Umair Ahmed Siddiqui and Eunkyung Jeon* Trends in Fashion and Textiles Research Journal: an Analysis through Textual Information Umair Ahmed Siddiqui and Eunkyung Jeon* Department of Clothing & Textiles, University of Ulsan Introduction In South Korea, owing to the expansion of clothing, fashion and textile industries from 1990’s; the department of clothing, fashion and textile was very popular and the number of students rapidly increased(Lee, 2005). To bring up the subject of professionals in the clothing, fashion and textile industries it is vital to know and assess the trends. It is also vital to know the past trends when predicting the future trends, which ultimately help researchers, educators and even industrialists. ‘Fashion and Textiles Research Journal(FTRJ), since 1999, is the one of the journals that serve as important sources for the dimensions of new knowledge in the field of clothing, fashion and textile and greatly helps research students in South Korea. By keeping this need in mind, the purpose of this research is to investigate a quantitative research trends in the clothing, fashion and textiles fields from first issue to last issue of 2015 in FTRJ. Variables and Methods A total of 1375 articles from Volume 1, issue 1 through Volume 17, issue 6 in FTRJ were analyzed. Eras of research was divided almost equally in year wise distribution of past trends from year 1999 to 2007 and recent trends from 2008 to 2015. The data was analyzed statistically using χ2-test, t-test and one-way ANOVA with post-hoc test using SPSS Ver. 20.0. Findings and Results We found out descriptive means in FTRJ are as follows: 8.51 numbers of pages with minimum of 3 and maximum of 17 pages, 4.31 keywords with minimum of 2 and maximum of 9 keywords, 2.00 authors involved in publishing a research paper with minimum of 1 and maximum of 10 authors recorded, 1.31 institutes with the minimum of 1 and maximum of 4 institutes and 22.91 numbers of references with minimum of 3 and maximum of 121 references recorded. It was also revealed that ‘Clothing Science and Technology’ and ‘Aesthesis, Fashion and Design’ with same frequencies are the favorite research topics(N=350, 25.45%) each, closely followed by ‘Textiles Science and Technology’(N=289, 21.01%). ‘Historical Concerns’(N=75, 5.45%) and ‘Educational concerns in Clothing and Textiles’ with the lowest frequencies(N=16, 1.16%). Through Line chart diagram, continuous growth was noted in ‘Clothing Science and Technology’ field. ‘Economics and Social Concerns’ were also gaining popularity but not chosen in great deal in the year of 2015. Recently a decrease in interest of researchers in the field of ‘Textile Science and Technology’ and random changes of the trends are observed in ‘Aesthetics, Fashion and Design'. Consistencies in the frequencies of ‘Historical Concerns’ and ‘Educational Concerns in Clothing and Textiles’ were observed through line diagram. Table2. Cross tabs of Specific field by Trends Observed frequency (expected frequency) Classification Sub division Past trends Recent trends Total χ2-value Specific field Textile Science and Technology 147 (119.6) 142 (169.6) 289 (289.0) 39.417*** Clothing Science and Technology 126 (144.8) 224 (205.2) 350 (350.0) Economics and Social Concerns 87 (122.1) 208 (172.9) 295 (295.0) Aesthesis, Fashion and Design 166 (144.8) 184 (205.2) Educational Issues 06 (6.6) 10 (9.4) 16 (16.0) Historical Concerns 37 (31.0) 38 (44.0) 75 (75.0) 569 (569.0) 806 (806.0) 1375 (1375.0) No. of institutes 1 387 (413.4) 612 (585.6) 999 (999.0) 13.908** 2 164 (135.3) 163 (191.7) 327 (327.0) 3 16 (17.4) 26 (24.6) 42 (42.0) 4 2 (2.9) 5 (4.1) 7 (7.0) Methodologies Survey 125 (195.7) 348 (277.3) 473 (473.0) 67.863**** Experimentation 201 (211.9) 225 (249.7) 426 (426.0) Case Study 243 (197.0) 233 (279.0) 476 (476.0) (1) TST= Textile Science & Technology (2) CST= Clothing Science & Technology (3) E&S= Economics and Social Concerns in Clothing & Textiles (4) AFD= Aesthetics, Fashion and Design (5) ECS= Educational Concerns in Clothing and Textiles (6) H&C= Historical Concerns in Clothing and Textiles. Fig.1.Yearly growth representation in specific fields of clothing, fashion and textiles Table1. T-test in number of pages, authors, institutes, references and keywords by Trends Classification Past trends (N=569) Recent trends (N=806) t -value Mean S.D No. of pages 7.52 1.90 9.22 2.17 -15.403*** No. of authors 1.96 0.87 2.03 0.98 -1.263 No. of references 18.91 10.40 25.73 14.74 -10.043*** No. of key words 4.21 1.01 4.38 0.96 -3.261 p < 0.05 *, p < 0.01**, p < 0.001*** As the result of t-test, it was revealed that there are significant differences in mean values on past and recent years on number of references(t-value=-10.043***) and number of pages (t-value=-15.403***) but no significant difference on number of authors(t-value=-1.263) and number of keywords(t-value=-3.261). In the past, researchers were using relatively less number of pages for publication with mean values of 7.52 pages in comparison to 9.22 pages. Similarly the number of references used was significantly increasing in recent research trends. A Chi Square test results were revealed that there are significant differences on distribution in frequencies of specific fields, number of institutes and methodologies (p<0.005) between recent and past years. In recent years, involvement of Korean institutes collaborative research were focused on ‘Economics and Social Concerns’, ‘Clothing Science and Technology’ and ‘Educational Concerns in Clothing and Textiles’ and ‘Survey Methodology’ is more frequently used by researchers in comparison to past years. Table 3. One way ANOVA in number of pages, authors, institutes, references and keywords by Specific fields Through one-way ANOVA it was noted that there are significant differences between groups in numbers of pages, authors, institutes, keywords, and references with specific fields of clothing and textiles(p<0.001). It was revealed that more researchers are observed for the field of ‘Clothing Science and Technology'. Larger number of pages and institutes are observed in the ‘Educational Concerns in Clothing and Textiles’ as compared to other fields. ‘Economics and Social Concerns’ field recorded with highest mean values in number of references with 34.50 and lowest in ‘Textiles Science and Technology’ 15.09 and ‘Clothing Science and Technology' 17.68. Classification Specific field Mean S.D Post-hoc F-value No. of pages Textile Science and Technology 6.92 1.92 d 50.259*** Clothing Science and Technology 8.49 2.12 c Economics and Social Concerns 9.33 ab Aesthesis, Fashion and Design 9.01 2.15 bc Educational Issues 9.93 2.90 a Historical Concerns 8.96 1.99 No. of authors 2.04 0.95 6.299*** 2.21 1.05 1.93 0.84 1.88 0.89 1.87 0.71 No. of institutes 1.33 0.58 b 6.074*** 1.42 0.68 1.25 0.44 1.23 0.45 1.56 0.51 1.28 0.48 No. of keywords 4.60 0.86 11.652*** 4.24 0.90 4.09 0.94 4.22 0.98 4.43 1.15 4.65 1.04 No. of references 15.09 6.97 102.035*** 17.68 9.36 34.50 14.87 24.80 12.75 26.62 12.18 22.21 14.11 "Hee Eun Kim" is the highly contributed research corresponding author with 37 publications and "Yun Ja Nam" is the most highly contributed author who is involved in publishing 41 articles in FTRJ until the end of 2015. ‘Pusan National University'(N=70) is the most contributed institute in past and ‘Kyungpook National University’(N=82) is the most contributed research institute in recent years. Conclusion This research provides an understanding of current research trends for scholars, educators and hands on workers in clothing, fashion and textiles fields. From this research, important findings were observed such as growth in 'Clothing Science and Technology' field and in 'Survey Methodology', significant differences noted in the numbers of pages and references between two eras. It is imperative for researchers to keep being involved in research papers with similar theme on regular basis which helps researchers. Today’s research era focuses collaborative researches in educational institutes and industries and global convergence in these sectors would pave way with mutual benefits. Understanding what current trends are in demand may help to predict future trends and ultimately may lead to open future job prospects for students and new innovative ideas globally. The detailed analysis of all articles with various characteristics from journals may be the next point of inquiry to assess how important the research trends can take part in the growth and expansion in the field of clothing, fashion and textiles. p < 0.05 *, p < 0.01**, p < 0.001*** ; Group with significant differences were noted with different letters. abcd (a > b > c>d) means with a common letter in the same column are significantly different (Duncan, a=0.05). References Lee, H.J. (2005). Upbringing Scheme of Fashion Experts for the Corresponding Globalization of Fashion Industry. J of Korean Society of Clothing Industry, 7(5), 463-466.