Showing papers in "Scientometrics in 1989"
273 citations
TL;DR: This paper argues that the authors should think of citations first as rhetoric and second as reward, and some implications for quantitative modeling of the citation process are drawn.
Abstract: Because of the widespread use of citations in evaluation, we tend to think of them primarily as a form of colleague recognition. This interpretation neglects rhetorical factors that shape patterns of citations. After reviewing sociological theories of citation, this paper argues that we should think of citations first as rhetoric and second as reward. Some implications of this view for quantitative modeling of the citation process are drawn.
249 citations
TL;DR: This paper examines limitations of the use of citation counts as a measure of quality in science by examining their sensitivity to popular trends in science and the contribution of applied scientists.
Abstract: Empirical work in the social studies of science has progressed rapidly with the availability and development of the citation indexes. Citation counts have become a widely accepted measure of the quality of a scientific contribution. However, there are several problems involved in the use of citation counts as a measure of quality in science. First, citation counts are sensitive to popular trends in science. In this sense, they approximate a Nielsen rating for science. Second, the distribution of citations restricts their utility to separating the extremes. Third, citation counts are not sensitive to the ethical and moral dimensions of the quality of a scientific contribution. Fourth, citation counts underestimate the contribution of applied scientists. This paper examines these limitations.
146 citations
TL;DR: Although many publications were written in English, only experimental psychology, general linguistics, anthropology, and genrral literature were internationally oriented regarding output media.
Abstract: An evaluation was made of the use of bibliometric indicators for five disciplines in the humanities (social history, general linguistics, general literature, Dutch literature, and Dutch language) and three disciplines in the social and behavioural sciences (experimental psychology, anthropology, and public administration) in the Netherlands. Articles in journals were the predominant outlet in all disciplines. Monographs and popularizing articles were more important outlets in ‘softer’ fields than in ‘harder’ ones. The enlightenment function of scholarship was especially evident in Dutch literature and language, and public administration. Only some of the humanities disciplines are locally oriented. Although many publications were written in English, only experimental psychology, general linguistics, anthropology, and genrral literature were internationally oriented regarding output media. The impact of departments differed greatly both within and between disciplines. For all disciplines, bibliometric indicators are potentially useful for monitoring international impact, as expert interviews confirmed. Especially in Dutch language, Dutch literature and public administration, ISI-citation data are not very useful for monitoring national impact.
145 citations
TL;DR: To compare citation history and contextual “importance”, eleven highly cited articles were ranked using an aggregate citation context measure, the Mean Utility Index, and a Type 1 paper representing an important theoretical concept could not be distinguished from Type 2 papers using citation context alone.
Abstract: To compare citation history and contextual “importance”, eleven highly cited articles, 4 slowly aging (Type 1) and 7 quickly aging (Type 2), were ranked using an aggregate citation context measure, the Mean Utility Index. Based on citations in late (PY 6 & 7) source articles, “methods” papers consistently ranked higher than papers cited for research results and theoretical implications, and Type 1 methods papers ranked above all Type 2 papers. A Type 1 paper representing an important theoretical concept could not be distinguished from Type 2 papers using citation context alone.
105 citations
TL;DR: It is found that it is misleading to equate every article with a single knowledge claim, let alone with an attempt to construct “a fact”, and the process of codification of scientific knowledge through the use of references appears to be far more complex and multi-dimensional than citation context analyses focussing on the use and the gradual disappearance of modalities would lead us to believe.
Abstract: What makes a scientific article significant? This paper-part of a larger study which will examine how various kinds of significance can be related to one another in a coherent theoretical framework-focusses on the processes by which new knowledge claims are being integrated into the cognitive structure when they are cited in other papers. Citations appear both as “threads” linking the citing papers to the existing literature in the field, and as elements fulfilling specific functions within the arguments made in these papers. We have found that (1) it is misleading to equate every article with a single knowledge claim, let alone with an attempt to construct “a fact”; (2) even when the same “sentence” is cited repeatedly, it can be put to quite different uses in the citing papers; and (3) the process of codification of scientific knowledge through the use of references appears to be far more complex and multi-dimensional than citation context analyses focussing on the use and the gradual disappearance of modalities would lead us to believe. Some consequences for the use use of citation analysis to reconstruct cognitive structures will be discussed.
99 citations
TL;DR: This article explores measurement error in a principal source of journal-to-journal citation data, the Institute for Scientific Information'sJournal Citation Reports, and describes ways to overcome some of the measurement errors.
Abstract: Citation analysis is a useful method for studying a wide range of topics in bibliometrics and the sociology of science. However, many challenges have been made to the validity and reliability of the underlying assumptions, the data, and the methods used in citation studies. This article addresses these issues in three parts. First is a brief review of validity and reliability issues in citation research. Next we explore measurement error in a principal source of journal-to-journal citation data, the Institute for Scientific Information'sJournal Citation Reports. Possible sources of measurement error include discrepancies between citing and cited data, changed or deleted journal titles, aberrant abbreviations, and listing algorithms. The last section is a detailed description of ways to overcome some of the measurement errors. The data and examples are drawn from a journal-to-journal citation study in the fields of Communication, Information Science, and Library Science.
58 citations
TL;DR: Findings suggest that groups sharing an intellectual focus with other researchers tend to obtain higher citation scores than groups working more ‘on their own’, and that the citation scores of research groups tend to be high in subfields showing a high value of Price's index and other characteristics of reference patterns.
Abstract: A severe criticism against the use of citation indicators for the measurement of a research group's performance holds that these indicators reflect at least partly the size of the scientific activity in the subfield or topic in which the group works. In this contribution an attempt is made to substantiate this claim within the framework of Price's theory on the processes of knowledge growth. Empirical evidence is presented that among a number of subfields from the natural and life sciences significant differences exist with respect to Price's index, and that the citation scores of research groups tend to be high in subfields showing a high value of Price's index and other characteristics of reference patterns. These findings suggest that groups sharing an intellectual focus with other researchers tend to obtain higher citation scores than groups working more ‘on their own’.
56 citations
TL;DR: Irrespective of whether total number of publications or a refined indicator taking account of type of publication and multiple authorship are used, there are no essential differences in publishing inequality between the various fields.
Abstract: The paper examines whether productivity differences among individual researchers are larger in some fields of learning than in others. Productivity patterns in the natural sciences, the medical sciences, the social sciences, and the humanities are compared by the use of unweighted and weighted publication counts. Irrespective of whether total number of publications or a refined indicator taking account of type of publication and multiple authorship are used, there are no essential differences in publishing inequality between the various fields. About 20% of the tenured faculty at Norwegian universities produce 50% of the total output, and the most prolific half of the researchers account for almost 85% of the output. The results are discussed in relation to Lotka's law.
55 citations
TL;DR: In this introduction the relations between qualitative theory and the use of scientometric methods is placed in the historical perspective of the emergence of science and technology studies over the last decades.
Abstract: This issue ofScientometrics originated from a Workshop of the European Association for the Study of Science and Technology (EASST). In this introduction the relations between qualitative theory and the use of scientometric methods is placed in the historical perspective of the emergence of science and technology studies over the last decades. The differences among various theories in terms of dimensions, units of analysis and levels of aggregation are elaborated. Thereafter, the various contributions to the issue are discussed within this framework.
54 citations
TL;DR: After a rather comprehensive analysis of severalSCI based publication productivity indicators, it can be concluded that neither the view of a “continuing decline”5 nor that of a "remarkable increase" of British science in the first half of the eighties can be supported by valid bibliometric/scientometric arguments.
Abstract: Conclusions After a rather comprehensive analysis of severalSCI based publication productivity indicators, it can be concluded that neither the view of a continuing decline5 nor that of a remarkable increase6 of British science in the first half of the eighties can be supported by valid bibliometric/scientometric arguments. The annual changes of any of the indicators considered had no statistical significance, and no trend distinguishable from the effect of random fluctuations could be observed. Some of the indicators showed a local minimum in 1982, the significance of which can be clarified only in the frame of a longer range study.All the abovementioned refers to British science in general. As a previous paper5 reported also a decline of British publication performance in some science fields and subfields these would have to be investigated one by one with the above described methodology. The present authors did investigate the research performance of British analytical chemistry which has been mention...
TL;DR: The author checks for network properties in the area of knowledge development through a case study of Polymer Science and Technology from 1973 to 1978.
Abstract: One model for knowledge development is the network interaction model. Insofar as socio-technical networks may have some structural properties, does knowledge development reflect this? The hypothesis that it does may enable us to make some forecasts of science development from a description of the state of a field. One condition necessary for testing this hypothesis is that of adopting a model for these networks. Co-word analysis is such a tool. It gives us key-words networks derived from scientific and technical texts. The author checks for network properties in the area of knowledge development through a case study of Polymer Science and Technology from 1973 to 1978.
TL;DR: Utilization of MDS is proposed as an alternative mapping method able to circumvent problematic features of LEXIMAPPE maps of the total co-word structure to demonstrate topological advantages of an extended MDS-mapping.
Abstract: The LEXIMAPPE method and Multidimensional Scaling (MDS) are discussed as methods to visualize (‘map’) characteristics of structures of word-occurrence (‘co-word’) relations. Utilization of MDS is proposed as an alternative mapping method able to circumvent problematic features of LEXIMAPPE maps of the total co-word structure. A comparison of both methods on the same ‘real-life’ co-word matrix demonstrates topological advantages of an extended MDS-mapping.
TL;DR: The application of such citation-based quantification to units of different levels of aggregation such as a journal, an institution and a country as a whole has been demonstrated taking India as the example and shows that levels of funding have no correlation with the quality or international citation impact of the literature output resulting from a project.
Abstract: The inadequacies of citation analysis-based quatitative techniques in the context of developing countries owe their origins to the rather small size of most peripheral country scientific enterprises, the poor coverage of Third World journals in bibliographic databases, (and in particularSCI), the cognitive limitations of citation analysis pointed out by microsociologists, and the non-normative nature of the scientific enterprise in these countries Much of peripheral science is derivative and imitative of science done in the centre, rather than ‘original’ or ‘path-breaking’, and there is hardly any indigenous ‘scientific community’ And yet, citation analysis-based quantitative measures can be applied to characterise different aspects of peripheral science These techniques assume great importance, especially in view of the massive inadequacies of the peer review process prevailing in these countries The application of such citation-based quantification to units of different levels of aggregation such as a journal, an institution and a country as a whole has been demonstrated taking India as the example Our results show that levels of funding have no correlation with the quality or international citation impact of the literature output resulting from a project Almost all Indian journals have a very low impact on world literature, and the relatively better performance ofJournal of Astrophysics and Astronomy (and Indian astronomical research in general) owes it to favourable factors, both social and cognitive
TL;DR: Review articles in the field of polymer science in the seventies are analyzed in order to check their usefulness in describing at a very low cost the development or the state of the art of a field.
Abstract: Review articles in the field of polymer science in the seventies are analyzed in order to check their usefulness in describing at a very low cost the development or the state of the art of a field. Results are compared with those obtained through a quantitative study of scientific articles published at the same time in the field. Review articles can be regarded as defining a research programme attempting to link together two networks: polymer properties—as being desirable from market considerations—and polymer structure—as being analyzable by means of academic science, through three kinds of “translation” strategies. If we thus define a research programme in terms of the mobilization of networks, it is possible to say of review articles that they provide a good representation of the development of networks of problems whose evolution they sketch.
TL;DR: No convincing argument or consensus exists on which of the multitude of journal publication types in the SCI database to include in the count, so the arguments for including or excluding each category are examined.
Abstract: As far as the present authors know, no detailed data on the distribution of journal publication types in the Science Oration Index (SCI) database are available. Although in constructing indicators of national scientific output and performance this database was used in most of the cases, no convincing argument or consensus exists on which of the multitude of journal publication types in the SCI database to include in the count. The Institute for Scientific Information (ISI) distinguishes the following types of publications as source items in the SCI 1 : articles, reports, technical papers (A) letters (L) notes (N) reviews, bibliographies (R) meeting abstracts book reviews corrections, additions discussions editorials items about an individual chronologies proceedings papers \" In the Computer Horizons Incorporated (CHI) data-base, only articles, notes and reviews (ANR) are i n c o r p o r a t e d . . . Let us examine the arguments for including or excluding each category. There is little doubt about the status of \"articles\" since these are the basic means of communicating new scientific knowledge.
TL;DR: The beginning and early spread of the world-wide epidemic of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) has been paralleled closely by a rapidly expanding literature concerned with many aspects of the disease, and in order to assess the growth of the AIDS literature, a quantitative analysis was conducted.
Abstract: The beginning and early spread of the world-wide epidemic of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) has been paralleled closely by a rapidly expanding literature concerned with many aspects of the disease. In order to assess the growth of the AIDS literature, a quantitative analysis was conducted focusing on the number of articles, the number of journals contributing, the number of languages used, and the number of countries of origin of publications over time (a bibliometric study). The growth of the popular literature was also studied. Three online databases — MEDLINE, Magazine Index, and the National Newspaper Index — were examined from 24 September 1982 (the date the Centers for Disease Control first adopted the name “acquired immunodeficiency syndrome”) through the end of 1986 for the popular literature and through the end of 1987 for MEDLINE. A survey of the MEDLINE file showed that by the end of 1987, twenty-five languages were represented in articles from fifty-four countries published in 1170 different journal titles.
TL;DR: It is argued that it is misleading to characterize these peripheral scientific communities of four newly industrializing Asian countries as principally stratified in function of local scientists' participation in mainstream science.
Abstract: This paper describes the mainstream scientific output of the scientific communities of four newly industrializing Asian countries (Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, and Taiwan) and considers its adequacy for describing local scientific activities in biochemistry, biology, physics, electrical engineering, and computer science. An examination of non mainstream scientific literature in these specialties shows that a high proportion of non mainstream authors also publish in mainstream literature. Data concerning degree of parochialism, age of references and use of vernacular literature are examined. The paper argues that it is misleading to characterize these peripheral scientific communities as principally stratified in function of local scientists' participation in mainstream science.
TL;DR: A methodological analysis of the latest update of the CHI/NSF Science Literature Indicators Data-Base, which contains a range of publication and citation indicators borken down by country and field or subfield, is presented.
Abstract: This paper presents a methodological analysis of the latest update of the CHI/NSF Science Literature Indicators Data-Base. The data-base contains a range of publication and citation indicators borken down by country and field or subfield, and now convers the period from 1973 to 1984. It can be used to draw comparisons of the changing output and impact of basic research in different countries. Earlier applications of the data-base have been constrained by various technical limitations, and have been subject to certain criticism. In this article, after some conceptual analysis of what aspects of scientific performance the different indicators relate to, we show that much of the criticism is misplaced. We also describe subsequent methodological improvements to the indicators and the effect these have on the policy use that can be made. Finally, we examine what the latest statistics reveal about the relative international standing of seven leading scientific nations.
TL;DR: The results support the concurrent validity of bibliometric indicators with peer review indicators of quality of the research project and little evidence was found in favor of the Ortega hypothesis and the Matthew effect.
Abstract: The validity of bibliometric indicators as a monitor of the impact and usefulness of scientific research is examined by comparing the scientific performance of cum laude and non-cum laude degree holders in chemistry (N=237), from five years before their graduation to four years afterwards. Papers of cum laudes were cited more frequently than those of non-cum laudes from three years before graduation until one year after graduation. Two to three years after graduation, the short-term impact per paper was no longer significantly different for both groups. A similar pattern was found with regard to productivity. Little evidence was found in favor of the Ortega hypothesis and the Matthew effect. The results support the concurrent validity of bibliometric indicators with peer review indicators of quality of the research project.
TL;DR: A new bibliometric method is proposed for representing links between subfields as defined by a classification scheme using the frequency of co-occurrence of articles from different subfields in selected journals for measuring the degree of relatedness between these subfields.
Abstract: A new bibliometric method is proposed for representing links between subfields as defined by a classification scheme. The frequency of co-occurrence of articles from different subfields in selected journals is used for measuring the degree of relatedness between these subfields. The results of such quantitative analysis could be compared to the tree topology of the classification network established in a qualitative analysis. The method is applied to describe the internal links within the field of condensed matter physics using the 1984 Physics Abstracts database. A distinction is made between experimental and theoretical links on the basis of treatment codes assigned to journal articles. The links described by cluster analysis are matched against the cross-reference network of the International Classification for Physics.
TL;DR: By means of non-traditional processing of well-known empiric data the author refutes such generally accepted ideas as the idea of very rapid aging of literature, the thought of more rapid Aging of publications on rapidly developing fields of knowledge, and some other ideas.
Abstract: Aging is one of the properties of scientific and technical literature. The knowledge of the laws of aging is very important in the science of science, information science and library science. Methodological errors in studying the aging process cause wrong results. By means of non-traditional processing of well-known empiric data the author refutes such generally accepted ideas as the idea of very rapid aging of literature, the idea of more rapid aging of publications on rapidly developing fields of knowledge, the idea of the maximum of book use being only in a few years after its publication, and some other ideas.
TL;DR: A bibliography of biochemical literature of Nigeria for the period, 1970–1984 containing a total of 500 items, was analysed to test the applicability of Lotka's law and 80/20-rule to the author productivity distribution patterns and it was found that the rule did not apply to any of the four data sets.
Abstract: A bibliography of biochemical literature of Nigeria for the period, 1970–1984 containing a total of 500 items, was analysed to test the applicability of Lotka's law and 80/20-rule to the author productivity distribution patterns. Four different files were created out of the data on author productivity: one for the publication of all the authors, second for the publications by first authors only, third for single authors and fourth for the contributions of only coauthors. Lotka's law could apply in all the four cases with different values of α. The Kolmogorov-Smirnov test was applied to test the applicability of Lotka's law at 0.01 level of significance. Egghe's theory and formula were used to test 80/20-rule and it was found that the rule did not apply to any of the four data sets.
TL;DR: By constructing such ‘co-subfield maps’ for successive periods of time, the changing subfield relations within the field of chemical engineering are described and dynamical processes in the development of a field as a whole can be revealed.
Abstract: This paper discusses the possibility to represent scientific development by ‘second-order networks’ in different modalities. In particular, a specific modality structured by subfield-to-subfield relations is presented. By constructing such ‘co-subfield maps’ for successive periods of time, we were able to describe the changing subfield relations within the field of chemical engineering. In this way, dynamical processes in the development of a field as a whole can be revealed. Advantages and disavantages as compared to co-citation and co-word mapping techniques are discussed and the importance of developing combined techniques is stressed.
TL;DR: An overview of the various arguments made, and reports that recent reorganization in the on-line installations (SciSearch) should make it possible to circumvene one of the major sources of error.
Abstract: A debate has occurred recently over the issue whether it is possible to account for differences in results when using various versions of theScience Citation Index for the measurement of national performance in terms of numbers of scientific publications. This article provides an overview of the various arguments which have been made, and reports that recent reorganization in the on-line installations (SciSearch) should make it possible to circumvene one of the major sources of error.
TL;DR: Titles of 925 conference papers contained in the first ten International Teletraffic Conferences (1955–1983) are analyzed in terms of word distributions to determine how information about changing word frequencies and word patterns relates to the kind of information gained through the more traditional approach of intellectual history.
Abstract: Titles of 925 conference papers contained in the first ten International Teletraffic Conferences (1955–1983) are analyzed in terms of word distributions. The aim is to determine how information about changing word frequencies and word patterns relates to the kind of information gained through the more traditional approach of intellectual history. Additionally, we consider what each approach can reveal about the information flows involved in the production and utilization of knowledge in teletraffic. In terms of methodology, the goal of this dual approach is to understand how the analysis of word and document structures can be used both as a scientometric tool and as a tool for historical research. We also comment more generally on the significance of conferences as an object for scientometric analysis, particularly with respect to the emergence and growth of the engineering and industrial sciences.
TL;DR: It was found that, although the South African contribution has improved in that period, it is comparable to that of Brazil and Argentina; that Nigeria and Israel produce 3 times more, and that Australia and Canada contribute more than one order of magnitude of publications more than South Africa.
Abstract: This article reports the results of a scientometric assessment of agricultural research in South Africa over the period 1974–1984. The Science Literature Indicators Database of CHI is used and South Africa is compared with 7 other countries spread in America, Asia, Oceania, and Africa. The criteria used for the assessment are the contribution of each country to international agricultural literature (in terms of publications) and their impact in the “Schubert-Glanzel-Braun Impact Scale“. It was found that, although the South African contribution has improved in that period, it is comparable to that of Brazil and Argentina; that Nigeria and Israel produce 3 times more, and: that Australia and Canada contribute more than one order of magnitude of publications more than South Africa. As far as research impact is concerned “Plant Science” research in South Africa is rated “fair” in the Schubert-Glanzel-Braun scale, whilst “Dairy and Animal Science” and “Veterinary” research are rated “poor”.
TL;DR: The present paper examines the multiple authorship in research papers in biomedical sciences from the more basic aspects to clinically oriented research and indicates that the team size in research in clinical subjects is appreciably larger as compared to basic biomedical sciences.
Abstract: The present paper examines the multiple authorship in research papers in biomedical sciences from the more basic aspects to clinically oriented research. Seventeen journals were chosen for analysis — nine from the general and life sciences categories and eight from medical sciences group with clinical orientation. All these were “high impact” journals as per the Science Citation Index and come in the top ten journals in their respective desciplines. The average authors/paper was significantly higher (P<0.001) in medical journals −4.299 (range 3.21–5.35) as compared to general biomedical journals −3.298 (range 3.21–5.35). Data from highly cited papers (1961–78) also indicate that papers in clinical sciences have higher average authors (2.71) as compared to preclinical basic research (2.25: P<0.26) and more basic research areas like biochemistry and molecular biology (2.208; P<0.02). The team size in research in clinical subjects is therefore appreciably larger as compared to basic biomedical sciences. Also the general and biomedical sciences articles were relatively longer (average 7.75 pages; range 2.69–10.07) as compared to medical papers with a clinical orientation (avarage 4.24 pages; range 1.80–12.92; P<0.001).
TL;DR: This paper studies the use of citation analysis for assessing national research performance in a research subfield and discusses methodological problems related to the definition of research subfields and to data acquisition.
Abstract: This paper deals with three types of questions concerning the application of citation analysis. First, it studies the use of citation analysis for assessing national research performance in a research subfield; second, it discusses methodological problems related to the definition of research subfields and to data acquisition; and third, as the data concern four Nordic countries, Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden, attention will be devoted to special problems arising from the application of citation analysis to relatively small countries. These problems are of both methodological and interpretative character.
TL;DR: It is shown that cluster analysis made by means of bibliographic coupling by Kessler and co-citation byMarshakova-Small present comparable results and it is stated that the problem of “information explosion” does not exist on the level of new ideas.
Abstract: Possible applications of cluster analysis of bibliographic references as a scientometric method are studied. It is shown that cluster analysis made by means of bibliographic coupling byKessler and co-citation byMarshakova-Small present comparable results. “Science maps” on immunological topics are made. Particularly for historico-scientific studies it is useful to make clusters in rectangular coordinates taking into account the value of citing the document and the year of its publication. It is observed that at the junction points of sciences there is an almost twofold deceleration of the processes of application and spreading of knowledge. It is stated that the problem of “information explosion” does not exist on the level of new ideas, the number of which is less than 0.1% of the total volume of the published information flow 40% of which is formed by “information noise”.