The decline of Swedish neuroscience: Decomposing a bibliometric national science indicator

Recent studies have reported on a steady decline of Sweden's relative citation impact in almost all science fields, above all in the life sciences. The authors attempt to shed light on the observed decline in Swedish neuroscience through a detailed citation analysis at different level of aggregations. Thus national citation data are decomposed to the institutional, departmental and individual level. Both, the decomposition of national science indicators and changing collaboration patterns in Swedish neuroscience reveal interesting details on the 'anatomy' of a decline. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

A study of collaboration in laser science and technology

An analysis of 3174 papers published in journals in the field of laserscience and technology indicate that only 401 papers were single authoredand the rest 2773 were co-authored papers. Of the 2773 papers, only 687 werewritten in local (inter-departmental), domestic (inter-institutional) andinternational collaboration. As reflected by the values of collaborative coefficientand co-authorship index, it is observed that the proportion of mega-authoredpapers for Japan, France, Italy, and the Netherlands was more, while for Canada,China, and Australia the proportion of single authored papers was more. Mostof the collaborative papers had bilateral domestic and international collaboration.Domestic collaborations were higher for USA, Japan, France and Australia,while international collaboration was higher for China, Israel, the Netherlands,and Switzerland. This revised version was published online in June 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

A new input indicator for the assessment of science &; technology research?

Traditional input indicators of research performance, such as research funding, number of active scientists, and international collaborations, have been widely used to assess countries’ publication output. However, while publication in today’s English-only research world requires sound research in readable English, English proficiency may be a problem for the productivity of non-native English-speaking (NNES) countries. Data provided by the Brazilian National Research Council (CNPq) containing the academic profile of 51,223 Brazilian researchers show a correlation between English proficiency and publication output. According to our results, traditional input indicators may fall short of providing an accurate representation of the research performance of NNES developing countries.     

Thought leadership: A new indicator for national and institutional comparison

This paper introduces a new method for evaluating national publication activities. This new indicator, thought leadership, captures whether the nation is a thought leader (building on the more recently cited literature for that field) or follower (building on the older cited literature for that field). Publication data for 2003 are used to illustrate which nations tend to build on the more recent discoveries in chemistry and clinical medicine. Implications for national and laboratory policy are discussed.     

A general framework for analysing diversity in science, technology and society.

This paper addresses the scope for more integrated general analysis of diversity in science, technology and society. It proposes a framework recognizing three necessary but individually insufficient properties of diversity. Based on 10 quality criteria, it suggests a general quantitative non-parametric diversity heuristic. This allows the systematic exploration of diversity under different perspectives, including divergent conceptions of relevant attributes and contrasting weightings on different diversity properties. It is shown how this heuristic may be used to explore different possible trade-offs between diversity and other aspects of interest, including portfolio interactions. The resulting approach offers a way to be more systematic and transparent in the treatment of scientific and technological diversity in a range of fields, including conservation management, research governance, energy policy and sustainable innovation.     

A rhythm indicator for science and the rhythm of Science

Summary The rhythm of science may be compared to the rhythm of music. The R-indicator studied in this article is a complex indicator, trying to reflect part of this rhythm. The R-indicator interweaves publication and citation data over a long period. In this way R-sequences can be used to describe the evolutionary rhythm of science considered in a novel way. As an example the R-sequence of the journal Science from 1945 on is calculated.     

The use of foreign patenting as an internationally comparable science and technology output indicator

Foreign patenting activity in some of the world major patent systems is being compared between countries and industries and is found to be, with a few notable exceptions, relatively unbiased. Furthermore, a brief dynamic analysis of the foreign patenting activity in the USA of a number of OECD-countries in 41 industrial sectors in terms of ‘Revealed Technological Advantage’ indices suggests that foreign patent data might provide a very useful addition to the arsenal of Science and Technology Output Indicators.     

The measurement of scientific activity: Research directions in linking philosophy of science and metrics of science and technology outputs

Summary Correlation between diabetes-related publication output and diabetes prevalence was sought and found in a sample of world countries and in the states of the US. Various correlation patterns (“demand driven research', “research driven prevention', no correlation) were distinguished and interpreted.     

Computer science and technology in India: A critical assessment

Information technology, which has as its base the integration of computing and communication, is bringing about far-reaching changes in the economies and life-styles of the advanced industrialized countries. In India, the preoccupation so far has been in the development of computer technology to manufacture stand-alone computers. Even to accomplish this the industrial capability is very fragmented. The mastery of information technology in all its ramifications requires building up indigenous capabilities in a variety of sub-technologies. In this context, this paper analyses in some detail the current strengths and weaknesses in computer science and technology in India and the efforts that need to be made to build up a viable base in information technology to promote economic growth and modernize industrial practices.     

Assessing multidisciplinary areas of science and technology: A synthetic bibliometric study of Dutch nuclear energy research

This paper presents a selection of results of a comprehensive quantitative, research literature-based study of Dutch energy research. The primary goal of this paper is to provide an overview of what bibliometric data from ISI and non-ISI databases may offer to describe the state of affairs in a scientific field. It illustrates the added value of combining bibliometric indicators of publication output, international visibility, international co-operation, and interdisciplinarity in a study of nuclear energy research in the 1980's when its budget decreased dramatically.     

Strength and weakness of national science systems: A bibliometric analysis through cooperation patterns

In this study we have focused on long term developments of various types of scientific publishing, and the field-normalized impact generated by these various types. The types of scientific output distinguished are output resulting from international cooperation, national cooperation, and single address publications, in which no apparent cooperation is found. A fourth type is distinguished by focusing on first authorship, within the international cooperation output. Changes in especially the share of a country’s output from first-authored international cooperation and the share of single address publications can be regarded as indicators of strength and/or weakness of a science system.     

A new green index as an overall quantitative green performance indicator of a facility

Green assessment tools such as the Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method, Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, Comprehensive Assessment System for Building Environmental Efficiency, GREEN STAR and HK-BEAM have been used worldwide. These tools, which utilise qualitative, credit-based rating system have several limitations. Firstly, they can only provide a relative measure of the greenness of a facility. Secondly, there is the possibility that the ratings assigned may differ from one user to another depending on the needs and priorities of an organisation, a country, or a region. Several studies have also highlighted that such credit-based systems involve piece-meal (Zuo and Zhou in Renew Sustain Energy Rev 30:271–281, 2014), as opposed to integrated evaluation of the green criteria, and the greenness of a facility. This paper proposes a new Green Index (GI) as a tool for assessing the level of greenness of a facility that overcomes the aforementioned limitations. The use of stock market composite index as a basis for the GI development has enabled an established tool for assessing stock market performances to progress into the domain of industrial and commercial facility management. Development of the GI involves two steps, namely the development of a weighting scheme using the factor analysis approach, followed by the composite GI formulation that is based on the stock market composite index. The developed Green Index is based on quantitative analysis and measurement of parameters, and hence, reflect the actual measure of the overall impact of a facility on the environment. With only a single indicator to represent multiple green elements, it makes it easier for facility managers to effectively and quantitatively monitor, analyse, compare and benchmark the actual level of greenness of facilities in new systems designs or a retrofit or conservation programme.     

A general approach of least squares estimation and optimal filtering

The least squares method allows fitting parameters of a mathematical model from experimental data. This article proposes a general approach of this method. After introducing the method and giving a formal definition, the transitivity of the method as well as numerical considerations are discussed. Then two particular cases are considered: the usual least squares method and the Generalized Least Squares method. In both cases, the estimator and its variance are characterized in the time domain and in the Fourier domain. Finally, the equivalence of the Generalized Least Squares method and the optimal filtering technique using a matched filter is established.     

Describing national science and technology systems through a multivariate approach: country participation in the 6th Framework Programmes

The objective of this work is to describe the distribution of different types of participating organizations in the health thematic area of the 6th Framework Programme. A total of 2132 different organizations were classified according to four types and then grouped by country. A Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was carried out on the percentage of funding obtained by each type of organization. Results show a countries map plotted around the “private” and “public” principal components. It is observed that there are countries which research is basically performed by government research centres, while others are supported in the university activity. We conclude that the PCA is a suitable method to plot the distribution of research organizations by country and the results could be used as a tool for theoretical studies about the scientific activity in a country.     

A recursive field-normalized bibliometric performance indicator: an application to the field of library and information science

Two commonly used ideas in the development of citation-based research performance indicators are the idea of normalizing citation counts based on a field classification scheme and the idea of recursive citation weighing (like in PageRank-inspired indicators). We combine these two ideas in a single indicator, referred to as the recursive mean normalized citation score indicator, and we study the validity of this indicator. Our empirical analysis shows that the proposed indicator is highly sensitive to the field classification scheme that is used. The indicator also has a strong tendency to reinforce biases caused by the classification scheme. Based on these observations, we advise against the use of indicators in which the idea of normalization based on a field classification scheme and the idea of recursive citation weighing are combined.     

Summing up approaches to the study of science and technology indicators

Attempts to reduce the multiplicity and variety of the range of indicators presently used to measure science and technology to lean patterns have so far proved unsuccessful. The reason for this is the ongoing lack of an all-comprehensive theory to rationalise every aspect of intricate and as yet obscure processes such as scientific discovery and technological innovation. We ought to expect from a theory of scientific and technological progress satisfactory not only in abstract terms but also as an empirical analysis is a composition of two aspects — static and dynamic — in a few homogeneous variables.     

Infrared photonic science and technology feature: introduction

The IR is an active specialty within the broad scope of optical sciences and engineering. In Applied Optics papers are published dealing with such diverse topics as basic concepts in IR technology, including emissivity, and the theory of IR detection mechanisms as well as the development of novel instruments used for IR applications. In this feature four papers are presented dealing with recent developments in the IR.     

Meeting overall reliability requirements for heats of steel: A case study

ABSTRACT

In this case study, we examine the reliability of a device whose material was produced over several heats, where the quality metric of the material is the content of a certain element in the material. The analyses revealed a number of issues, including rounded data values as well as periodicity and tilting in the two dimensions of the production process. Novel analysis features include non-standard estimation of certain variance components, and combining several tolerance intervals based on optimization criteria. The results of the analysis were useful to both the customer and supplier of the material.     

Awakening: Evolution of China's science and technology policies

It was not until the latter part of the 19th century that the people of China acknowledged the importance of science and technology. The revolution in 1911, ensuing civil wars, and the war against the Japanese invasion took up another half century. Thus, a serious move to develop science and technological enterprises did not start until the founding of the People's Republic of China—200 years later than Europe and North America. The author argues that, although there has been notable progress during the past 30 years, it will take another 50 years to forge a prosperous society that enjoys the benefits of science and technology. As part of its efforts to develop its innovation capabilities, China today spares no effort to develop a science educational system that will ensure that future generations can make useful contributions to the world's science and technology resources.     

A comparative study of interdisciplinary changes between information science and library science

This study employs the method of direct citation to analyze and compare the interdisciplinary characteristics of the two disciplines of library science and information science during the period of 1978–2007. Based on the research generated by five library science journals and five information science journals, library science researchers tend to cite publications from library and information science (LIS), education, business/management, sociology, and psychology, while researchers of information science tend to cite more publications from LIS, general science, computer science, technology, and medicine. This means that the disciplines with larger contributions to library science are almost entirely different from those contributing to information science. In addition, researchers of library science frequently cite publications from LIS; the rate is as high as 65.61%, which is much higher than the rate for information science, 49.50%. However, a decreasing trend in the percentage of LIS in library science indicates that library science researchers tend to cite more publications from non-LIS disciplines. A rising trend in the proportion of references to education sources is reported for library science articles, while a rising trend in the proportion of references to computer science sources has been found for information science articles. In addition, this study applies an interdisciplinary indicator, Brillouin’s Index, to measurement of the degree of interdisciplinarity. The results confirm that the trend toward interdisciplinarity in both information science and library science has risen over the years, although the degree of interdisciplinarity in information science is higher than that in library science.