A causal model of productivity in a research facility

The problem addressed concerns the conditions that foster productivity among natural scientists in a large research laboratory. We take several variables identified as important in two major perspectives in the literature on productivity, and use these variables to construct a causal model. Using path analysis, we test the model by employing data from a sample of 295 scientists working at an atomic research facility in West Germany. In general, educational level of the scientists has an important, positive impact on productivity; years of service has a varying and more modest positive effect. Rank of the scientist has an intermediate positive impact on productivity; psychological factors have a negligible effect. Finally, the influence the scientist has on his research endeavors has a modest positive impact on productivity.I am happy to acknowledge several people who provided considerable help on this research: Professors Edward O.Laumann, of the University of Chicago, Franz U.Pappi, of the Universitat zu Kiel, and Michael S.Flynn and Mary FrankFox, of the University of Michigan, and a number of research assistants, including in particular HaraldKlingemann and E. DanielAyres. Financial support for the data collection was freely provided by the Landesamt fur Forschung in Ministerium für Wissenschaft and Forschung des Landes Nordrhein-Westfalen. Financial support for the data analysis came from the National Science Foundation (GS-32002). Data collection was conducted under the auspices of the Zentralarchiv der Universität zu Köln.     

Team consolidation,social integration and scientists’ research performance: An empirical study in the Biology and Biomedicine field

The effects of team consolidation and social integration on individual scientists’ activity and performance were investigated by analysing the relationships between these factors and scientists’ productivity, impact, collaboration patterns, participation in funded research projects and programs, contribution to the training of junior researchers, and prestige. Data were obtained from a survey of researchers ascribed to the Biology and Biomedicine area of the Spanish Council for Scientific Research, and from their curricula vitae. The results show that high levels of team consolidation and of integration of the scientist within his or her team are factors which might help create the most favourable social climate for research performance and productivity. Researchers who carried out their activity in a social climate characterized by these factors participated in more domestic research projects and supervised more doctoral dissertations than the rest of their colleagues. They were also more productive, as shown by the higher number of papers published in journals included in the Journal Citation Reports and the higher number of patents granted. These metrics are the main indicators taken into account in the evaluation of the research activity of Spanish scientists, and are therefore the activities that scientists invest the most energy in with a view to obtaining professional recognition. The results corroborate the importance of research teamwork, and draw attention to the importance of teamwork understood not as two or more scientists working together to solve a problem, but as a complex process involving interactions and interpersonal relations within a particular contextual framework     

Productivity, impact and publication habits by gender in the area of Materials Science

Summary A comparative analysis of the scientific performance of male and female scientists in the area of Materials Science at the Spanish Council for Scientific Research (CSIC) is presented. Publications of 333 scientists during 1996-2000 are downloaded from the international database Science Citation Index and the national one ICYT. Scientific performance of scientists is studied through different indicators of productivity (number of SCI and ICYT publications), international visibility (average impact factor of publications, percentage of documents in “top journals”) and publication practices (%international publications, signing order of authors in the documents and different collaboration measures). Inter-gender differences in the research performance of scientists are studied. Influence of professional category and age are analysed. Although women are less productive than men, no significant differences in productivity are found within each professional category. However, a different life-cycle of productivity is found for men and woman and the most important inter-gender differences in productivity occur at the ages of 40-59.     

The evaluation of university departments and their scientists: Some general considerations with reference to exemplary bibliometric publication and citation analyses for a Department of psychology

In reference to an exemplary bibliometric publication and citation analysis for a University Department of Psychology, some general conceptual and methodological considerations on the evaluation of university departments and their scientists are presented. Data refer to publication and citation-by-others analyses (PsycINFO, PSYNDEX, SSCI, and SCI) for 36 professorial and non-professorial scientists from the tenure staff of the department under study, as well as confidential interviews on self-and colleagues-perceptions with seven of the sample under study. The results point at (1) skewed (Pareto-) distributions of all bibliometric variables demanding nonparametrical statistical analyses, (2) three personally identical outliers which must be excluded from some statistical analyses, (3) rather low rank-order correlations of publication and citation frequencies having approximately 15% common variance, (4) only weak interdependences of bibliometric variables with age, occupational experience, gender, academic status, and engagement in basic versus applied research, (5) the empirical appropriateness and utility of a normative typological model for the evaluation of scientists’ research productivity and impact, which is based on cross-classifications with reference to the number of publications and the frequency of citations by other authors, and (6) low interrater reliabilities and validity of ad hoc evaluations within the departments’ staff. Conclusions refer to the utility of bibliometric data for external peer reviewing and for feedback within scientific departments, in order to make colleague-perceptions more reliable and valid.     

Variables associated with agricultural scientists' work alienation and publication productivity

This study focuses on work alienation and publication productivity of agricultural scientists in two international research centers. Previous research has been criticized because the variables emphasized have typically been poorly correlated with publication productivity. Additionally, although work alienation of professionals has received considerable attention in the literature, seldom has it been included in empirical studies of publication productivity. Results indicate two perceptions of structure, centralization and formalization, are significantly correlated with work alienation, but less so with publication productivity. Work alienation is significantly, but modestly, correlated with publication productivity. In a multiple regression analysis, work alienation proved to be less important than perceived centralization. Implications for supervisors of scientific staffs include reducing the layers of hierarchy and empowering staff by giving them a voice in research goals and organizational operations.     

The Publication Productivity of Young Scientists: An Empirical Study

This research was conducted on a sample of 840 respondents who represent half of the Croatian population of young scientists. There are three main features which define the publication productivity of young scientists. 1) Despite the worsened position of R & D, they publish more scientific papers than the young generations of scientists at the beginning of the nineties. 2) Differences between a highly-productive minority, which produces on average half of all scientific publications, and a low-productive majority is already apparent in young scientists. 3) The productivity of young scientists is formed according to productivity patterns typical of particular scientific fields and disciplines.With regard to the explanation of productivity, the following has been found. a) An expansion of the set of predictors resulted in an improvement in the explanation of the productivity of young scientists compared with previous surveys. b) Among the factors which contribute significantly to the explanation of the quantity of scientific publications, the most powerful predictor is attendance at conferences abroad, followed by scientific qualifications and some gatekeeping variables. c) Besides certain similarities, scientific fields also show a specific structure of determinants of young scientists' productivity.     

基于结构方程模型的老年人APP用户体验设计研究

目的 探索APP设计要素、用户体验、用户总体满意度之间的相互关系,提升老年人对APP的用户体验。方法 提出基于结构方程模型的老年人APP用户体验设计研究方法。首先,以文献理论为基础,构建理论模型图并设定相关变量和假设;其次,通过文献研究,选择相关设计要素,通过正交表生成设计样本;再次,根据用户体验评价要素构建用户体验评价指标,被试者对设计样本进行评估实验,通过因子分析法提取用户体验评价指标中的潜在变量,并将相关指标作为可测变量;从次,建立设计要素与本能层次、行为层次、反思层次和用户总体满意度之间的结构方程模型,利用实验数据对结构方程模型进行模型拟合,并进行拟合评价和信效度分析;最后,对结果进行解释和讨论。结论 以老年人医疗APP为例,通过结构方程模型验证了设计要素是影响老年用户体验的重要因素,并提出相关的设计指导。     

Growth of food science and technology literature: A comparison of CFTRI, India and the world

An attempt has been made to trace and compare the trends in growth of Food Science and Technology (FST) literature (periodical articles, patents, standards, theses and dissertations) produced by CFTRI scientists, by food scientists in India and by food scientsts of the world, covering a period between 1950 and 1990; to identify the best fitting growth models for actual and cumulative growth of data through regression analysis; and α_t and α_2t analysis; and to compute and compare the growth rates of FST documnets.     

Evolutionary dynamics of scientific collaboration networks: multi-levels and cross-time analysis

Several studies exist which use scientific literature for comparing scientific activities (e.g., productivity, and collaboration). In this study, using co-authorship data over the last 40 years, we present the evolutionary dynamics of multi level (i.e., individual, institutional and national) collaboration networks for exploring the emergence of collaborations in the research field of “steel structures”. The collaboration network of scientists in the field has been analyzed using author affiliations extracted from Scopus between 1970 and 2009. We have studied collaboration distribution networks at the micro-, meso- and macro-levels for the 40 years. We compared and analyzed a number of properties of these networks (i.e., density, centrality measures, the giant component and clustering coefficient) for presenting a longitudinal analysis and statistical validation of the evolutionary dynamics of “steel structures” collaboration networks. At all levels, the scientific collaborations network structures were central considering the closeness centralization while betweenness and degree centralization were much lower. In general networks density, connectedness, centralization and clustering coefficient were highest in marco-level and decreasing as the network size grow to the lowest in micro-level. We also find that the average distance between countries about two and institutes five and for authors eight meaning that only about eight steps are necessary to get from one randomly chosen author to another.     

A national-scale cross-time analysis of university research performance

Research policies in the more developed nations are ever more oriented towards the introduction of productivity incentives and competition mechanisms intended to increase efficiency in research institutions. Assessments of the effects of these policy interventions on public research activity often neglect the normal, inherent variation in the performance of research institutions over time. In this work, we propose a cross-time bibliometric analysis of research performance by all Italian universities in two consecutive periods (2001–2003 and 2004–2008) not affected by national policy interventions. Findings show that productivity and impact increased at the level of individual scientists. At the level of university, significant variation in the rank was observed.     

Characteristics and determinants of eminent scientists' productivity

The empirical research on the sample of 385 eminent Croatian scientists was carried out in order to explore the patterns and factors of their scientific productivity. The study design made it possible to compare the results with those obtained in the 1990 survey on a sample of the research population. The average scientific productivity of eminent researchers is not only several times larger but also shows a more intensive scientific collaboration and orientation towards the international scientific arena. The most important predictors of the elite's productivity are also qualificational and organizational variables but of a more selective nature. By including the eminent scientists' gatekeeping roles, the explanation of their total, co-authored and foreign publications can be improved.     

Human resources and scientific productivity in Brazil

The number of Brazilian scientific publications increased from 0.29% to 0.56% of the worldwide total during the 1981–1993 period. There was a decrease of the funds allocated to most scientific activities, except for that allocated for training of new scientists. The numbers of research fellowships and scientific publications increased at the same ratio during the period. The pattern of scientific publications and the number of fellowship granted along the years in the different fields of research were analyzed. The data presented indicate that even in a period of economic crisis, a selective investment of funds in human resources may lead to an increase of the scientific productivity of a country in all science fields.     

The structure and analysis of nanotechnology co-author and citation networks

Research activities and collaborations in nanoscale science and engineering have major implications for advancing technological frontiers in many fields including medicine, electronics, energy, and communication. The National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI) promotes efforts to cultivate effective research and collaborations among nano scientists and engineers to accelerate the advancement of nanotechnology and its commercialization. As of August 2008, there have been over 800 products considered to benefit from nanotechnology directly or indirectly. However, today’s accomplishments in nanotechnology cannot be transformed into commercial products without productive collaborations among experts from disparate research areas such as chemistry, physics, math, biology, engineering, manufacturing, environmental sciences, and social sciences. To study the patterns of collaboration, we build and analyze the collaboration network of scientists and engineers who conduct research in nanotechnology. We study the structure of information flow through citation network of papers authored by nano area scientists. We believe that the study of nano area co-author and paper citation networks improve our understanding of patterns and trends of the current research efforts in this field. We construct these networks based on the publication data collected for years ranging 1993 through 2008 from the scientific literature database “Web of Science”. We explore those networks to find out whether they follow power-law degree distributions and/or if they have a signature of hierarchy. We investigate the small-world characteristics and the existence of possible community structures in those networks. We estimate the statistical properties of the networks and interpret their significance with respect to the nano field.     

Collaboration in theoretical population genetics speciality

Analyses the growth of funded and collaborative research publications and authors as reflected in selected theoretical population genetics literature from 1956–60 to 1976–80. Indicates that the number of funded and collaborated publications has not proportionally increased along with the growth of total research publications and authors with time, but however, there is a strong correlation between the two. Indicates the extent of multi-authored research publications in different countries, and studies the growth of multi-authored publications from 1956–60 to 1976–80. Studies the impact of funding and collaboration on the productivity of authors over a period of time. Concludes that the authors who are more productive are generally found to be more collaborative and funded. The average productivity per author is observed to be larger in funded and collaborated authors subset and smaller in non-funded and non-collaborated authors subset, than the average productivity per author in the total authors subset in all the five block years studied. There is a systematic increase with time in the average productivity per author in the funded and collaborated authors subset. Studies the nature and type of collaborated research from 1956–60 to 1976–80, and the role of funding. Highlights the research priorities of few important countries in collabortive research. Indicates the collaboration linkages among various countries in transnational collaborative research. Concludes that with time, the focus of research is slowly shifting from internal collaration to domestic and international collaboration, supported by increasing funding from government agencies in theoretical population genetics research.     

Research trends analysis by comparing data mining and customer relationship management through bibliometric methodology

There are few comprehensive studies and categorization schemes to discuss the characteristics for both data mining and customer relationship management (CRM) although they have already become more important recently. Using a bibliometric approach, this paper analyzes data mining and CRM research trends from 1989 to 2009 by locating headings “data mining” and “customer relationship management” or “CRM” in topics in the SSCI database. The bibliometric analytical technique was used to examine these two topics in SSCI journals from 1989 to 2009, we found 1181 articles with data mining and 1145 articles with CRM. This paper implemented and classified data mining and CRM articles using the following eight categories—publication year, citation, country/territory, document type, institute name, language, source title and subject area—for different distribution status in order to explore the differences and how data mining and CRM technologies have developed in this period and to analyze data mining and CRM technology tendencies under the above result. Also, the paper performs the K–S test to check whether the analysis follows Lotka’s law. The research findings can be extended to investigate author productivity by analyzing variables such as chronological and academic age, number and frequency of previous publications, access to research grants, job status, etc. In such a way characteristics of high, medium and low publishing activity of authors can be identified. Besides, these findings will also help to judge scientific research trends and understand the scale of development of research in data mining and CRM through comparing the increases of the article author. Based on the above information, governments and enterprises may infer collective tendencies and demands for scientific researcher in data mining and CRM to formulate appropriate training strategies and policies in the future. This analysis provides a roadmap for future research, abstracts technology trends and facilitates knowledge accumulations so that data mining and CRM researchers can save some time since core knowledge will be concentrated in core categories. This implies that the phenomenon “success breeds success” is more common in higher quality publications.     

Research issues and trends in industrial productivity over 44 years

The purpose of this study is to determine the major issues and potential megatrends in productivity over the past 44 years. Specifically, this has been done by reviewing the productivity literature and productivity trends in the area of manufacturing. Using this, a foundation for the direction of future productivity research is suggested. In this study, productivity-related trends and technology policy data were analysed to derive an initial productivity-related framework. In addition, a productivity issue framework for the academic fields was created by analysing productivity-related literature. Subsequently, trends in productivity studies as well as megatrends were analysed by placing common core issues in two categories. From an analysis of productivity trends, an initial framework of sixteen productivity issues and a productivity issue framework comprising nine productivity issues from our literature analysis were established. By integrating the two frameworks, major productivity-related issues and six megatrends were identified. Our expectation is that the results of this study will serve as a foundation for the future academic studies as well as document manufacturing companies’ strategic methods addressing productivity.     

The “Mendel syndrome” in science: durability of scientific literature and its effects on bibliometric analysis of individual scientists

The obsolescence and “durability” of scientific literature have been important elements of debate during many years, especially regarding the proper calculation of bibliometric indicators. The effects of “delayed recognition” on impact indicators have importance and are of interest not only to bibliometricians but also among research managers and scientists themselves. It has been suggested that the “Mendel syndrome” is a potential drawback when assessing individual researchers through impact measures. If publications from particular researchers need more time than “normal” to be properly acknowledged by their colleagues, the impact of these researchers may be underestimated with common citation windows. In this paper, we answer the question whether the bibliometric indicators for scientists can be significantly affected by the Mendel syndrome. Applying a methodology developed previously for the classification of papers according to their durability (Costas et al., J Am Soc Inf Sci Technol 61(8):1564–1581, 2010a; J Am Soc Inf Sci Technol 61(2):329–339, 2010b), the scientific production of 1,064 researchers working at the Spanish Council for Scientific Research (CSIC) in three different research areas has been analyzed. Cases of potential “Mendel syndrome” are rarely found among researchers and these cases do not significantly outperform the impact of researchers with a standard pattern of reception in their citations. The analysis of durability could be included as a parameter for the consideration of the citation windows used in the bibliometric analysis of individuals.