Patent research in the field of library and information science: Less useful or difficult to explore?

Patents and relevant topics are gaining momentum in economic analysis and scientific research with the rapid global intellectual property filings growth. However, a corresponding increase seems to be unspectacular in patent research publications, especially under the category of information science and library science. This paper provided a retrospect to the existing studies on patents collected from web of science and emphatically characterized the current situation through performing a series of bibliometric analysis. Prominent authors and institutions from mainland China, Taiwan and Belgium have carried out various studies on patent separately or jointly. Topics involved in 884 journal papers are reclassified from perspectives of the development, application and analysis of patents based on the results of keyword co-occurrence and typical publications in each stage. The final, but the novel part of this study was a sentence-by-sentence analysis of conclusive and citing ideas of recent publications, for tracing problems and potential researchable topics and indicating that patent research still has more spaces to move up.     

Mapping the evolution of library and information science (1978–2014) using topic modeling on LISA

This paper offers an overview of the bibliometric study of the domain of library and information science (LIS), with the aim of giving a multidisciplinary perspective of the topical boundaries and the main areas and research tendencies. Based on a retrospective and selective search, we have obtained the bibliographical references (title and abstract) of academic production on LIS in the database LISA in the period 1978–2014, which runs to 92,705 documents. In the context of the statistical technique of topic modeling, we apply latent Dirichlet allocation, in order to identify the main topics and categories in the corpus of documents analyzed. The quantitative results reveal the existence of 19 important topics, which can be grouped together into four main areas: processes, information technology, library and specific areas of information application.     

Are articles in library and information science (LIS) journals primarily contributed to by LIS authors?

Scientometrics - This study measured the proportion of articles by authors affiliated with library and information science (LIS)-related institutions and proportion of LIS authors in each journal...     

Influence of the international collaboration in the field of metric studies of science and technology: the case of Mexico (1971–2018)

Scientometrics - We perform a bibliometric analysis of the research production and impact of Mexican scholars involved in the area of metric studies of science and technology in the period...     

Telescopic and panoramic views of library and information science research 2011–2018: a comparison of four weighting schemes for author co-citation analysis

Scientometrics - This study explores weighted author co-citation analysis (ACA) through a comparison of results from four weighted citation counting methods. The data set used comprises full-text...     

Internet practice and professional networks in Chilean science: Dependency or progress?

The conventional view depicts scientific communities in the developing world as globally isolated and dependent. Recent studies suggest that individual scientists tend to favor either local or international ties. Yet there are good reasons to believe that both kinds of ties are beneficial for knowledge production. Since they allow for the more efficient management of social networks, Internet technologies are expected to resolve this inverse relationship. They are also expected to decentralize access to resources within developing regions that have traditionally reflected an urban male bias. Elaborating upon science, development and social network perspectives, we examine the impact of the Internet in the Chilean scientific community, addressing the questions ‘to what extent is Internet use and experience associated with the size of foreign and domestic professional networks?’ and ‘are professional network resources equitably distributed across regional and demographical dimensions?’ We offer results from a communication network survey of 337 Chilean researchers working in both academic departments and research institutes. We introduce a new measure, ‘collaboration range’, to indicate the extent to which scientists engage in work with geographically dispersed contacts. Results suggest that larger foreign networks are associated with higher email use and diversity, but local networks are smaller with longer use of the Internet. Diversity of email use is also associated with diverse geographical networks. Moreover, Internet use may be reducing the significance of international meetings for scientific collaboration and networking. Finally, results also show that in the Internet age professional network resources are distributed symmetrically throughout the Chilean scientific community.     

Bibliometric analysis of the journal literature on women’s studies

This study uses bibliometric techniques to investigate the characteristics and implications of women’s studies literature over the period from 1900 to 2013. Using computer analysis for bibliometric techniques, the results of the present study demonstrate that the journal literature on women’s studies has grown exponentially, with an annual growth rate of 10.6% for over one century. Most of the document types in the area of women’s studies are in the form of research articles, review articles and book reviews. The United States of America and the United Kingdom contribute the largest number of articles. One hundred and seventeen core journals containing 33% of the women’s studies journal articles have been identified through the application of Bradford’s law on journal distribution. More than half of the 117 core journals began publishing from 1970 to 1990, and most of these core journals deal with the humanities (including literature, history and philosophy), women’s studies, medical science, psychology, political science and sociology. The highly productive journals associated with highly cited times are Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society, Women’s Studies International Forum, Sex Roles, Feminism and Psychology, Gender and Society, European Journal of Women’s Studies, American Historical Review, Psychology of Women Quarterly and Feminist Studies.     

Uncertainty in macroeconomic policy-making: art or science?

Uncertainty is pervasive in economic policy-making. Modern economies share similarities with other complex systems in their unpredictability. But economic systems also differ from those in the natural sciences because outcomes are affected by the state of beliefs of the systems' participants. The dynamics of beliefs and how they interact with economic outcomes can be rich and unpredictable. This paper relates these ideas to the recent crisis, which has reminded us that we need a financial system that is resilient in the face of the unpredictable and extreme. It also highlights how such uncertainty puts a premium on sound communication strategies by policy-makers. This creates challenges in informing others about the uncertainties in the economy, and how policy is set in the face of those uncertainties. We show how the Bank of England tries to deal with some of these challenges in its communications about monetary policy.     

The dynamics of the studies of China’s science,technology and innovation (STI): a bibliometric analysis of an emerging field

Scientometrics - Since 1978, alongside China’s rise as a leading country in science, technology and innovation (STI), the studies of the country’s STI have been emerging as a field...     

Identifying economics’ place amongst academic disciplines: a science or a social science?

Different academic disciplines exhibit different styles, including styles in journal titles. Using data from the 2014 Research Excellence Framework (REF) in the UK we are able to identify the stylistic trends of different disciplines using 155,552 journal titles across all disciplines. Cluster analysis is then used to group the different disciplines together. The resulting identification fits the social sciences, the sciences and the arts and humanities reasonably well. Economics overall, fits best with philosophy, but the linkage is weak. When we divided economics into papers published in theory, econometrics and the remaining journals, the first two link with mathematics and computer science, particularly econometrics, and thence the sciences. The rest of economics then links with business and thence the social sciences.     

Which can better predict the future success of articles? Bibliometric indices or alternative metrics

Scientometrics - In this paper, we made a survey on the prediction capability of bibliometric indices and alternative metrics on the future success of articles by establishing a machine learning...     

Outcomes Assessment and the Faculty Culture: Conflict or Congruence?

The greatest challenge to developing an effective outcomes assessment system is the institutional culture of the faculty. This paper describes some characteristics of many engineering faculty cultures which create challenges and opportunities for those developing new outcomes assessment systems. Specific issues which the assessment team will face, and some approaches by which they can deal with the circumstances created by the faculty culture, are presented. By generating appropriate responses to the issues raised, the assessment team can develop specific, effective tactics for successfully developing and implementing an outcomes assessment system.     

Developing countries and the aircraft industry: match or mismatch?

For many industrially developing countries, technology transfer is seen as a road towards technological and economic development. Indonesian experiences with the aircraft industry suggest that the transfer of technology in this sector is extremely difficult, and even if technology is actually transferred it does not necessarily lead to a viable industry. To determine the key elements for a successful transfer of technology, research was undertaken with a focus on the process of technology transfer at the operational level in industrially developing and developed countries. The research revealed that many technology transfer projects do not or, at best, only marginally contribute to technological development. It also showed that the aircraft industry, and possibly other industries as well, might be better suited to specific countries. To avoid making investments in industries that will inevitably not be competitive, industrially developing countries should be careful when deciding which types of industry to foster.     

The National Nanotechnology Initiative: Federal support for science and technology,or hidden industrial policy?

The case of the National Nanotechnology Initiative highlights elements of industrial policy carried out by the U.S. government not only by setting rules and providing infrastructure, but also by strategically selecting technology of the next generation and arranging large-scale public investment. The federal government justified the Initiative by calling for the scientific need for industrial competitiveness, an explicit integration of science and technology policy and industrial policy. Moreover, we find evidence that this program, now funding almost $1.8 billion and extending to thirteen federal agencies, was initiated and drafted by a small handful number of policy makers in Washington. At the same time, despite its intention to strengthen the industrial competitiveness, the bulk of the federal government fund continues to channel into universities and government labs and little into the private sector. Whether this goal will be achieved without more direct government focus on commercialization remains uncertain.     

Science studies and natural sciences: Which is primary,distribution or interdependence between variables?

It is shown that in natural sciences, interdependences between variables are determined regardless of the distributions of variable values, whereas in science studies, distributions should be used as a starting point. This difference is due the nature of measuring instruments: in natural sciences, measurements are performed with the use of devices, while science of science uses human devices adapting themselves to the measured objects. Practical inferences are drawn.     

Silica nanocasting of lyotropic surfactant phases and organized organic matter: material science or an analytical tool?

The synthesis of porous inorganic films and materials by templating organized organic matter with nanosized structural elements is an actual field in the cross-section of inorganic chemistry, materials chemistry and surfactant science. This discussion article will review recent experiments in this area on a variety of systems and try to evaluate the outcome of both material applications and the basic understanding of self-assembly processes of organic self-organization.