Abstract: Constructing an independent knowledge system with Chinese characteristics constitutes a fundamental mission for the discipline of Information Resources Management (IRM) to establish its academic subjectivity and achieve high-quality development. Existing studies have largely focused on macro-level normative discussions, with limited attention to the micro-level logic of knowledge organization and its underlying generative mechanisms. To address this gap, this study treats concepts as the basic units of knowledge systems and introduces an evolutionary framework of domain knowledge growth, proposing a dual-layer analytical framework based on conceptual semantic space and knowledge structural space. Based on the paper data of representative journals in the field of IRM from 2016 to 2025, the abstract notion of a knowledge system is operationalized into measurable network indicators and examined across four levels: knowledge unit, knowledge linkage, knowledge community, and system structure. The findings reveal that: First, at the knowledge unit level, disciplinary concepts exhibit a distribution in semantic space characterized by strong practical orientation and policy-driven dynamics, where highly independent and original concepts function as strategic anchors for knowledge generation. Second, at the knowledge linkage level, policy-led concepts and bridging concepts centered on disciplinary restructuring are increasingly intertwined, breaking down traditional barriers among subfields. Third, at the knowledge community level, multiple functionally differentiated knowledge communities have emerged, including high-level clusters integrating theory and practice. Fourth, at the system structure level, clusters of highly identifiable concepts underpin the development of disciplinary, academic, and discourse systems of IRM with Chinese characteristics. Based on these measurements, this study identifies four core generative modes driving the formation of the independent knowledge system: macro-level strategic and policy discourse-driven mechanisms; institutional restructuring and internal disciplinary reflection; integration of theory and practice with scenario expansion; and the inheritance of historical-cultural traditions alongside the excavation of indigenous experience. This research not only achieves a structural measurement of the autonomy of the “three systems”, but also provides an analytical paradigm and empirical evidence for advancing the construction of independent knowledge systems in philosophy and social sciences.

Key words: Information resources management, Independent knowledge system, Knowledge network, Three systems, Core concepts