Trends and Research of Wikis' Quality and Governance Based on Bibliometric and Content Analysis

Abstract

Wiki is a typical representative of the User-Generated Content. Its appearance greatly promotes the creation, organization, management, and sharing of knowledge on the Internet. As articles grow rapidly in Wikis, the quality of the articles has aroused many people’s concerns. The topics on how to assess and control the quality of articles have attracted many researchers. However, few studies have been conducted to investigate the status of this research topic. This chapter explores the current research status and trends of wikis' quality and governance. The authors selected papers from the databases of ISI, EI, IEEE, and other widely used databases. They reported the trends and research of wikis’ quality and governance using bibliometric analysis and content analysis of a total of 99 relevant papers. The results show that although the research topics in the field have experienced a very rapid development, they are still at an early age that lacks theories to support them. The discipline of Library and Information Science was found to play a very active role in this new area. Future research agenda and directions are also discussed.