Read the newest article(s) from Issues in Science and Technology Librarianship

ISTL has just published its latest article that will be included in the Spring (113) issue:

Engineering Students' Citation Skills: Instructor Perspectives and Educational Implications Authors: Kristy Kelly, Diana Park, Adam Lindsley, Laurie Bridges

This article addresses the oft-noted gap between the amount of instruction students have received and the citation knowledge they demonstrate once they reach discipline-specific courses. Focusing on engineering, where this gap appears most prominently at the institution where this study takes place, this article explores the expectations of engineering instructors regarding undergraduate students' knowledge and skills related to citation practices. In a survey about their experience with undergraduate students in Oregon State University’s College of Engineering, the majority of engineering instructors indicated that both upper- and lower-division students were missing some key citation skills at both the general and disciplinary levels. In addition, engineering instructors believe that writing instructors should teach general citation practices, while engineering instructors should handle discipline-specific citations. The results of the survey affirm the importance of teaching for transfer when preparing students to translate general citation skills into a new discipline. The study highlights the need for adaptable citation instruction and suggests that further research is needed to assess citation education across various educational levels and institutions.

Review Articles During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Potential Use to Continue Productivity Author: Daniel Dotson

Some librarians during the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions heard direct and anecdotal evidence of researchers wanting to do evidence synthesis, such as systematic or scoping reviews, to either supplement or temporarily replace their now unavailable or restricted research agenda. Using Scopus data from 2013-2022, the quantity and percentage increase from the previous year for both Review Articles and All Article Types were examined for All Institutions and for The Ohio State University. The results show that there was a much larger increase in Review Article output around the time of the COVID-19 pandemic compared to previous years, and compared to All Journal Articles. These increases indicate the potential use of review articles as a supplement or substitution for normal research agendas that faced restrictions. Subject areas were examined to identify which saw the highest percentage increases of Review Articles. Finally, Journal Titles that were heavy players in publishing these review articles were also identified.

Citation Network-Based Research Discovery Using IncitefulA Smart Approach to Literature Exploration Authors: Sanmati Jinendran Jain, Prashanta Kumar Behera, Ashok Kumar

In the era of exponential scholarly publications, traditional keyword-based search methodologies often failed to provide a comprehensive, interconnected search of the literature. A citation-based literature search is more precise and effective in identifying relevant and influential studies, as demonstrated in prior research on citation chaining, citation mapping, and network-based literature discovery. This paper investigates Inciteful, a free, open-access literature discovery platform that uses citation networks to explore scholarly literature. Leveraging open scholarly data from sources like OpenAlex, Semantic Scholar, and Crossref, Inciteful builds dynamic, user-defined citation graphs that reveal relationships among papers, authors, institutions, and research themes. The platform’s visual analytics (including similarity clusters and structural citation paths) highlight significant articles and conceptual bridges that conventional keyword-based search methods may overlook. By integrating features such as Zotero connector and an open bibliographic infrastructure, Inciteful enhances research efficiency, supports interdisciplinary inquiry, and facilitates informed decision-making in scholarly communication. As open science advances, tools like Inciteful are poised to play a crucial role in network-based scholarly discovery.

DICOMs, Missiles, and Metadata: The U.S. Nuclear Weapons Program Leverages a Medical Standard Author: Laura McGuiness

Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM) images, although most commonly used in medical settings, have been widely adopted by the United States Department of Energy (DOE) for capturing images of the internal components in a nuclear weapon. DICOMs, a lesser-known file format that combine nested metadata structures with complex image data—including multiple planes, frames, and high resolution—require the creation of access copies to support usability within the DOE. Used primarily for ensuring the safety, security, and reliability of the U.S. nuclear stockpile, the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL)’s DICOM images and corresponding image metadata must be accessible to scientists and researchers via our institutional centralized databases. This paper describes the author's creation of a Python script that converts DICOM images into accessible, archive-friendly TIFF files while preserving key image data and metadata.