The Assessment of Information- Seeking Behavior of Medical Sciences University Researchers of Khorasan Razavi using Neural Network Approach

This study aims to assess the information seeking behavior of Medical Science university researchers using neural network in Khorasan Razavi.
The study is an applied and descriptive survey which is conducted through the quantitative approach using neural networks.The data were collected through the questionnaire to examine the information seeking behavior of Medical Science university researchers in Khorasan Razavi. 298 participants took part as the sample of the study. After collecting data, the neural network was selected to cluster the data using Matlab 14 software. The university students were clustered on the basis of the main components of the study information seeking skills, seeking methods and information barriers. Then, after removing each sub-component of the main components of the research, the most effective and the least effective option on information seeking behavior of university students were determined.
Findings: Considering clustering using self-organizing neural networks, the most important components of information seeking skill was awareness of their information needs, however, the least important component was not observed. The most effective way to access the information was the electronic resources and the least effective way was buying the required resources. The most effective common barrier of information seeking was the lack of time due to the workload and the least effective component was the distance of libraries and the information centers.