Abstract

Information behavior (IB) research in LIS and Health Information Seeking Behavior (HISB) in Health Medicine are two subject areas of research that have matured in the past few decades. This research aimed to compare these two research areas using a bibliometric approach. To conduct this study two distinct datasets were created using the Scopus database: a) bibliographic records of IB in the LIS domain, and b) bibliographic records of the HISB domain. The bibliometric analysis was performed according to the following criteria: published papers, citations, journal articles, author keywords, unique words in the title, words preceding "information" in the title, words preceding "study" in the title, and author keywords along with index keywords. As a result, the major differences in the two IB research areas were evident in terms of definitions, main focus, and general demographic groups. These varying types of differences suggest that researchers of the two areas should have flexibility when examining issues related to IB by considering the context and the unique distinction between the two fields.