Tendencias investigativas de la ciencia de la información y la bibliotecología en Iberoamérica y el Caribe

Objectives: Drawing on a predictive and prospective study which describes the general outline of library and information science from a scientific perspective, this paper identifies six categories of LIS research in Ibero-America and the Caribbean. Methodology: The paper reports on a mixed-methods study that integrated quantitative and qualitative analysis by bringing together bibliometric techniques and procedures combining the measurement of variables and the retrieval of scientific production indicators. The authors examined the theoretical and epistemological content of a series of articles which were retrieved using the Web of Science platform and which offered information on LIS research trends in Ibero-America and the Caribbean during the period 2009-2013. The articles came from the journals in the category "Information Science & Library Science" of the 2012 edition of Journal Citation Reports. Results: We identified six categories of LIS research in Ibero-America and the Caribbean: the traditional categories of metrics-related research on information and information services; the emerging category of research on information architecture and information systems, which has gathered importance since the turn of the century; and finally, the categories of research on communication, knowledge, and social and human sciences, which can be characterized as the challenge that LIS professionals need to face. Our results confirm that LIS research in Ibero-America and the Caribbean is both interdisciplinary (researchers informing each other's work) and transdisciplinary (researchers working towards common goals), as evidenced in the development and expansion of the different trends analyzed.