometrics, scientometrics, and webometrics. Informetrics is an interdisciplinary field that is used in library management, the sociology and history of science, science policy, and information retrieval. It examines information flows and follows informetric laws like Bradford's law of scattering, Lotka's law, and Zipf's law. Informetrics offers opportunities for information professionals and is becoming a scientific discipline.

1. INFORMETRICS
Prepared by
Syed Aamir Abbas
&
Naimatullah Shah
MPhil Students
Semester-I (2012-14)
Minhaj University, Lahore.

2. Informertrics
CONTENTS
• Introduction
• Definition
• Informetrics : a wider scale application and Measures
• Aspects of Informetrics
• Informetrics used to / applied to
• Interdisciplinary Research Field
• Informetric Law’s
• Offers New Possibilities for LIS Professionals
• Becoming a Scientific Discipline
• Extensions / Distribution of Informetrics
• References

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• Introduction
 There is no measurement (i.e meaningful data) without theory and no
theory without data.
 The term “informetrics (Informetrie “German term”) was introduced by
Blackert and Siegel (1979) and by Nacke (1979), to cover that part of
information science dealing with the measurement of information
phenomena and the application of mathematical methods to the
discipline’s problems.

4. Informetrics was adopted in 1987-88 as the short title for the published
conference proceedings.
 Informetrics is an emerging subfield in Information Science, based on the
combination of quantitative studies of information flows, and advanced
information retrieval and texts, and data mining.
Introduction
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5. The use of mathematical and statistical methods in research
related to libraries, documentation and information.
Definition of Informetrics
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6. Wider scale application of methods to networked information sources.
Measures of:
. Subject & content Area
.Relationships
.Use and Popularity
Informetrics : a wider scale
application and Measures
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7. Aspects of Informetrics
Informetrics is the study of quantitative aspects of
information.
This includes :
1) Production
2) Dissemination
3) Use of all forms of information, regardless of its form or
origin.
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8. Informetrics is used in or applied to:
Library Management
The Sociology of Science
The History of Science
Science Policy
Information Retrieval
Beneficial for other fields between:
Biometrics.
Econometrics.
Chemometrics.
Quantitative Linguistics and so on.
INFORMETRICS USED / APPLIED TO:
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Moreover, we feel that a real interaction between informetrics and biometrics,
econometrics, Quantitative linguistics and so on would be very beneficial for all fields
involved.

9. INFORMETRICS USED / APPLIED TO: [Conti…[
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 LIBRARY MANAGEMENT
Library management is a sub-discipline of institutional management that
focuses on specific issues faced by libraries.
Library management involves functions such as Planning, Organizing,
Leading, and Controlling.
Planning is about systematically making decisions about the library goals.
Organizing is about assembling and coordinating human, financial, physical,
informational, and other resources needed to achieve library goals.
Leading is about functions that involve efforts on the part of the librarian to
stimulate high performance by employees.
Controlling about monitoring various library operations and services. These
four management functions are highly integrated.

10. INFORMETRICS USED / APPLIED TO: [Conti…[
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 THE SOCIOLOGY OF SCIENCE
The sociology of scientific knowledge (SSK) is the study of science as a
social activity, especially dealing with "the social conditions and effects of
science, and with the social structures and processes of scientific activity.
The field emerged in the late 1960s and early 1970s and at first was an
almost exclusively British practice.

11. INFORMETRICS USED / APPLIED TO: [Conti…[
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 THE HISTORY OF SCIENCE
The history of science is the study of the historical development of science and
scientific knowledge, including both the natural sciences and social sciences.
Until the late 20th century, the history of science, especially of the physical and
biological sciences, was seen as a narrative of true theories replacing false ones.

12. INFORMETRICS USED / APPLIED TO: [Conti…[
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 Science Policy
Science policy is an area of public policy concerned with the policies that affect the
conduct of the science and research enterprise, including the funding of science,
often in pursuance of other national policy goals such as technological
innovation to promote commercial product development, weapons
development, health care and environmental monitoring. Science policy also
refers to the act of applying scientific knowledge and consensus to the
development of public policies.

13. INFORMETRICS USED / APPLIED TO: [Conti…[
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 Information Retrieval
Information retrieval is the activity of obtaining information resources relevant to
an information need from a collection of information resources. Searches can be
based on metadata or on full-text indexing. Automated information retrieval
systems are used to reduce what has been called "information overload". Many
universities and public libraries use IR systems to provide access to books,
journals and other documents. Web search engines are the most visible
IR applications.

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Informetrics is one of the rare truly interdisciplinary research field, and the range of
theoretical and methodological approaches is rich, which is the strength of the
discipline.
Interdisciplinary Research Field

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Informetric Law’s / Regularities
1. Bradford’s Law of Scattering
2. Lotka’s Law
3. Zipf’s Law
4. Pareto’s Law

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This is probably the most prominent of the informetric regularities within the
information sciences, perhaps because of its promise for application to the control of
literature. Bradford (1934) discovered this regularity when studying the extent to
which literature in a single discipline is scattered over a range of journals.
Bradford’s Law of Scattering
Lotka (1926) found that if he associated with each member of a group of chemists his
article productivity, then the number of chemists. In Lotka’s, the mode of description of
this yield distribution is that of the traditional statistical probability distribution
function; indeed, of the informetric regularities, this one is most consistent with
traditional statistical description
Lotka’s Law

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Many of the informetric regularities depend on ranked data. The most prominent
belongs to Zipf (1935), who analyzed the frequency of word occurrence in natural
text. He found that if he multiplied a word’s frequency by its rank in number of
occurrences in text, then the product was approximately constant. Zipf’s law, like
Lotka’s law, can be related to the forms of description traditional in statistics.
Zip’s Law

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Informetrics today offers many new possibilities for LIS Professionals. For those who
want to explore Databases not only as a store of information but also as an analytical
tool, it is a way to learn how to explore online databases not only for accessing
documents or finding facts, but only to trace the trends and developments in society,
scientific disciplines or production and consumption.
Offers New Possibilities for LIS Professionals

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The field is becoming a scientific discipline that includes:
•All the statistical and mathematical analyses related to the study of information
flows.
•Evaluation of science and technology.
•Library collection development.
Becoming a Scientific Discipline

20. Extensions / Distribution of Informetrics
Informetrics encompasses the fields of:
Bibliometrics:
Which studies quantitative aspects of recorded
information.
Librametrics:
Used the term to include statistical approaches
to the study of library and its services
Scientometrics:
Its concerned with the quantitative features and
characteristics of science and scientific research.
Webometrics:
Which studies quantitative aspects of the
World wide Web.
Cybermetrics:
Which is similar to webometrics, but broadens its definition
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In a digitally networked
universe, “webometrics”
and sister terms like
“netometrics” and
“cybermetrics” signify the
extension of informetric
methods and concepts to
information transactions
taking place on the Internet.

21. References
1. Introduction to Informetrics: quantitative methods in library, documentation and information science /
by Leo Egghe and Ronlad Rousseau.- New York: Elsvier, 1990.
2. http://www.abc-clio.com/ODLIS/odlis_i.aspx#informetrics
3. http://www.powershow.com/view1/213056-YmMyY/Informetrics_and_IR_powerpoint_ppt_presentation
4. http://www.netugc.com/librametric-bibliometric-scientometrics-informetrics
5. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Informetrics
6. EXPANSION OF THE FIELD OF INFORMETRICS: ORIGINS AND CONSEQUENCES / by L. Egghe. –
(http://doclib.uhasselt.be/dspace/bitstream/1942/3954/1/Expansion.pdf)
7. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Library_management.
8. Managing a Library / by S M Dhawan. Source:
http://www.unesco.org/pv_obj_cache/pv_obj_id_865AC30682C8628957B9661D348A49DAEAAC0100/filename/unit
9. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_science
10. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science_policy
11. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_retrieval
12. Bibliometrics and citation analysis : from the Science citation index to cybermetrics / Nicola De Bellis.-
Maryland: The Scarecrow Press, Inc., 2009.
13. http://www.netugc.com/librametric-bibliometric-scientometrics-informetrics
14. International Encyclopedia of information and library science/edited by John Feather and Paul Sturges. –
2nd ed.- New York: Routledge, 2003. pp.319-320.
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