Publication patterns of US academic librarians from 1993 to 1997

This study examined the contribution to the peer-reviewed literature of lib rary and information science by practicing academic librarians in the Unite d States. Data on authors were obtained from articles published, from 1993 to 1997 in thirty-two journals. Of 3,624 peer-reviewed articles in these jo urnals, 1,579 (43.6%) were authored by at least one practicing academic lib rarian. These librarians represented 386 institutions of:higher education. This study provides benchmark data for publication productivity of academic librarians and identifies a core list of peer-reviewed journals for them. Approximately six percent of these librarians wrote three or more articles in the five-year period. In nineteen journals one-third or more of the arti cles were authored by academic librarians. Libraries from Research I univer sities that were members of the Association for Research Libraries were the most productive. The contribution of practicing academic librarians to the literature of their field is significant.