Social origin and gender of doctoral degree holders

Within the scope of this article we went further into the question to what extent particularistic attributes - social origin and gender - can affect selection processes (1) in access to and (2) in later career attainment after achieving the doctoral degree. The analyses are based on a questionnaire survey (n = 2 244) among doctoral degree holders achieving the doctoral degree in six selected disciplines (biology, electrical engineering, German studies, mathematics, social sciences, and business studies/ economics) at German universities. In terms of our first object of investigation, the analyses show that in four out of six disciplines doctoral degree holders are a selected group compared to university graduates with regard to both social origin and gender. In terms of our second object of investigation - the impact of particularistic attributes on several indicators of further career attainment after achieving the doctoral degree (career inside or outside higher education and science, career position and income) - the results point to a stronger impact of gender compared to social origin. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Dynamic network analytics for recommending scientific collaborators

Collaboration is one of the most important contributors to scientific advancement and a crucial aspect of an academic’s career. However, the explosion in academic publications has, for some time, been making it more challenging to find suitable research partners. Recommendation approaches to help academics find potential collaborators are not new. However, the existing methods operate on static data, which can render many suggestions less useful or out of date. The approach presented in this paper simulates a dynamic network from static data to gain further insights into the changing research interests, activities and co-authorships of scholars in a field–all insights that can improve the quality of the recommendations produced. Following a detailed explanation of the entire framework, from data collection through to recommendation modelling, we provide a case study on the field of information science to demonstrate the reliability of the proposed method, and the results provide empirical insights to support decision-making in related stakeholders—e.g., scientific funding agencies, research institutions and individual researchers in the field.

     

Using ego-network analyses to examine journal citations: a comparative study of public administration,political science,and business management

This study demonstrates how social network analysis, specifically ego-network analysis, can be used as a methodology to investigate the degrees of the isolation, insularity, and prestige of academic journals in a particular field in relation to other fields. Using the example of journals in public administration for illustrative purposes, we analyze the network of connections between journals in this field and the ones in two related fields: political science and business/management. Earlier studies found that the research in public administration was largely isolated from the three disciplines that were its foundations: law, management, and political science. Using ego-network analyses and ratio calculations from the Web of Science citation data, we found that the top journals of public administration were indeed relatively isolated in the years 2005, 2010, and 2015. Of the public administration journals, Public Administration Review (PAR) and the Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory (JPART) were increasingly more recognized (less isolated and became more prestigious) among the journals in other fields. This methodology can be applied to the journals in other fields to study the relations between fields, particularly the relative academic prestige of the fields, in terms of journal citations.

     

Gender gaps in international research collaboration: a bibliometric approach

This paper addresses gender differences in international research collaboration measured through international co-authorship. The study is based on a dataset consisting of 5600 Norwegian researchers and their publication output during a 3-year period (44,000 publications). Two different indicators are calculated. First, the share of researchers that have been involved in international collaboration as measured by co-authorship, and second, the share of their publications with international co-authorship. The study shows that the field of research is by far the most important factor influencing the propensity to collaborate internationally. There are large differences from humanities on the one hand, where international collaboration in terms of co-authorship is less common, to the natural sciences on the other, where such collaboration is very frequent. On an overall level, we find distinct gender differences in international research collaboration in Norway in the favour of men. However, men and women are not equally distributed across fields and there are relatively more female researchers in fields where the international collaboration rates generally are lower. When the data are analysed by scientific field, academic position, and publication productivity of the researchers, the gender differences in the propensity to collaborate with colleagues in other countries are minor only, and not statistically significant. Concerning gender inequality in science, the main challenge seems to be the lower productivity level of female researchers, which obviously hinders their academic career development. Differences in international collaboration are unlikely to be an important factor in this respect, at least not in the Norwegian research context analysed in this study.

     

Using normative ethics for building a good evaluation of research practices: towards the assessment of researcher’s virtues

This paper is an attempt of using co-citation analysis to sort out and to analyze the development and evolution of a latest hot area, open innovation from the perspective of network embedding. A dataset of 1437 records published between 1990 and 2019 is collected from Web of Science database. The empirical results show the latest hot topics in the open innovation study focus on innovation performance and value creation. In addition, we make a new interpretation of open innovation from four aspects: innovation and entrepreneurship, resource acquisition, knowledge sharing and innovation performance, then combines the importance of network embedding to the innovation and development of enterprises, and proposes the future research direction of open innovation. Our research in this paper is helpful to systematically sort out the knowledge context of open innovation, which is of great significance to the construction and development of open innovation knowledge system. The conclusions and implications in this paper will be particularly illuminating for both academic research and enterprises’ practice application.

     

Choosing the Ph.D. Path: A Multi-Criteria Model for Career Decisions

A interactive, multi-criteria decision model was developed using Criterium software to help students assess alternative career paths: undertaking graduate study leading to an engineering doctoral degree and an academic career versus pursuing a career as an engineer in industry. The use of the model enables consideration of multiple factors, which may represent conflicting objectives and which have different measures of value (quantitative and qualitative) and different levels of importance to the decision. The model should assist its users in more carefully and thoroughly evaluating the criteria that affect career choices. We hope that its use may also help reduce the impending shortage of engineering faculty by encouraging more students to consider careers as engineering professors.     

Prediction and application of article potential citations based on nonlinear citation-forecasting combined model

As the number of academic articles rapidly increases, a reasonable evaluation method for the articles is highly required in the current academic research. Meanwhile, a faster access to the high-quality academic articles for the researchers is also of critical significance. This paper first improves the AVG model and presents a new Nonlinear Citation-Forecasting Combined Model (NCFCM) based on a neural network to predict the potential increase of citation counts. Then, the NCFCM is used to analyze and rank the academic articles in online databases. The results of NCFCM model are compared to the results from other existing methods. Empirical analysis and comparisons demonstrate that the NCFCM model is of high accuracy and robustness in forecasting potential citation counts and ranking academic articles. Ranking academic articles according to the potentional citation counts can help researchers retrieve the desired articles efficiently in a short time.

     

On the Outskirts of Physics: Eva von Bahr as an Outsider Within in Early 20th Century Swedish Experimental Physics

Abstract.   Eva von Bahr (1874–1962) got her doctorate in experimental physics at the Physics Institute at Uppsala University in 1908. Subsequently she became the first woman assistant professor in physics in Sweden. In the face of many obstacles, she worked as a physicist for six years in Uppsala and Berlin. In 1914 she took a position as a school teacher. This article explores von Bahr's trajectory through academic experimental physics. It is argued that network connections with male scientists enabled her work. Her associations were a mix between institutional relationships and informal connections, resulting in what is labeled a 'hybrid of connections'. Furthermore it is argued that von Bahr became an 'outsider within' in academic experimental physics. Her connections created openings, but these coexisted with hindrances. It is argued that von Bahr oscillated between being an insider and an outsider which created a fractured identity. Her position and identity was a mix between membership and non-membership. Through examining von Bahr's career this article aims to bring together historical research on women in science and theoretical work in science studies. Furthermore, the article argues the analytical value of feminist perspectives on scientific collaborations as a way to a deeper understanding of the network structures of science.     

Research collaboration networks of two OIC nations: comparative study between Turkey and Malaysia in the field of ‘Energy Fuels’, 2009–2011

With the world in the midst of an energy crisis, recent research has placed considerable emphasis on harnessing renewable and sustainable energy while efficiently using fossil fuels. Researchers create and sustain academic societies as a result of social interactions. This study takes a social network perspective to understand researchers’ associations using two Organisation of Islamic Co-operation nations, Turkey and Malaysia, in the fast-developing field of ‘Energy Fuels’. The study found both similarities and differences in the scholarly networks of these two countries. The mean distance between the authors in the Turkey and Malaysia networks was 8.4 and 6.5, respectively, confirming the small world nature of these networks. The popularity, position, and prestige of the authors in the network, as determined through centrality measures, had a statistically significant effect on research performance. These measures, however, were far more correlated with the research performance of the authors in the Malaysia network than in the Turkey network. PageRank centrality was found to be the most efficient topological measure when it came to correlation with research performance. We used authors’ ‘degree’ to reach to the ‘core’ (‘Deg-Core’) of the network (in contrast to the K-Core method), which was found to capture more productive authors. A method to detect academic communities of productive authors by extracting motifs (large cliques) from the network is suggested. Finally, we visualize the cognitive structure of both countries using a 2-mode network representing research focus areas (RFAs) and prominent authors working in these RFAs.     

Quality and statistical thinking in a parliament and beyond

ABSTRACT

After decades of an intensive academic career, with research activities having a strong statistical and quality background, I was given the opportunity of running twice for election to the National Parliament of Portugal. This article is mostly about the challenging experience of being a Member of Parliament from 2009–2015. I aim to provide sufficient evidence to convince the reader that statistical thinking, quality tools, and fact-based approaches are necessary to better governing. These tools and approaches can help to provide a better understanding of how Parliaments work and some of the strongest features of their organizational culture. Routine application of these tools can yield better results, increased efficiency and efficacy in Parliaments, politics and in public policy making.

For that purpose, I provide specific illustrations, which show how I applied statistical tests, variation analysis, clustering, and Bayesian interpretations to several situations related with the Portuguese Parliament. The goal of this article is to provide enough support to show that: (i) statistical or quality thinking and tools can help to better understand and improve Parliaments, as well as come up with better evidence-based decisions made by politicians; and (ii) Parliaments and societies are likely to get better if more people with a sound statistical background accept the challenge of becoming Members of Parliament, at least for a while.     

Identity and publication in non-university settings: academic co-authorship and collaboration

Increased collaboration between researchers working in university, industry, and governmental settings is changing the landscape of academic science. Traditional models of the interaction between these sectors, such as the triple helix concept, draw clear distinctions between academic and non-academic settings and actors. This study surveyed scientists (n = 469) working outside of university settings who published articles indexed in the Web of Science about their modes of collaboration, perceptions about publishing, workplace characteristics, and information sources. We study the association between these variables, and use text analysis to examine the roles, duties, sites, topics, and workplace missions among non-university based authors. Our analysis shows that 72% of authors working in non-university settings who collaborate and publish with other scientists self-identify as academics. Furthermore, their work life resembles that of those working in university settings in that the majority report doing fundamental research in government research organizations and laboratories. Contrary to our initial hypothesis, this research suggests that peer-reviewed publications are much more dominated by non-university academics than we previously thought and that collaboration as co-authors on academic publications is not likely to be a primary conduit for the transfer of scientific knowledge between academe and industry.

     

Developmental tendencies in the academic field of intellectual property through the identification of invisible colleges

Intellectual property became a relevant academic cross-disciplinary field in an international context with the demand for the global governance of knowledge. However, the degree of consolidation of cross-disciplinary academic communities is not clear. To determine how closely related are these communities, this paper proposes a mixed methodology to find invisible colleges in the production of intellectual property. Scientific articles from 1994 to 2016 were extracted from web of science, taking into account the signature of the agreement on trade-related aspects of intellectual property rights in the early 1990s. A total of 1580 papers were processed through bibliographic coupling network analysis. A special technique was applied, which combines algorithms of community detection and defines a population of articles through thresholds of shared references. To contrast the invisible colleges that emerged with the existence of formal institutional relations, a qualitative tracking of the authors was made with respect to their institutional affiliation, lines of research, and meeting places. Both methods show that the subjects of interest can be grouped into 13 thematic modules related to the intellectual property field. Even though most are related to law and economics, there are weak linkages between disciplines which could indicate the construction of a cross-disciplinary field.

     

Quantifying scientific collaboration impact by exploiting collaboration-citation network

Despite the growing interest in exploring the collaboration patterns and the structure of collaboration networks, the impact of collaboration associated with time-varying scholarly networks is hardly known. This paper investigates collaboration and productivity in a science career and quantifies the impact of collaboration in the collaboration-citation network. Moreover, this paper also investigates collaboration patterns and examines the typical duration of research collaborations. A SCIRank model is proposed to quantify the impact of scientific collaboration, which not only reveals the impact of co-author pairs but also identifies scholarly papers with the outstanding impact that leads to Nobel Prize awards.

     

Taiwan��s National Health Insurance Research Database: administrative health care database as study object in bibliometrics

The trend to use administrative health care databases as research material is increasing but not well explored. Taiwan??s National Health Insurance Research Database (NHIRD), one of the largest administrative health care databases around the world, has been used widely in academic studies. This study analyzed 383 NHIRD studies published between 2000 and 2009 to quantify the effects on overall growth, scholar response, and spread of the study fields. The NHIRD studies expanded rapidly in both quantity and quality since the first study was published in 2000. Researchers usually collaborated to share knowledge, which was crucial to process the NHIRD data. However, once the fundamental problem had been overcome, success to get published became more reproducible. NHIRD studies were also published diversely in a growing number of journals. Both general health and clinical science studies benefited from NHIRD. In conclusion, this new research material widely promotes scientific production in a greater magnitude. The experience of Taiwan??s NHIRD should encourage national- or institutional-level data holders to consider re-using their administrative databases for academic purposes.     

Direct observation and analysis of the oxide scale formed on Y-treated austenitic stainless steels at high temperature

Abstract

We have studied the oxidation behavior of conventional austenitic stainless steels using same small amounts of Y as is added for deoxygenation and desulphurisaton in steel making.

The direct observation and analysis of the oxide scale formed on 19Cr–10Ni–l .5Si steels with and without small amounts of Y at high temperature have been carried out using several types of equipment. The following results were found: (1) Steel with 0.03Y showed good resistance to oxidation at l,000°C.

(2) Oxide scale was composed mainly of Cr oxide, and Si oxide was also detected at the oxide scale–metal interface and in the internal oxides. The Si oxide formed a network cell structure in the inner oxide scale with deeper internal penetrations. The steel with Y formed a uniform oxide scale in every oxide layer.

(3) Small amounts of Y and Si were detected at the grain boundaries of the inner oxide scale, but no Y was detected in the oxide grains.

The beneficial effect of Y addition was more notable in the Si containing austenitic stainless steels, as the existence of Y or Si prevents the diffusion of cations and anions through the oxide grain boundaries. As consequence, the steel treated with Y showed good resistance to oxidation.     

Could requiring a presentation of the paper and adding a formalized contributor list solve academia’s credibility problem?

In this short note, we offer a suggestion that we believe may be ethically sound for research. Requiring co-authors to be able to deliver a reasonable presentation of a paper may lead to co-authors being fewer in number and more representative in nature. A research market involving research papers with hundreds of authors, single authors who have been credited with several hundred articles, or strict definitions of who has done what can be troublesome for public faith in research. To some extent, the public view of research as very trustworthy has changed and academic society should consider radical propositions to regain its position as solid and credible.

     

hIa: an individual annual h-index to accommodate disciplinary and career length differences

Hirsch’s h-index cannot be used to compare academics that work in different disciplines or are at different career stages. Therefore, a metric that corrects for these differences would provide information that the h-index and its many current refinements cannot deliver. This article introduces such a metric, namely the hI,annual (or hIa for short). The hIa-index represents the average annual increase in the individual h-index. Using a sample of 146 academics working in five major disciplines and representing a wide variety of career lengths, we demonstrate that this metric attenuates h-index differences attributable to disciplinary background and career length. It is also easy to calculate with readily available data from all major bibliometric databases, such as Thomson Reuters Web of Knowledge, Scopus and Google Scholar. Finally, as the metric represents the average number of single-author-equivalent “impactful” articles that an academic has published per year, it also allows an intuitive interpretation. Although just like any other metric, the hIa-index should never be used as the sole criterion to evaluate academics, we argue that it provides a more reliable comparison between academics than currently available metrics.     

A pilot study on the connection between scientific fields and patent classification systems

Methods to link academic research achievements with innovative industries have gained considerable awareness worldwide in recent years. Subsequently, responding to industries’ demand to reinforce the linkage between scientific research and industries is an issue awaiting urgent resolution for the government. Previous scientific pertaining to the linkage between scientific fields and (academic papers) technological fields (technology patents) primarily focus on non-patent research or university–industry collaboration. However, these studies failed to highlight the type of linkages between science and technological fields. Therefore, we conducted a pilot study to identify the core scientific fields in different technological fields. In addition to the proposed network maps linking scientific and technological fields, this study also identified the core scientific fields for patent development, including materials science, multidisciplinary; engineering, chemical; physics, applied; nanoscience and nanotechnology; and chemistry, physical. Due to the scarcity of research pertaining to the linkage of scientific fields and technological fields, the government, research and development units, and universities lack a framework for linking fundamental scientific research with the development of industry technologies. Therefore, in this study, we used an author–inventor network to analyze this research topic, expecting that the results can serve as a reference for further research.     

The value of an overseas research trip

As an essential part of the academic environment, international scientific mobility draws considerable attention from researchers. Previous studies have indicated a strong relationship between scientific mobility and scientific output. However, few researchers have addressed the causality between them. The research questions in this study focused on how the international scientific mobilization of the researchers affects their number of international collaborations, their ability to get published at higher impact factor journals, the number of citations that they get. Based on the SCOPUS database of English language scientific journal articles, this paper revealed the causal effects of international scientific mobility of the researchers on their scientific productivity, collaborations, and impact on science using the synthetic control method. The author’s affiliation on their articles provided the geographical location that can be tracked in time to infer the international scientific mobility of each author. A sample of more than 79,000 immobile scientists was used to create the synthetic versions of over 1500 internationally mobile scientists, so that, the synthetic version of each mobile author best resembled the academic ability of her/his counterpart mobile author in the pre-mobilization period. This allowed investigating the effects of the international mobilization on their publications by comparing the post-mobilization publication characteristics of the mobile authors and their immobile synthetic controls.The findings show strong evidence of a substantial positive effect of scientific mobility on the ability to get published in more prestigious journals, the number of citations received in total and from overseas, and international collaborations. The magnitude of the effect is conditional on the duration of scientific mobility.

     

Search strategies along the academic lifecycle

Understanding how individual scientists build a personal portfolio of research is key to understanding outcomes on the level of scientific fields, institutions, and systems. We lack the scientometric and statistical instruments to examine the development over time of the involvement of researchers in different problem areas. In this paper we present a scientometric method to map, measure, and compare the entire corpus of individual scientists. We use this method to analyse the search strategies of 43 condensed matter physicists along their academic lifecycle. We formulate six propositions that summarise our theoretical expectations and are empirically testable: (1) a scientist’s work consists of multiple finite research trails; (2) a scientist will work in several parallel research trails; (3) a scientist’s role in research trail selection changes along the lifecycle; (4) a scientist’s portfolio will converge before it diverges; (5) the rise and fall of research trails is associated with career changes; and (6) the rise and fall of research trails is associated with the potential for reputational gain. Four propositions are confirmed, the fifth is rejected, and the sixth could not be confirmed or rejected. In combination, the results of the four confirmed propositions reveal specific search strategies along the academic lifecycle. In the PhD phase scientists work in one problem area that is often unconnected to the later portfolio. The postdoctoral phase is where scientists diversify their portfolio and their social network, entering various problem areas and abandoning low-yielding ones. A professor has a much more stable portfolio, leading the work of PhDs and postdoctoral researchers. We present an agenda for future research and discuss theoretical and policy implications.