Topic structure and evolution patterns of documentary heritage preservation and conservation research in China
ISSN: 0737-8831
Article publication date: 22 February 2021
Issue publication date: 27 May 2022
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to identify the prominent topics, the distribution and association characteristics of topics and the topic evolutionary trends of Documentary Heritage Preservation and Conservation (DHPAC) research in China.
Design/methodology/approach
Keywords of relevant papers in China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) were extracted as the data source in this study. First, frequency and co-occurrence of keywords of the selected papers were obtained by using SATI. Second, co-word network indicators were calculated with the Pajek software. Then, VOSviewer was applied to optimize the visualization of the sub-communities. Finally, a topics evolution map of this research field was implemented by CorTexT.
Findings
The research topics of DHPAC research in China were unbalanced but distinct. Topics of DHPAC research in China possessed inconspicuous orientation and consistency. The core topics had less influence on the overall network. A research system had formed with archival conservation and ancient books conservation as the core research directions. Research in this field had formed four continuous evolutionary paths about ancient books conservation, salvage conservation, archival conservation and archives conservation technology science with topics fusion and differentiation coexisting. Attentions on “ancient books conservation”, “paper relics conservation”, “electronic record”, “digitization”, “minority”, “documents in the republic of China” had increased during the past two decades and new hot topics of DHPAC research kept appearing in China.
Originality/value
This study synthesized and analyzed the research results of DHPAC research in China from a more comprehensive perspective and revealed the topic structure and longitudinal evolution process intuitively with co-word analysis and social network analysis, which can assist researchers to improve research systematization, discover new research directions and seek cooperative research path.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
Zhou Yaolin is the corresponding author and can be contacted at: zhouyaolin@whu.edu.cnThis work was supported by the NSSFC (National Office for Philosophy and Social Science) major program “Conservation and Database Construction of Archival Documents of Ethnic Minorities in Border Area of China” (grant number 17ZDA294), Full-time Postdoctoral Research and Development Fund of Sichuan University, China (grant number skbsh2019-06) and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities of Central China Normal University, China (grant number CCNU20ZY0026).
Citation
Yun, B., Yue, Z. and Yaolin, Z. (2022), "Topic structure and evolution patterns of documentary heritage preservation and conservation research in China", Library Hi Tech, Vol. 40 No. 3, pp. 805-827. https://doi.org/10.1108/LHT-08-2020-0184
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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