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Table 2 illustrates the analytical results of international research collaboration for each academic journal. As a result, during the period running from 1970 until 2018, the total number of papers produced in a total of 5 kinds of representative journals related to the library and information science was surveyed to be 6,721. As for each journal, there were 925 papers of Journal of the Korean Biblia Society for Library and Information Science, 983 papers of Korean Society of Bibliography, 1,372 papers of the Journal of Korean Society for the Information Management, 1,688 papers of the Journal of Korean Society for Library and Information Science, and 1,753 papers of the Journal of Korean Library Information. Overall, the number of international joint research among the total of 6,721 papers related to the library and information science was a total of 52 (0.8%), which is very low.

Specifically, out of the total of 1,372 papers, the Journal of Korean Society for the Information Management had the largest number of 22 papers (1.6%) of international joint research, followed by 13 papers of international joint research (0.7%) out of the total of 1,753 papers for the Journal of Korean Library Information, 6 papers of international joint research (0.6%) out of the total of 925 papers for the Journal of the Korean Biblia Society for Library and Information Science, 10 papers of international joint research (0.6%) out of the total of 1,688 papers for the Journal of Korean Society for Library and Information Science, and 1 paper of international joint research (0.1%) out of the total of 983 papers for the Korean Society of Bibliography, respectively.

In addition, Table 3 illustrates the overall status of international joint research for each academic journal. As a result of the survey, the Journal of Korean Society for the Information Management had the largest number of 22 papers (42.3%), followed by the Journal of Korean Library Information with 13 papers (25.0%), Journal of Korean Society for Library and Information Science with 10 papers (19.2%), Journal of the Korean Biblia Society for Library and Information Science with 6 papers (11.5%), and the Korean Society of Bibliography with 1 paper (1.9%), respectively.

Based on the analytical results of the current status of international research collaboration in the above, the implications derived may be presented as follows. First, it may be derived that the level of international research collaboration pursued in the area of the Korean library and information science is quite low, and therefore, a plan needs to be made to call for international research collaboration in the area of Korean library and information science moving forward.

Second, it was found that the Korean Society of Bibliography was least active while the Journal of Korean Society for the Information Management was most actively in terms of academic journal. This appears to be a result of the fact that the latest information and international collaboration related to information system and information and communication technologies, etc., is needed for the characteristics of an academic discipline called information science relative to other detailed majors of the library and information science. That is, as such, the Journal of Korean Society for the Information Management seems to be most active in conducting international research collaboration, which is published mainly on the information science papers.

However, the Korean Society of Bibliography is a most representative journal of Korean Society of Bibliography in Korea, and so it was thought that international collaboration with China and Japan, etc., would have been pursued for the nature of the major, but it was analyzed that only a single paper of international joint research was published in conjunction with Japan. Therefore, in the area of Korean Society of Bibliography, more active international joint research with East Asian countries such as China and Japan must be conducted moving forward beyond domestic research collaboration.

Fig. 1 illustrates the current status of international research collaboration in the area of library and information science conducted in Korea for a total of 5 types of academic journals from 1970 until 2018. As for the analytical result, from 1970 until 1993, it was discovered that international research collaboration was not attempted within the realm of the Korean library and information science, and it was in 1994 when the international joint research was conducted for the first time with China. In addition, it was found that 5 papers were implemented by international research collaboration most actively each in 2006 and 2011, respectively. And in 2011, the identical researchers from 2 or more countries during the same year conducted a lot of international joint research yielding results.

Fig. 1. 
Current status of international research collaboration by year

Fig. 2 illustrates the current status of international research collaboration for each academic journal by year. Reviewing 2006 and 2011 for each journal as they were the years in which international research collaboration took place most actively, in the case of 2006, it was found that, out of the total of 5 papers, 4 papers (80%) were conducted through international joint research for the Journal of Korean Society for the Information Management and 1 paper (20.0%) for the Journal of Korean Society for Library and Information Science, whereas in the case of 2011, out of the total of 5 papers, 2 papers (40.0%) were conducted through international joint research for the Journal of the Korean Biblia Society for Library and Information Science, whereas 1 paper (20.0%) was conducted each for the Journal of Korean Society for the Information Management, Journal of Korean Library Information, and the Journal of Korean Society for Library and Information Science, respectively.

Fig. 2. 
Current status of international research collaboration for each academic journal by year

In addition, reviewing the frequency of international research collaboration, international research collaboration was found to be most active for the Journal of Korean Society for the Information Management for a total of 11 years including 2011, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2016, and 2017, while the Korean Society of Bibliography was had international joint research conducted only in 2017. In 2018, only 1 international joint research was found to have been conducted for the Journal of Korean Library Information, respectively.

The implications derived based on the analytical results of the current status of international research collaboration for each year are as follows. Overall, it may be known that the level of international research collaboration in the area of library and information science in Korea is still quite low. However, despite such a small number of international joint research, it is noteworthy that it has been consistently conducted for 5 types of diverse, renowned academic journals related to the library and information science. Therefore, it will be necessary to actively seek ways to facilitate international research collaboration in the area of library and information science in Korea. That is, it will be necessary to build policies to strengthen international research collaboration in the area of library and information science in Korea and also pursue practical and related projects, among others.

The analysis by researcher was largely divided into the 2 kinds of main author and joint researcher, and specifically, we have examined each researcher's country, affiliated institution, identity, and major.

1) Analysis by main author

For main author, we have classified them into the first author and corresponding author, while analyzing each researcher's country, affiliated institution, identity, and major.

(1) Analysis by country

Fig. 3 illustrates the distribution of the first author and corresponding author by country. First, analyzing the first author showed that, out of the total of 52 people, Korea had the largest number of 34 people (65.4%), followed by 11 people from the US (21.2%), 3 people from China (5.8%), 2 people from Japan (3.8%) and 1 person each from Indonesia and Canada (1.9%), respectively. In addition, a total of 17 papers were indicated with corresponding authors, whose distribution by country is illustrated by Fig. 4, and as a result of the survey, out of the total of 17 corresponding authors, 10 were from Korea (58.8%) and 7 were from the US (41.2%), respectively.

Fig. 3. 
Distribution of first author by country

Fig. 4. 
Distribution of corresponding author by country

(2) Analysis by affiliated institution

Reviewing the current status of the first author and the corresponding author’s affiliated institution, the details are illustrated by Fig. 5. In the case of the first authors, out of the total of 52 first authors, the largest number of 49 people (94.2%) were the researchers who were affiliated with universities, followed by 2 researchers (3.8%) and 1 librarian (1.9%), each respectively. In addition, in the case of the corresponding author, the total of 17 people were all found to be affiliated with universities (100%).

Fig. 5. 
Current status of first author by affiliated institution

(3) Analysis by identity

Fig. 6 illustrates the identified distribution of the first author and the corresponding author’s identity. Out of the total of 52 people, as for the first author, the largest number of 35 people were professors (67.3%), followed by 7 others (13.5%). 6 students (11.5%), 3 researchers (5.8%), and 1 librarian (1.9%), each respectively. In addition, the total of 17 corresponding authors were all analyzed to be professors (100%).

Fig. 6. 
Distribution of first author by identity

(4) Analysis by the researcher’s major

Fig. 7 and 8> illustrate the current status of the first author and the corresponding author by major. In the case of the first author, the total of 52 people had largely 7 majors (business administration, records management, other, library and information science, information science, communication, and computer science), with the largest number of 40 people majoring in library and information science (76.9%). They were followed by 4 people majoring in others (7.7%), 3 people majoring in information science (5.8%), 2 people majoring in business administration (3.8%), and 1 person each in records management, communication, and computer science (1.9%), each respectively. In addition, in the case of corresponding author, a total of 17 people majored in 4 types (others, library and information science, information science, and communication), with the largest number of 14 people majoring in library and information science (82.4%), followed by 1 person each majoring in information science, communication, and others (5.9%), respectively.

Fig. 7. 
Current status of first author by major

Fig. 8. 
Current status of corresponding author by major

2) Analysis by joint researcher

(1) Analysis by country

Fig. 9 illustrates the distribution of the joint research by country. Out of the total of 65 joint researchers found, Korea had the largest number of 34 people, followed by 23 people from the US, 4 from China, and 2 people from Indonesia and Japan each, respectively. That is, a total of 4 countries had researchers conducting joint research with Korean researchers of library and information science, including the US, China, Indonesia, and Japan. Of which, the US had the largest number of 23 researchers (35.4%), followed by 4 from China (6.2) and 2 from Indonesia and Japan each (3.1%), respectively.

Fig. 9. 
Distribution of joint researcher by country

(2) Analysis by affiliated institution

Reviewing the current status of the joint researcher’s affiliated institution, the details are illustrated by Fig. 10, and out of the total of 65 joint researchers, the large number of 53 people were researchers affiliated with universities (81.5%), followed by 7 researchers (10.8%), 4 librarians (6.2%), and 1 other (1.5%), respectively.

Fig. 10. 
Current status of joint researcher by affiliated institution

(3) Analysis by identity

Fig. 11 illustrates the distribution of joint researchers by identity. Out of the total of 65 people, the largest number of 37 people were professors (56.9%), followed by 9 others (13.8%), 8 students (12.3%). 6 researchers (9.2%), and 5 librarians (7.7%), respectively.

Fig. 11. 
Distribution of joint researcher by identity

(4) Analysis by the researcher’s major

Fig. 12 illustrates the current status of the joint researcher by major. The total of 65 people had largely 6 majors (others, business administration, library and information science, information science, political administration, and computer science), with the largest number of 44 people majoring in library and information science (67.7%). They were followed by 7 people majoring in information science and computer science each (10.8%), 5 people majoring in others (7.7%), and 1 person each majoring in business administration and political administration (1.5%), respectively.

Fig. 12. 
Current status of joint researcher by major

The implications derived from gathering the analytical results by each author from among the main author and joint researcher are as follows. First, reviewing the distribution of major author and joint researcher, including the first author and corresponding author, a total of 5 countries conducting international joint research with Korea were found to be the US, China, Indonesia, Japan, and Canada. Accordingly, moving forward, it will be necessary to make attempts to pursue international research collaboration with various advanced countries which are more developed than Korea in connection with the library and information science and libraries.

Second, as a result of analyzing the current status of the affiliated institution and identity of main author and joint researcher, the affiliated institution and identity of domestic and international researchers of international joint research published in major journals related to the Korean library and information science are found to be dominated by the group of university professors and the group of students pursuing their master’s and doctoral programs. Besides, the group of researchers and librarians along with the researchers of other institutions were found to have conducted international joint research. Therefore, a research environment supporting collaboration with various research institutions overseas (universities, research institutes, and libraries, etc.) would need to be created with universities playing a central role, as they are the core institutions for international research collaboration in the Korean realm of library and information science.

Third, as a result of analyzing the distribution of main authors and joint researcher, the majors of foreign researchers who have cooperated on research with Korean researchers of the library and information science have turned out to be diverse to include, besides library and information science, information science, communication, computer engineering, business management, and political adminstration. International research collaboration with overseas researchers who majored in such diverse academic disciplines will likely help to improve the quality of research related to the area of library and information science in Korea. Therefore, moving forward, it will be necessary for the Korean academia of library and information science to clearly recognize the need for international research collaboration and actively prepare the policies and research systems to help strengthen such recognition.

Fig. 13 illustrates the detailed majors of the library and information science for the total of 52 international joint research produced from a total of 5 types of renowned academic journals related to the library and information science from 1970 until 2018 in Korea.

Fig. 13. 
Distribution by detailed major

The research results indicate that international joint research have been conducted largely on 8 detailed majors of the library and information science, and the detailed majors turned out to be records management, library management, reading education, bibliography, general, data organization, information service, and information science. Of which, 26 research were related to information science, which account for the largest of 50.0%, followed by 16 research in information service (30.8%), 4 research included in the general area of library information science (7.7%), 2 research related to reading education (3.8%), and 1 research each related to records management, library management, bibliography and data organization (1.9%), respectively.

The implications derived from the analytical results of each detailed major of the library and information science are as follows. While the information science related research account for the largest proportion of 50%, it is noteworthy that international joint research corresponding to various detailed majors of the library and information science exist regardless of their small number. That is, moving forward, it will be necessary to facilitate international joint research for various areas related to the detailed majors of the library and information science beside information science, so that the research related to the Korean library and information science will improve their quality internationally.

Based on the corresponding keywords of each of the papers provided by the researchers listed in the total of 52 international joint research selected as the subject of this study, we have performed analysis for each research subject. In addition, the top 5 keywords provided by the researchers were selected, and they were classified by the research subject in line with the 8 detailed majors of library and information science (information science, information service, general, reading education, records management, library management, bibliography, and data organization), whose results are illustrated in Table 4.

The survey results indicated that, first, the research subjects of the international joint research conducted for the area of information science include search engine, quantitative bibliography, joint research, globalization, network, database, book search, digital library, (institutional) repository, linked data, meta data, user interface, social media, research data, ontology, clustering of terms, image search, citation analysis, web(site), electronic book, information search system, information (knowledge) structure, information exploration, information utilization capability, knowledge management, information sharing, academic exchange and collaboration, among others.

Second, the research subjects of the international joint research conducted for the area of information service were surveyed to be virtual references, health information service, multi-cultural service, library anxiety, social media, user information behavior, Internet information service, information sharing, information user research, and information utilization education, among others.

Besides, third, it was confirmed that the research subjects of international joint research conducted for the general area of library and information science were theories of library and information science and publishing of magazines. Fourth, research subjects of international joint research pursued for the area of reading education were reading education, reading policies, and school library. Fifth, research subjects of the international joint research conducted for the area of records management were investigated to be repositories and long-term preservation. Sixth, the research subjects of the international joint research conducted for the area of library management turned out to be virtual universities and libraries’ role. Seventh, the research subjects of the international joint research conducted for the area of bibliography were confirmed to be Jabjabon, Daedongyeojido, and Shinyubon. Eighth, the research subject of the international joint research conducted for the area of data organization was analyzed to be the method of reference classification.

The implications derived based on the analytical results for each research subject are as follows. First, among the international joint research conducted for the ares of information science and information service, it is noteworthy that the research subjects related to international research collaboration such as globalization, joint research, information sharing, academic exchange, and collaboration have been found.

Second, the research subjects of social media, web(site) and information sharing overlap with international joint research conducted for the area of information science and information service, while the (institutional) repository overlaps with international joint research conducted for the area of information science and records management. Therefore, it will be necessary to strengthen international research collaboration for the research subjects related to the social media, web(site), information sharing, (institutional) repository which overlap in the areas of detailed major in the future, which will likely contribute to facilitating international joint researchers in the area of library and information science in Korea.

Third, the research subjects of multi-cultural service and health information service among the research subjects of the international joint research conducted for the area of information service are available at many advanced countries which may be examples to Korea, so it will be necessary to improve the international qualitative aspect of the research. That is, the strengthening of international research collaboration on multi-cultural service and health information service will not only facilitate improving the quality of research related to multi-cultural service and health information service in the future, but will also further facilitate multi-cultural service and health information service.