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Purpose: In today's digital humanities research, the main data/information sources used by researchers are collections consisting of digitized documents and data with high resolution, along with machine-readable and actionable metadata associated with these collections. The purpose of this research is to determine the needs and expectations of digital humanities researchers for "collections as data" and to find out to what extent cultural memory institutions meet these needs and expectations. Method: Qualitative methods were used within the scope of the research. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 10 digital humanities researchers and 16 representatives of cultural memory institutions. The researchers and the representatives of the institutions were asked 20 and 23 questions, respectively, and all interview records were transcribed and their contents were analyzed using MaxQDA, a qualitative data analysis software. Findings: Researchers need access to collections as datasets in machine-readable and machine-actionable formats. While there are a few institutions that can share their collections through protocols or upon request, no institution has yet made their collections available in machine-readable and actionable formats suitable for computational access. To convert their collections, institutions need qualified staff, budget, technical infrastructure, administrative support, cooperation, time, and guidelines. Implications: In order for institutions to organize metadata, digitize collections, and make them accessible to researchers as collections as data, they should create awareness in this regard, receive technical, administrative and financial support, and train qualified personnel. Originality: This study is the first of its kind that identifies the needs, expectations, and barriers regarding the "collections as data" service in Turkey from the perspectives of researchers and cultural memory institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research assessment and incentive systems (RAIS) aim to measure the quality and the impact of scientific studies. For, the quality of research outputs increases not only the welfare of the people but also the socio-economic development and competitiveness of countries. Lately, the quality tends to get overlooked almost completely and the scientific works are assessed solely by the quantitative measures. Researchers are awarded based on some numbers such as numbers of publications or citations. Yet, RAIS based solely on numbers encourage researchers, in time, to develop rent-seeking behaviors. This exploratory case study investigates the effects of existing RAIS in Turkey on the rent-seeking behaviors of academics. It analyzes the changes in academic titles of authors who published papers in a journal with a very low impact factor as well as if they received monetary support from TÜBİTAK. Findings show that a significant portion of the authors was rent-seeking by taking advantage of the deficiencies of the existing systems; that some authors obtained academic titles with only one article published in this journal, which was later removed from the Web of Science (WoS) due to some ethical problems; and that they published articles with one or two authors at most at very high rates to benefit from TÜBİTAK’s support. Yet, they quickly stopped publishing in this journal once it was removed from WoS. Existing RAIS triggering rentseeking behaviors in academics should be discontinued, and, instead, the new ones highlighting the quality of research should be developed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Relevance ranking algorithms rank retrieved documents based on the degrees of topical similarity (relevance) between search queries and documents. This paper aims to introduce a new relevance ranking method combining a probabilistic topic modeling algorithm with citation data. Data and Method: We applied this method to the iSearch corpus of c. 435,000 physics papers. We first ran the topic modeling algorithm on titles and summaries of all papers for 65 search queries and obtained the relevance ranking lists. We then used citation data with the existing relevance rankings, thereby incrementally refining the results. The outcome produced better relevance rankings with papers covering various aspects of the topic searched as well as the more marginal ones. Finally, we evaluated the retrieval performance of the proposed method. Findings: Findings suggest that the topic modeling algorithm might sometimes overlook the terms used in different contexts in the papers. However, the fusion of citation data to relevance ranking lists provides additional contextual information, thereby enriching the results further with various papers of higher relevance. Moreover, results can easily be re-ranked. Implications: We argue that once it is tested on dynamic corpora for computational load, robustness, replicability, and scalability, the proposed method can, in time, be used in both local and international information systems such as TR-Dizin, Web of Science, and Scopus. Originality: The proposed method is, as far as we know, the first one that shows that relevance rankings produced with a topic modeling algorithm can be incrementally refined using citation data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This "letter to the editor" aims to contribute to the views on the change of the editorship of the journal Bilgi Dünyası in its first year of publication (2000), as asserted in an opinion paper entitled "Information World: From a Thought to a Scientific Journal (1998-2013)" (Yıldızeli and Bahşişoğlu, 2020. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This is a brief eulogy on İsmet Binark who passed away in July 2021. Binark was the founding director of the Office of the Republican Archives (1976) and had served as the General Director of the State Archives (1992-1997). Binark was also an educator and a prolific scholar who published scores of books and articles on a wide variety of topics (i.e., archival studies, bibliographies of Ottoman archival materials in Balkan countries, and Ottoman book arts such as calligraphy and gilding). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: This paper aims to find out the factors that are likely to increase the citation impact of Turkey-addressed international papers. Method: For this purpose, we downloaded bibliographic records of some 226,000 TR-addressed papers that were published between 2006 and 2015, there from selected a sample (2%) using stratified probabilistic sampling technique, and obtained relevant data from various sources such as the number of citations and coauthors, journal impact factors (JIF) and journal quartiles pertaining to each paper in the sample. We then identified 19 independent variables on article, journal, cooperation, support and access levels and analyzed the data using the hurdle model. Findings: The strongest factors increasing the number of citations of TR-addressed papers are five-year JIFs and journal quartiles (Q1) in which TR-addressed papers appeared and the number of references in papers' reference lists. These factors also reduce the number of papers with zero citations. Papers published in cooperation with other countries collect higher numbers of citations. Factors such as the subjects of papers, whether papers received monetary support or not, and methods by which papers can be accessed (open or closed access) have no impact on the number of citations received. Implications: Findings indicate that academic promotion and support policies encouraging publishing in high impact journals while forestalling publishing in low impact journals should be developed in order to increase the scientific impact of TR-addressed papers. Originality: This is the first study using hurdle model to investigate the direct impact of several article, journal, collaboration, monetary support and access level explanatory variables on the number of citations that TR-addressed papers receive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

TÜBİTAK has introduced the Incentive Program for International Scientific Publications (UBYT) in 1993 in order to increase the quantity, quality and impact of TR-addressed publications indexed in Web of Science (WoS) and support their authors. Some changes take place from time to time in the algorithms used in the program to identify publications to be supported and to calculate the amounts of monetary support to be paid. The new support algorithm introduced in 2019 aims to improve the shortcomings of the previous one. This paper is a comparative investigation of the impact of the new algorithm on supported journals, publications and the amounts of payments. For this, we first compare the functioning of the old and new support algorithms. We then analyze the impact of the new algorithm on the Program's supported journals lists as well as on the publications having article influence scores (AIS) that were supported in 2015 according to the old algorithm. Findings show that ongoing problems such as providing relatively more support to low impact publications and paying different amounts to publications in different fields do not seem to have completely been solved with the new algorithm. We discuss the major issues with performance-based research funding systems that solely use bibliometric measures to determine the impact of publications and offer some suggestions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Everything created by human beings and has hitherto survived can be defined as the cultural record. It consists of scientific, artistic, archeological, and technological works that contain explicit and implicit information. Memory institutions such as libraries, archives, and museums preserve the cultural record and transfer it from generation to generation. This paper presents the major problems faced by the memory institutions in preserving the digital cultural record along with their responsibilities concerning the classified, temporarily inaccessible records as well as records that contain false or fake content. Emphasizing the fact that the future of the past will also be preserved in digital format, it discusses major challenges of long-term and persistent preservation of the digital cultural record. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Graduate theses and dissertations are one of the most important research outputs of universities. Yet, it is often difficult to find and provide access to them. Although it is now possible to get access to full-texts of theses and dissertations through the Internet, access problems still persist. In this paper, we investigate the issues of open access to graduate theses and dissertations in Turkey. We first reviewed the collection of the Higher Education Council Theses Center to find out what percentage of theses is accessible full-text. We then, through a questionnaire survey, collected the views of the authors of theses who opted to restrict access to their theses temporarily. Access to about one third of theses is restricted. As it was difficult to reach the authors of older theses and get their consent to make their theses available online, most of the restricted theses belong to pre-2006 period. An overwhelming majority (94%) of the authors restricted access to their theses because they wanted to publish papers based on their theses while two thirds (63%) did so because they feared of their theses being plagiarized. Yet, 81% of them said they support open access to theses and dissertations in general. Findings suggest that the issue of open access to theses needs to be dealt with from a broader perspective. We discuss the various access issues on the basis of our findings and offer some suggestions to solve them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: One of the main indicators of scientific production is the number of papers published in scholarly journals. Turkey ranks 18th place in the world based on the number of scholarly publications. The objective of this paper is to find out if the monetary support program initiated in 1993 by the Turkish Scientific and Technological Research Council (TÜBİTAK) to incentivize researchers and increase the number, impact, and quality of international publications has been effective in doing so. Design/methodology/approach: We analyzed some 390,000 publications with Turkish affiliations listed in the Web of Science (WoS) database between 1976 and 2015 along with about 157,000 supported ones between 1997 and 2015. We used the interrupted time series (ITS) analysis technique (also known as "quasi-experimental time series analysis" or "intervention analysis") to test if TÜBİTAK's support program helped increase the number of publications. We defined ARIMA (1,1,0) model for ITS data and observed the impact of TÜBİTAK's support program in 1994, 1997, and 2003 (after one, four and 10 years of its start, respectively). The majority of publications (93%) were full papers (articles), which were used as the experimental group while other types of contributions functioned as the control group. We also carried out a multiple regression analysis. Findings: TÜBİTAK's support program has had negligible effect on the increase of the number of papers with Turkish affiliations. Yet, the number of other types of contributions continued to increase even though they were not well supported, suggesting that TÜBİTAK's support program is probably not the main factor causing the increase in the number of papers with Turkish affiliations. Research limitations: Interrupted time series analysis shows if the "intervention" has had any significant effect on the dependent variable but it does not explain what caused the increase in the number of papers if it was not the intervention. Moreover, except the "intervention", other "event(s)" that might affect the time series data (e.g., increase in the number of research personnel over the years) should not occur during the period of analysis, a prerequisite that is beyond the control of the researcher. Practical implications: TÜBİTAK's "cash-for-publication" program did not seem to have direct impact on the increase of the number of papers published by Turkish authors, suggesting that small amounts of payments are not much of an incentive for authors to publish more. It might perhaps be a better strategy to concentrate limited resources on a few high impact projects rather than to disperse them to thousands of authors as "micropayments." Originality/value: Based on 25 years' worth of payments data, this is perhaps one of the first large-scale studies showing that "cash-for-publication" policies or "piece rates" paid to researchers tend to have little or no effect on the increase of researchers' productivity. The main finding of this paper has some implications for countries wherein publication subsidies are used as an incentive to increase the number and quality of papers published in international journals. They should be prepared to consider reviewing their existing support programs (based usually on bibliometric measures such as journal impact factors) and revising their reward policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the important indicators of the level of scientific and technological development of a country is the number and quality of publications produced therein. Such publications listed in international citation indexes tend to function as a leverage to streamline the scientific, human and economic development. Citations to these publications show the contribution of that country to the science in general, too. This paper investigates some of the bibliometric characteristics (impact factors, article influence scores, quartile and percentile values, and h indices) of journals that are published in Turkey and indexed in the Web of Science citation databases. Based on journal impact factors (and the other measures based thereon), a comparative review of the progress between 2006 and 2015 and the impact of Thomson Reuters' regional expansion policy on journals has been carried out. Findings show that the impact factors of journals, although relatively improved, have not increased as much as is desired during this period. The impact of papers published in these journals is well below that of the world average of all journals in their respective subjects. Findings are discussed in relation to Thomson Reuters' regional expansion policy and their implications are interpreted in the context of academic promotion and research assessment policies currently in effect in Turkey. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Everything we do, create, and produce, such as intellectual and artistic works, performances, and so forth, can be defined as culture. We own a very rich cultural heritage of the past. Yet, the common cultural heritage that belongs to the humanity continues to be looted and destroyed due to negligence, armed conflicts, and wars. In this article, the causes of the destruction of cultural heritage and the question of to whom the neglected cultural heritage belongs are discussed and the economic and social values of cultural heritage are examined by means of the game theory. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The first university-level library schools were opened during the last quarter of the 19th century. The number of such schools has gradually increased during the first half of the 20th century, especially after the Second World War, both in the USA and elsewhere. As information has gained further importance in scientific endeavors and social life, librarianship became a more interdisciplinary field and library schools were renamed as schools of library and information science/ information studies/ information management/information to better reflect the range of education provided. In this paper, we review the major developments in education for library and information science (LIS) and the impact of these developments on the curricula of LIS schools. We then review the programs and courses introduced by some LIS schools to address the data science and data curation issues. We also discuss some of the factors such as "data deluge" and "big data" that might have forced LIS schools to add such courses to their programs. We conclude by observing that "data" has already triggered some curriculum changes in a number of LIS schools in the USA and elsewhere as "Data Science" is becoming an interdisciplinary research field just as "Information Science" has once been (and still is). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Co-organized by Hacettepe University Department of Information Management and The Goethe-Institut Ankara to commemorate the 2014 German-Turkish Year of Research, Education and Innovation, an International Workshop on Research Data Management was held at Hacettepe University's Culture Center on 21 November 2014. More than 100 people attended to the full-day workshop. Information about presentations and the discussions that took place on research data management during the workshop was presented in this study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article shares with the public the recommendations of the Final Declaration prepared within the scope of the Third (Turkish) National Open Access Workshop organized by ANKOS (Anatolian University Libraries Consortium), AEKA (ANKOS Open Access and Consortial Archives), YÖK (Higher Education Council), and HÜ BBY (Hacettepe University Department of Information Management). The article urges that as soon as possible the necessary arrangements be made for the acceptance of the free circulation of information--one of the priorities of the European Union's European Research Area-- and for the transition to implementation of open access at the national level--important in order to integrate with the Horizon 2020 project. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the Open Access Policy Alignment Strategies for European Union Research (PASTEUR4OA) Project is introduced. The project aims to help develop national open access strategies and policies and to facilitate the coordination among European countries to develop aligned open access policies across the continent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The international conference on "The Memory of the World in the Digital Age: Digitization and Preservation" was organized to commemorate the foundation of UNESCO's Memory of the World Programme and to increase the awareness of the preservation of digital cultural heritage. It took place in Vancouver, Canada, from September 26-28, 2012, with the participation of more than 500 delegates from 110 different countries. This report summarizes some of the topics discussed during the conference. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Concomitant with the heavy use of the Internet, the Web and social Networks, scientific, technological and social changes speed up nowadays, resulting in the production of massive data and information. Information that is mostly discovered, organized, retrieved and used through the networks needs to be managed effectively. The curricula of the departments of Information Management educating information professionals should mirror such scientific, technological and social developments. In this paper, we review the process of the revision of the undergraduate curriculum of the Department of Information Management of Hacettepe University. First, we introduce the Department briefly, then we review the studies carried out between 2009 and 2011 to update the curriculum along with the conceptual model of education for information management developed during this process. Finally, we provide brief information on double major and minor programs that have been developed mutually with the Departments of Economics and Computer Engineering. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The first university-level library schools were opened during the last quarter of the 19th century. The number of such schools has gradually increased during the first half of the 20th century, especially after the Second World War, both in the USA and elsewhere. The first department of librarianship in Turkey was opened in 1954. As information has gained further importance in scientific endeavors and social life, librarianship became a more interdisciplinary field and library schools were renamed as schools of library and information science/information studies/information management/information to better reflect the range of education provided. The departments of librarianship in Turkey, too, have revised their curricula and changed their names. In this paper, we review the major developments in education for library and information science (LIS) in the world as well as in Turkey, and the impact of these developments on the curricula of LIS schools along with subsequent changes under three historical periods. We discuss some of the external and internal factors that should be dealt with in revising the curricula of LIS schools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Facebook, MySpace, Flickr and YouTube are currently among the most frequently visited websites with Web 2.0 features. They are used not only for social networking and entertainment but also for access to information, for learning and for carrying out professional work. Social networks commonly have Web 2.0 features, offer personalized services and allow users to incorporate their own content easily and describe, organize and share it with others, thereby enriching users' experience. Some users tend to "live" on those social networks and expect information providing organizations to offer similar services. They want libraries to be as accessible, flexible, open to collaboration and sharing as that of social networks and heighten the expectations from such institutions. The future of libraries is closely associated with how successfully they meet the demands of digital users. Otherwise, the "net generation" or the "digital natives" grown up with the Web, Google and Facebook would see libraries as outdated institutions and "take their business elsewhere" to satisfy their information needs. In this paper, the impact of the technological convergence on information providing organizations is reviewed and the challenges and opportunities facing libraries in the digital environment are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - The peoples living in the Balkan Peninsula over centuries have created a very rich cultural heritage and the constant political upheavals in the region have affected the development and preservation of their cultures. This paper aims to review the internet infrastructure and networked readiness levels of the Balkan countries, which are conducive to scientific co-operation and preservation of digitised cultural heritage. It also explores the destructive effects of wars on the cultural riches of the region. Design/methodology/approach - The internet facilities and the scientific production of the Balkan countries were identified using published sources and Thomson's Web of Science database. A game-theoretic approach was Used to expound the consequences of wars and the adverse effects of the nation-building process on cultural heritage artefacts. Findings - Balkan countries lack sound internet infrastructures, hindering their contributions to the world of science and stifling scientific co-operation among themselves in terms of joint papers. The co-ordinated efforts have yet to exist to streamline the digital preservation of the unique cultural heritage of the Balkan countries. Originality/value - This paper discusses the impact of the nation-building process on cultural and scientific heritage artefacts Using the concepts of the "game theory". It reinforces the fact that destroying the cultural heritage artefacts during wars is not a "zero-sum game" in which the dominant culture wins and the "other" culture loses. It is not even a "lose-lose game" in which both parties lose. Rather, humanity loses part of its whole cultural heritage forever. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of a library's collection should be monitored and the results should be taken into consideration in order to establish an effective and efficient collection development and collection management policy. This paper analyzes a total of 884,593 document delivery requests submitted to the National Academic Network and Information Center (ULAKBİM) to identify a core journals collection, and to find out if there is a relationship between the frequency of use of a journal and its impact factor and half-life (obsolescence). A total of 127 core journals satisfied one third of all document delivery requests (both remote and in-house requests). The number of core journals satisfying one third of all requests submitted to the Document Delivery Unit (DDU) and Reference Services Reading Room (RDRR) desk (in-library use) was 184 and 97, respectively, and 87 of which were common. The mean half-life of all journals used in DDU was 10 years while it was 10.3 years for core journals only. The corresponding mean half-life for the same journals calculated on the basis of the number of citations taken from the Journal Citation Reports (2004) was 7.8 years. The mean half-life for all journals used in RDRR was 10 years while it was 7.6 years for core journals only. The corresponding citation-based mean half-life was also 7.6 years. No statistically meaningful relationship was observed between the frequencies of use of core journals and their impact factors. Yet, a low but statistically significant relationship was observed between the use frequencies and total citation counts of RSRR core journals (Pearson's r = .280, p < .01). Findings indicate that the frequencies of the local use of journals are more important than their impact factors and total citation counts when developing and managing a journals collection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Turkish National Library has recently published the Bibliography of Articles of the Republican Era 1923-1999 (BARE) on CD-ROM. BARE is the most comprehensive bibliography that indexes the articles contained in Turkish journals received by the Library through "legal depot". It contains bibliographic information on a total of 566,627 articles that appeared in 4,418 Turkish journals and periodicals. This paper critically reviews the Bibliography on the basis of its user interface, database design and data quality. Human-computer interaction (HCI) issues and the usability criteria seem to have not been taken into account when designing the user interface of the BARE CD-ROM. The user interface is not intuitive. It appears that a comprehensive systems analysis study was not carried out before designing the database and the principles of database management design seem to have been ignored. Bibliographic data listed in the printed copies of the Bibliography was simply transferred to a flat table, which resulted in data redundancy and waste of space. Boolean searches cannot be performed on author and article titles. Nine percent of the records contained errors in article and journal titles as well as authors' names. Used through the web site of the Turkish National Library, the Bibliography and its interface should be redesigned and improved, and the functions of the search engine should be increased. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bibliometric findings obtained through the analyses of articles published in journals are used to create scientific and technological road maps and to develop collection management policies in libraries. Yet such analytical studies reviewing the bibliometric characteristics of Turkish articles are scarce. This paper tests if the distribution of some 518,000 Turkish articles to journals conforms to the Bradford Law. Data comes from the Bibliography of Articles of the Republican Era 1923-1999 (BARE) that was recently published on CD-ROM by the Turkish National Library. Although a significant percentage of all articles in a given subject appeared in a relatively few numbers of journals, the distribution of articles to journals did not quite fit the Bradford Law. Eighty "core" journals constituting only 3.2% of all journals contained one third of all published articles while 182 journals contained half, and 358 journals contained two thirds of all articles. A library collection containing the core Turkish journals will likely satisfy the significant percentage of the information needs of users in scientific subjects. Some 2,151 journals constituting 86% of all journals contained a mere one third of all articles. The number of the most productive core journals in each subject was higher than that predicted by the Bradford Law. Articles in linguistics fitted the law best while articles in technology, medicine, social and natural sciences and mathematics fitted the least. Bibliographies with homogeneous subjects seem to fit the classical Bradford Law better. Findings of bibliometric studies should be used to measure the performance of Turkish science and research, and to develop a science and technology "road map". Core Turkish journals based on bibliometric findings should be acquired by libraries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In his recent book, “The World is Flat”, Thomas L. Friedman reviews the impact of networks on globalization. The emergence of the Internet, web browsers, computer applications talking to each other through the Internet, and the open source software, among others, made the world flatter and created an opportunity for individuals to collaborate and compete globally. Friedman predicts that “connecting all the knowledge centers on the planet together into a single global network… could usher in an amazing era of prosperity and innovation”. Networking also is changing the ways by which libraries and museums provide access to information sources and services. In the flat world, libraries and museums are no longer a physical “place” only: they are becoming “virtual destinations”. This paper discusses the implications of this transformation for the digitization and preservation of, and access to, cultural heritage resources. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This article reports the preliminary findings of a study on a scattering of journals and obsolescence based on 2-years' worth of empirical data obtained from a national document delivery service. The distribution of article requests to journal titles confirmed the findings of earlier studies. Heavily used core journal titles satisfied large numbers of document delivery requests while large numbers of infrequently used titles satisfied relatively fewer numbers of requests. Half the requests were made to articles of 8 years of age or younger. It takes slightly longer for core journal titles to get obsolete. The frequency of journal use for document delivery purposes was not related to ISI journal impact factors or citation half-lives, although a weak negative correlation was found between impact factors and citation half-lives. Median use age of journals was not related to impact factors either. A weak correlation was observed between frequency of use and total citation counts and between citation half-life and use half-life of core journals.

The number and types of information sources accessible through the Internet are ever increasing. Billions of documents including text, pictures, sound, and video are readily available for both scholarly and every-day uses. Even libraries and information centers with sizable budgets are having difficulties in coping with this increase. More developed tools and methods are needed to find, filter, organize and summarize electronic information sources. This paper is an overview of a wide variety of electronic information management issues ranging from infrastructure to the integration of information technology and content, from personalization of information services to “disintermediation”. It discusses the issues of description, organization, collection management, preservation and archiving of electronic information. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The papers in this special issue of Türk Kütüphaneciliği (the journal of Turkish Librarianship) review some of the scientific, technological and societal developments and their impact on the profession of librarianship and education for library and information science (LIS), in general, and on the curricula of the Department of Information Management of Hacettepe University, in particular, over the last 40 years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dr. Müjgân Şan has recently passed away. Professional and academic contributions of Dr. Müjgân Şan are outlined in this memoriam. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents an introductory statement to the January 2005 issue of "Information Services and Use."

Scholarly communication in arts and humanities differs from that in the sciences. Arts and humanities scholars rely primarily on monographs as a medium of publication whereas scientists consider articles that appear in scholarly journals as the single most important publication outlet. The number of journal citation studies in arts and humanities is therefore limited. In this article, we investigate the bibliometric characteristics of 507 arts and humanities journal articles written by authors affiliated with Turkish institutions and indexed in the Arts & Humanities Citation Index (A&HCI) between the years 1975–2003. Journal articles constituted more than 60% of all publications. One third of all contributions were published during the last 4 years (1999–2003) and appeared in 16 different journals. An overwhelming majority of contributions (91%) were written in English, and 83% of them had single authorship. Researchers based at Turkish universities produced 90% of all publications. Two thirds of references in publications were to monographs. The median age of all references was 12 years. Eighty percent of publications authored by Turkish arts and humanities scholars were not cited at all while the remaining 20% (or 99 publications) were cited 304 times (an average of three citations per publication). Self-citation ratio was 31%. Two thirds of the cited publications were cited for the first time within 2 years of their publications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]