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The purpose of this paper is to present the results of a study exploring the emerging field of data science from the library and information science (LIS) perspective.

Content analysis of research publications on data science was made of papers published in the Web of Science database to identify the main themes discussed in the publications from the LIS perspective.

A content analysis of 80 publications is presented. The articles belonged to the six broad categories: data science education and training; knowledge and skills of the data professional; the role of libraries and librarians in the data science movement; tools, techniques and applications of data science; data science from the knowledge management perspective; and data science from the perspective of health sciences. The category of tools, techniques and applications of data science was most addressed by the authors, followed by data science from the perspective of health sciences, data science education and training and knowledge and skills of the data professional. However, several publications fell into several categories because these topics were closely related.

Only publication recorded in the Web of Science database and with the term “data science” in the topic area were analyzed. Therefore, several relevant studies are not discussed in this paper that either were related to other keywords such as “e-science”, “e-research”, “data service”, “data curation”, “research data management” or “scientific data management” or were not present in the Web of Science database.

The paper provides the first exploration by content analysis of the field of data science from the perspective of the LIS.

This paper focuses on the links between information culture and the perception of the information overload on the example of higher education institutions in Estonia. The aim of this study is to understand how different types of information culture affect coping with information overload.

Two focus-group interviews with 14 participants and 17 semi-structured interviews with representatives of four HEIs were conducted. First, the questions on the values, norms and assumptions as well as information related practices were discussed to assess the dominant components of the information culture. Second, the perception of information overload was explored. Further, the strategies for coping with information overload were examined. Constant comparative analysis was used to analyse the interview data.

The results of the study suggest that the construct of information culture is valuable in understanding information environments and their relation to the perception of information overload. The participants representing the open information culture prefer informal information sharing and are more vulnerable to perceive information overload than the participants representing the integrated information culture. Organisational information management is the key to effective coping with information overload.

The current study sheds light on the perception of information overload in connection with information culture.

The purpose of this study is to explore the role of e-government in reducing corruption and achieving transparency from the perspective of citizens and public servants of the National Statistics and Information Authority in Afghanistan.

This study applies a mixed-method research design to explore whether e-government can combat corruption and increase transparency in the public sector of a developing nation. The data collection involves a survey of (n = 280) citizens and interviews with six National Statistics and Information Authority public servants. Data analysis includes descriptive statistics, Spearman’s correlation for the survey and qualitative content analysis for the interviews.

The results of this study reveal that e-government distributes and decentralizes power among public servants, reduces corruption and promotes transparency and accountability by reporting corruption through social media, online complaint forms, emails and the 450 toll-free number. In addition, the major factors are identified that reduce corruption through e-government.

This study proposes a model for using e-government that has implications for designers, developers and policymakers to create user-friendly systems that reduce bureaucracy and physical interactions with public servants while minimizing paper-based systems.

Governments can reduce corruption among high-ranking public servants by implementing a decentralized system that prevents system manipulation. This involves measures like surveillance, ICT training, process automation, reduced bureaucracy, simplified procedures and real-time customer support.

Despite the potential of e-government to reduce monopoly power and intermediaries among low-ranking officials, high-ranking Afghan officials still engage in corrupt practices. Nonetheless, 75% of Afghans believe e-government promotes transparency and accountability and reduces corruption.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study in the Afghan public sector that explores the role of e-government to reduce corruption and achieve transparency.

This study aims to enhance the understanding of the current research landscape regarding the utilisation of telepresence robots (TPRs) in education.

The bibliometric and thematic analysis of research publications on TPRs was conducted using papers in the Scopus database up to 2023. The final analysis focused on 53 papers that adhered to the selection criteria. A qualitative analysis was performed on this set of papers.

The analysis found a rising trend in TPR publications, mostly from the USA as conference papers and journal articles. However, these publications lacked technology integration frameworks, acceptance models and specific learning design models. TPRs have proven effective in various learning environments, fostering accessible education, better communication, engagement and social presence. TPRs can bridge geographical gaps, facilitate knowledge sharing and promote collaboration. Obstacles to implementation include technical, physical, social and emotional challenges. Publications were grouped into four thematic categories: didactic methods of using TPRs, TPRs for educational inclusivity, TPR as a teacher mediator and challenges in using TPRs. Despite the significant potential of TPRs, their broader adoption in education is still facing challenges.

This research solely analysed research papers in the Scopus database, limiting TPR publications with the keywords “telepresence robots”, “learning”, “teaching” and “education”, excluding studies with different other keywords.

This study enhances understanding of TPR research in education, highlighting its pedagogical implications. It identifies a gap in the inclusion of technology integration frameworks, acceptance models and learning design models, indicating a need for further research and development.

Data science is a relatively new field which has gained considerable attention in recent years. This new field requires a wide range of knowledge and skills from different disciplines including mathematics and statistics, computer science and information science. The purpose of this paper is to present the results of the study that explored the field of data science from the library and information science (LIS) perspective.

Analysis of research publications on data science was made on the basis of papers published in the Web of Science database. The following research questions were proposed: What are the main tendencies in publication years, document types, countries of origin, source titles, authors of publications, affiliations of the article authors and the most cited articles related to data science in the field of LIS? What are the main themes discussed in the publications from the LIS perspective?

The highest contribution to data science comes from the computer science research community. The contribution of information science and library science community is quite small. However, there has been continuous increase in articles from the year 2015. The main document types are journal articles, followed by conference proceedings and editorial material. The top three journals that publish data science papers from the LIS perspective are the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association, the International Journal of Information Management and the Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology. The top five countries publishing are USA, China, England, Australia and India. The most cited article has got 112 citations. The analysis revealed that the data science field is quite interdisciplinary by nature. In addition to the field of LIS the papers belonged to several other research areas. The reviewed articles belonged to the six broad categories: data science education and training; knowledge and skills of the data professional; the role of libraries and librarians in the data science movement; tools, techniques and applications of data science; data science from the knowledge management perspective; and data science from the perspective of health sciences.

The limitations of this research are that this study only analyzed research papers in the Web of Science database and therefore only covers a certain amount of scientific papers published in the field of LIS. In addition, only publications with the term “data science” in the topic area of the Web of Science database were analyzed. Therefore, several relevant studies are not discussed in this paper that are not reflected in the Web of Science database or were related to other keywords such as “e-science,” “e-research,” “data service,” “data curation” or “research data management.”

The field of data science has not been explored using bibliographic analysis of publications from the perspective of the LIS. This paper helps to better understand the field of data science and the perspectives for information professionals.

This study aims to increase the understanding of the connection between effective leadership behaviours and information culture in the higher education institution (HEI).

A qualitative case study was conducted at one department of an HEI in Estonia. This study used semi-structured interviews and document analysis for data collection. The hypothesis-generating technique applying grounded theory analysis was used for data analysis.

The information culture of the department was a multiple culture with mixed attributes from the relationship-based culture and the risk-taking culture. Six main effective leadership behaviours within the department were identified, namely, communicating well about the direction the department is going, having a clear sense of direction and strategic vision, providing resources for and adjusting workloads to stimulate scholarship and research, making academic appointments that enhance department’s reputation, allowing the opportunity to participate in key decisions and encouraging open communication and creating a positive and collegial work atmosphere. The main hypotheses that illustrate the influence of effective leadership behaviours on information culture were generated.

The findings of this study can inform the training of future leaders in HEIs.

There is a lack of research in higher education that focuses on the relationship between leadership and information culture, and this research fills this gap.

The purpose of the article is to introduce the outcomes of a study analyzing the relationships between willingness to use technology for health purposes, health information behavior (HIB), health behavior (HB) choices, readiness for COVID-19 vaccination, socioeconomic indicators and self-reported health among older adults aged = 50 years living in Estonia.

A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 501 people aged = 50 in Estonia in 2020, a month after the end of lockdown.

The results of the study indicate that the more recurrent the need for HI was (rho = 0.11, p < 0.05) and the more regularly one searched for it (rho = 0.14, p < 0.01), the more willing a person was to get vaccinated. Also, interest in digital applications corresponded to vaccination readiness (rho = 0.25, p < 0.001). However, this relationship did not emerge in the case of other HBs such as healthy eating and exercise. Differences in HIB should be taken into account when developing effective means of health communication designed especially for crisis situations.

Estonia is known as one of the digital front runners in the world. However, social welfare and the well-being of disadvantaged groups among the population (e.g. older people) have not yet caught up with the more developed Western countries. Thus, learning more about the health-related information behavior of older adults, e.g. the kind of health information they are seeking and using in Estonia, allows policymakers, health information providers and libraries in Estonia to plan and carry out more effective interventions and help them to improve the existing systems so as to furnish older adults with relevant information.

Telepresence robots (TPRs) are an emerging field of application and research that have received attention from various disciplines, including computer science, telehealth and education. The purpose of this study is to conduct a bibliometric analysis of publications on TPR in the Web of Science database from 1980 to 2022 to gain a better understanding of the state of research on TPRs and explore the role of pedagogical and psychological aspects in this research.

The analysis of research publications on TPRs was made on the basis of papers published in the Web of Science database from 1980 to 2022. The following research questions were proposed: What are the main tendencies in publication years, document types, countries of origin, source titles, publication authors, affiliations of authors and the most cited articles related to TPRs? What are the main topics discussed in the publications from the perspective of psychology? What are the main topics discussed in the publications from the perspective of educational sciences?

The results indicate that it is in the computer science where most of the existing research has been conducted, whereas the interest in the psychology and educational science has been relatively low. The greatest regional contributor has been the USA, whereas the effort in the European Union lags behind. Research publications in psychology in the Web of Science database related to TPRs can be grouped into three broad thematic categories: features of TPRs, degree of social presence compared to physical presence or other mediated technologies and opportunities for using TPRs. The results suggest that from the perspective of psychology, TPRs are one of the approaches that could enable greater social presence in remote communication. Most of the analysed papers in educational sciences investigated the opportunities of using TPRs in various educational fields. However, while the findings of the studies indicated significant potential of TPRs for education, their acceptance for wider use is still challenged.

The limitations of this research are that this study only analysed research papers in the Web of Science database and therefore only covers a limited number of scientific papers published in the field of psychology and educational sciences on TPRs. In addition, only publications with the term “telepresence robots” in the topic area of the Web of Science database were analysed. Therefore, several relevant studies are not discussed in this paper that are not reflected in the Web of Science database or were related to other keywords.

The field of TPRs has not been explored using a bibliographic analysis of publications in the Web of Science database from the perspective of psychology and educational sciences. The findings of this paper will help researchers and academic staff better understand the state of research on TPRs and the pedagogical and psychological aspects addressed in this research.

This study aims to increase the understanding of the pregnancy-related information behavior (IB) of pregnant women in Estonia.

The research involved a quantitative research methodology consisting of a semi-structured questionnaire. Data was collected from pregnant Estonian women through a self-administered Web-based questionnaire using a convenience sampling during the period from January to February 2019. A total of 300 pregnant women answered the questionnaire. The data were analysed using statistical analysis and the results of the study were compared with the results of previous studies.

The three topics on which information was most frequently sought were: fetal development, use of medicines during pregnancy and symptoms of pregnancy. The main sources of information were the internet and the midwife. The most reliable and valuable source of information was a midwife. Health-related information was sought mainly because it helped women make decisions related to pregnancy and childbirth. A number of factors facilitate the information seeking process. In addition, widespread access to the internet and technological skills facilitated IB. The following factors hindered the search for information: the controversy and/or ambiguity of information published on the internet and the time spent searching for information. Most women used wearable technologies during pregnancy.

This study has several limitations. First, the weakness of online surveys is the potential lack of representativeness, as it excludes from the survey those who do not have access to or ability to use the internet for various reasons (Evans and Mathur, 2005; Limbu et al., 2021). Second, as most recruitment for the study took place online, there was a risk that those who did not use the internet could be excluded from the survey. Third, as the questionnaire was also shared in the Facebook news feed by the Women’s Clinic and Maternity Hospital of the East Tallinn Central Hospital, it may be that the respondents recruited through it more often used the support provided by medical professionals. Fourth, due to the volume limits of the study, it is not possible to present all the results of the study on the basis of socio-demographic characteristics and stage of pregnancy. Therefore, the findings cannot be generalized to the broader population and future studies should explore a larger and more representative populations.

This study will give some useful information to help to improve the services offered for pregnant women in Estonia.

The findings of this study may inform how to better support this target group.

There is a lack of research in Estonia that focuses on the IB of pregnant women and this research fills this gap.