Bhaskar Mukherjee, Banaras Hindu University, India

 - first ever study to extensively evaluate LIS Journals’ Web site qualitatively by using a newly developed set of criteria
 - LIS OA journals are also evaluated quantitatively
 - counts citations of LIS OA articles in terms of formal citations by using Google Scholar
 - measures the impact factor of LIS OA journals by synchronous and asynchronous approaches
 - scholars’ motivations for creating hyperlinks have been evaluated in terms of TLD, language, file format and sources of citation

This book has been written with a view to understand the validity of the perceptions of Open Access (OA) e-journals in the Library and Information Science (LIS) field. Using relevant OA journals this book presents and evaluates journals qualitatively and quantitatively. Over the last three hundred years scholarly journals have been the prime mode of transport in communicating the scholarly research process. However in the last few decades, a changing scenario has been witnessed in their form and format. OA is an innovative idea that attracts a fair amount of support and opposition around the world because it bridges the gap between digitally divided scholars by solving the pricing and permission crises that have imbalanced the scholarly communication process. Some scholars are of the opinion that OA has led to a chaotic environment where anyone can publish anything. Scholarly Communication in Library and Information Services records, in detail, the impact by accessing the journals’ web site qualitatively and quantitatively in measuring the important elements such as articles, authors, countries, subjects, cited references. Finally the book calculates the impact factor using synchronous and asynchronous approaches.

Readership: Supporters and critics of Open Access activity, and also scholars actively engaged in research in fields like Bibliometrics, Scientometrics, and Webometrics. The book will also be useful for Librarians, Scientists, Educators and students of LIS at postgraduate level.