Redistributed random sampling method for categorizing materials research publications from SCI database: Metallurgy and polymer subfields

This article introduced two sampling methods, including Directly Random Sampling (DRS) and Redistributed Random Sampling (RRS) methods for categorization of a large number of research articles retrieved from metallurgy and polymer subfields from the Science Citation Index (SCI) database. The accuracy of the proposed sampling methods was considered in association by comparing with reference results previously obtained by Fully Retrieving Sampling (FRS) method, which involved analyzing the contents and categories of all articles from the database. The results suggested that RRS and DRS methods were appropriate, efficient and reasonably accurate for categorization of relatively large volume of research articles. RRS method was highly recommended, especially when the contents of sample articles was unevenly distributed. By DRS and RRS methods, only about 6.3% of total articles were required for obtaining similar results as those given by FRS method. The percentage Expected Worst Errors (EWE) from DRS and RRS methods were observed to range from 1.0 to 5.5%. The EWE value could be reduced by increasing the sample size.     

World literature on thorium research: A scientometric study based on Science Citation Index

Summary This paper attempts to highlight quantitatively the growth and development of world literature on thorium in terms of publication output as per Science Citation Index (1982-2004). During 1982-2004 a total of 3987 papers were published by the scientists in the field 'thorium'. The average number of publications published per year were 173. The highest number of papers 249 were published in 2001. The spurt in the literature output was reported during 1991-2004.There were 94 countries involved in the research in this field. USA is the top producing country with 1000 authorships (21.11%) followed by India with 498 authorships (10.51%). Authorship and collaboration trend was towards multi-authored papers. Intensive collaboration was found during 1990-2004.One paper 'Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research - A 406 (3) (1998) 411-426' had 64 collaborators. There were 586 international collaborative papers. Bilateral collaboration accounted for 80.55 percent of total collaborative papers. Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (India) topped the list with 153 authorships followed by Los Alamos National Laboratory (USA) with 105 authorships.The most preferred journals by the scientists were: Journal of Radioanalytical Nuclear Chemistry with 181 papers, Radiochimica Acta with 139 papers, Journal of Radioanalytical Nuclear Chemistry -Articles with 127 papers, Geochimica Cosmochimica Acta with 96 papers, Health Physics with 91 papers, Applied Radiation and Isotopes with 88 papers, Journal of Alloys and Compounds with 65 papers, Earth and Planetary Science letters with 59 papers and Chemical Geology, Indian Journal of Chemistry -A, Radiation Protection Dosimetry with 55 papers each. English was the most predominant language used by the scientists for communication. The high frequency keywords were: Thorium (500), Uranium (284), Separation (94), Thorium Isotopes (90), Thorium (IV) (86), Seawater (73), Solvent Extraction (70), and Rare Earth Elements (68).     

A bibliometric study of the trend in articles related to eutrophication published in Science Citation Index

A keyword analysis was applied in this work to evaluate research trends of eutrophication papers published between 1991 and 2010 in any journal of all the subject categories of the Science Citation Index compiled by Institute for Scientific Information, Philadelphia, USA. Eutrophication was used as a keyword to search parts of titles, abstracts, or keywords. The published output analysis showed that eutrophication research steadily increased over the past 20 years and the annual publication output in 2008, 2009, 2010 were about four times that of 1991. The whole paper published by China ranked at 3rd, but these papers’ IF were lower than the average of the world. “Water Framework Directive” and “Life Cycle Assessment” were two of the most frequently used author keywords in the period between 1999 and 2010 whilst they did not appear before 1998. These new conception indicated eutrophication research trend was changing to policy and management from technological researches.     

Scientific evaluations of citation quality of international research articles in the SCI database: Thailand case study

Summary Quantitative and qualitative scientific evaluations of the research performance of Thai researchers were carried out with regards to their international publications and citations in four different subject categories; namely Clinical Medicine, Chemistry, Material Sciences, and Engineering. This work used citations to publications of Thai researchers in the Science Citation Index (SCI) database during 1998-2002 as a data source. The calculations and comparisons of article impact factors (AIF), position impact factors (PIF) and journal impact factors (JIF) were attempted for quantitative evaluation.The positions and significance levels (cited contents) of the citations were considered for qualitative assessment.For quantitative evaluation, the highest article quantity and number of times cited were given by Thai researchers in Clinical Medicine, the lowest being for Material Sciences. Clinical Medicine had the highest AIF value, while Engineering exhibited the lowest. Each article by Thai researchers was found to be cited more than once within a citing article, especially articles in Clinical Medicine. For qualitative assessment, most articles from Thai scholars were cited in Introduction and Results & Discussion sections of the citing articles. Only non-Thai researchers in Clinical Medicine preferred to use Discussion from Thais' articles for discussion of their work whereas those in Chemistry, Material Sciences and Engineering were referred as general references. Less than 1.5% of research works of Thai scholars were cited as “the pioneer”for the research communities of the subject categories of interest.     

Sources of Google Scholar citations outside the Science Citation Index: A comparison between four science disciplines

For practical reasons, bibliographic databases can only contain a subset of the scientific literature. The ISI citation databases are designed to cover the highest impact scientific research journals as well as a few other sources chosen by the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI). Google Scholar also contains citation information, but includes a less quality controlled collection of publications from different types of web documents. We define Google Scholar unique citations as those retrieved by Google Scholar which are not in the ISI database. We took a sample of 882 articles from 39 open access ISI-indexed journals in 2001 from biology, chemistry, physics and computing and classified the type, language, publication year and accessibility of the Google Scholar unique citing sources. The majority of Google Scholar unique citations (70%) were from full-text sources and there were large disciplinary differences between types of citing documents, suggesting that a wide range of non-ISI citing sources, especially from non-journal documents, are accessible by Google Scholar. This might be considered to be an advantage of Google Scholar, since it could be useful for citation tracking in a wider range of open access scholarly documents and to give a broader type of citation impact. An important corollary from our study is that Google Scholar’s wider coverage of Open Access (OA) web documents is likely to give a boost to the impact of OA research and the OA movement.     

Comparison of trends in the quantity and variety of Science Citation Index (SCI) literature on human pathogens between China and the United States

The proportion of pathogenic microorganisms in the microbial world is relatively small, while their threat to human health, economic development and social stability is severe. The quantity and variation of Science Citation Index (SCI) literature related to pathogenic microorganisms may reflect the level of relevant research and the degree of attention. Here we compared trends in the quantity and variety of SCI literature relating to certain important pathogenic microorganisms published by scientists from United States and China from 1996 to 2010 by searching the Science Citation Index database. The pathogenic microorganisms in this study comprise two categories of pathogens: Bacillus anthracis, Yersinia pestis, Francisella tularensis, Ebola virus, Burkholderia pseudomallei, which belong to biodefense-associated pathogens (BDAPs) and the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), SARS coronavirus, hepatitis B virus (HBV), Mycobacterium tuberculosis, influenza virus, which belong to the commonly encountered health-threatening pathogens. Our results showed that the United States (US) published much more SCI literature on these pathogens than China. Furthermore, literature on BDAPs published by scientists from the US has increased sharply since 2002. However, the numbers of literature relating to CEHTPs from China has demonstrated a gradual increase from 1996 to 2010. Research into pathogenic microorganisms requires three balance to be achieved: investment in BDAP and CEHTP studies; basic and applied research; a faster pace of research into pathogens and fulfilling biosafety and biosecurity requirements.     

Outcomes associated with ophthalmology,optometry and visual science literature in the Science Citation Index from mainland China, 2000–2007

Bibliographic data on ophthalmology, optometry and visual science (OOVS) literature of China drawn from the SCI-Expanded database covering the period 2000–2007 (961 publications) were analyzed to create a comprehensive overview of research output. Of 961 articles, 480 were published in 2006 and 2007. The majority of researchers worked in university hospitals (53%). 21% of the publications included one or more international co-authors. For each article, the average author number was 4.96±2.73, which increased from 3.96 in 2000 to 5.36 in 2007. The most cited references came from Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science and Ophthalmology. The greatest number of studies was focused on the retina.     

Response to Chuang and Ho’s comments on “a bibliometric study of the trend in articles related to eutrophication published in Science Citation Index”

This note is a response Chuang and Ho’s comments regarding to the appropriate selection of keywords for a bibliometric study entitled “a bibliometric study of the trend in articles related to eutrophication published in Science Citation Index” published in Scientometrics. Chuang’s inquiry was Huang and Yi’s careless use of filter, which had committed inaccurate results and wrong conclusions. This short note will explain the authors’ arguments to Chuang and Ho’s inquiry in two folds, the conceptual analysis of keywords selection, and bibliometric comparison between ‘eutrophication’ and ‘eutrophication and eutrophic’.     

Variations in content and format of ISI databases in their different versions: The case of the Science Citation Index in CD-ROM and the Web of Science

The CD-ROM and web versions of the Science Citation Index databases are compared as to their content and format features. Several differences have been detected such as the use of different punctuation marks in both versions and a different organisation of author’s affiliation data. These differences make automatic comparisons of ISI products difficult and they should be considered when matching both databases. Some recommendations to ensure more normalisation and reliability of data are pointed out.     

Potential Risk Estimation Drowning Index for Children (PREDIC): A pilot study from Matlab,Bangladesh

Childhood drowning is a major public health problem that has been neglected in many low- and middle-income countries. In Matlab, rural Bangladesh, more than 40% of child deaths aged 1–4 years are due to drowning.AimThe main objective of this paper was to develop and evaluate a childhood drowning risk prediction index.MethodologyA literature review was carried out to document risk factors identified for childhood drowning in Bangladesh. The Newacheck model for special health care needs for children was adapted and applied to construct a childhood drowning risk index called “Potential Risk Estimation Drowning Index for Children” (PREDIC). Finally, the proposed PREDIC Index was applied to childhood drowning deaths and compared with the comparison group from children living in Matlab, Bangladesh. This pilot study used t-tests and Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curve to analyze the results.ResultsThe PREDIC index was applied to 302 drowning deaths and 624 children 0–4 years old living in Matlab. The results of t-test indicate that the drowned children had a statistically (t = −8.58, p = 0.0001) significant higher mean PREDIC score (6.01) than those in comparison group (5.26). Drowning cases had a PREDIC score of 6 or more for 68% of the children however, the comparison group had 43% of the children with score of 6 or more which was statistically significant (t = −7.36, p < 0.001). The area under the curve for the Receiver Operating Characteristic curve was 0.662.ConclusionIndex score construction was scientifically plausible; and the index is relatively complete, fairly accurate, and practical. The risk index can help identify and target high risk children with drowning prevention programs. PREDIC index needs to be further tested for its accuracy, feasibility and effectiveness in drowning risk reduction in Bangladesh and other countries.     

Characteristics and impact of grant-funded research: a case study of the library and information science field

This paper reports on a bibliometric study of the characteristics and impact of research in the library and information science (LIS) field which was funded through research grant programs, and compares it with research that received no extra funding. Seven core LIS journals were examined to identify articles published in 1998 that acknowledge research grant funding. The distribution of these articles by various criteria (e.g., topic, affiliation, funding agency) was determined. Their impact as indicated by citation counts during 1998–2008 was evaluated against that of articles without acknowledging extra funding and published in the same journals in the same year using citation data collected from Scopus’ Citation Tracker. The impact of grant-funded research as measured by citation counts was substantially higher than that of other research, both overall and in each journal individually. Scholars from outside LIS core institutions contributed heavily to grant-funded research. The two highest-impact publications by far reported non-grant-based research, and grant-based funding of research reported in core LIS journals was biased towards the information retrieval (IR) area, particularly towards research on IR systems. The percentage of articles reporting grant-funded research was substantially higher in information-oriented journals than in library-focused ones.     

Material processing of hydroxyapatite and titanium alloy (HA/Ti) composite as implant materials using powder metallurgy: A review

The bio-active and biodegradable properties of hydroxyapatite (HA) make this material a preferred candidate for implants such as bone replacement in replacing natural tissues damaged by diseases and accidents. However, the low mechanical strength of HA hinders its application. Combining HA with a biocompatible material with a higher mechanical strength, such as a titanium (Ti) alloy, to form a composite has been of interest to researchers. A HA/Ti composite would possess characteristics essential to modern implant materials, such as bio-inertness, a low Young’s modulus, and high biocompatibility. However, there are issues in the material processing, such as the rheological behavior, stress-shielding, diffusion mechanism and compatibility between the two phases. This paper reviews the HA and Ti alloy interactions under various conditions, in vitro and in vivo tests for HA/Ti composites, and common powder metallurgy processes for HA/Ti composites (e.g., pressing and sintering, isostatic pressing, plasma spraying, and metal injection molding).     

The contribution of women in Brazilian science: A case study in astronomy,immunology and oceanography

The performance of Brazilian male and female scientists in three scientific fields was assessed through their publications in the Science Citation Index from 1997-2001. Information on their sex and their ages, positions, and fellowship status was obtained from a census on all Brazilian scientists. The results showed that women participated most in immunology, moderately in oceanography and least in astronomy. Men and women published similar numbers of papers, and they were also of similar potential impact; they were also equally likely to collaborate internationally. Nevertheless, women were less likely than men to receive fellowships to supplement their salaries, suggesting that some sexual discrimination may still be occurring in the Brazilian peer-review process. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Citer analysis as a measure of research impact: library and information science as a case study

The investigators studied author research impact using the number of citers per publication an author’s research has been able to attract, as opposed to the more traditional measure of citations. A focus on citers provides a complementary measure of an author’s reach or influence in a field, whereas citations, although possibly numerous, may not reflect this reach, particularly if many citations are received from a small number of citers. In this exploratory study, Web of Science was used to tally citer and citation-based counts for 25 highly cited researchers in information studies in the United States and 26 highly cited researchers from the United Kingdom. Outcomes of the tallies based on several measures, including an introduced ch-index, were used to determine whether differences arise in author rankings when using citer-based versus citation-based counts. The findings indicate a strong correlation between some citation and citer-based measures, but not with others. The findings of the study have implications for the way authors’ research impact may be assessed.     

Reflection of cross-disciplinary research at Creative Research Institution (Hokkaido University) in the Web of Science database: appraisal and visualization using bibliometry

This study describes the results of a preliminary bibliometric analysis of 611 research items, published between 1996 and 2011 by researchers affiliated with Creative Research Institution (CRIS) and the Center for Advanced Science and Technology (CAST), Hokkaido University (HU), retrieved from the Web of Science (WoS) database. CRIS has a primary mission to promote cutting-edge, world-class, trans-departmental research within HU, and it conducts fundamental, commercialization-related, cross-disciplinary research and nurtures young in-house/recruited researchers through targeted, innovative tenure-track programs in multiple disciplines. Its research output derives from 3- to 7-year-long time-bound projects funded strategically by HU, external grants [e.g., MEXT Super-COE HU Research and Business Park Project (FY2003-7)], industry-university collaboration with regional businesses, and endowments (e.g., Meiji Dairies). Analyses using co-words, bibliographic coupling, overlay map aided with visualization, etc., lead to the following inferences: (i) The published items comprise a dozen well-defined (inter-)disciplinary clusters, dominated by 3 macro-disciplines (biomedical science, 33%; chemistry, 21%; agricultural science, ca. 10%) that constitute 18 clusters used for mapping; (ii) research conducted by externally funded or endowed projects in the biomedical, physical and environmental science and technology fields (3 broad areas of aggregation derived from the Science Overlay Map) is interdisciplinary; and (iii) there is an apparently low visibility of publications from projects jointly executed with industries to an almost complete absence of output from CRIS in the fields of social sciences in the WoS database.     

Science and power: Francoist Spain (1939–1975) as a case study

This paper takes Franco's Spain to be a powerful case study for analyzing the ways in which power shapes science and technology and is shaped by them in return. Spain was the last country in Western Europe to establish closer links with any of the international cooperative institutions emerging after WWII. As such, developments internal to Spanish society were quite autonomous and relatively free from foreign influences. The paper focuses first on the brand new, powerful institution that the Francoist regime created to promote scientific research under tight political control, the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas. Next it turns to applied science and technology, top priorities for the regime's state‐supported programs of industrialization. They were implemented through the politically and financially powerful Instituto Nacional de Industria. Using diplomatic sources, the paper next argues that, until the late 1950s, Spain maintained substantial political and economic isolation essentially because the regime bet on autarkic policies and a model of largely isolated development. In this model, it was crucial for the regime to develop its own technological and scientific resources. Finally, the paper examines how the regime fostered a new Spanish identity in which science had a new role.     

Scientific innovation in bibliographical databases: A comparative study of the science citation index and the pascal database

This study compares information obtained from the INIST/CNRS bibliographical database PASCAL with that found in theAtlas of Science published by ISI. The goal of the comparison was to contribute, to a better understanding of how databases can be used to carry out fine-grained studies of social and cognitive factors which affect the definition of a scientific research program. The program studied concern the development of research on brushborder cell membranes.     

Potential Risk Estimation Drowning Index for Children (PREDIC): a pilot study from Matlab, Bangladesh

Childhood drowning is a major public health problem that has been neglected in many low- and middle-income countries. In Matlab, rural Bangladesh, more than 40% of child deaths aged 1–4 years are due to drowning.

Aim

The main objective of this paper was to develop and evaluate a childhood drowning risk prediction index.

Methodology

A literature review was carried out to document risk factors identified for childhood drowning in Bangladesh. The Newacheck model for special health care needs for children was adapted and applied to construct a childhood drowning risk index called “Potential Risk Estimation Drowning Index for Children” (PREDIC). Finally, the proposed PREDIC Index was applied to childhood drowning deaths and compared with the comparison group from children living in Matlab, Bangladesh. This pilot study used t-tests and Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curve to analyze the results.

Results

The PREDIC index was applied to 302 drowning deaths and 624 children 0–4 years old living in Matlab. The results of t-test indicate that the drowned children had a statistically (t = −8.58, p = 0.0001) significant higher mean PREDIC score (6.01) than those in comparison group (5.26). Drowning cases had a PREDIC score of 6 or more for 68% of the children however, the comparison group had 43% of the children with score of 6 or more which was statistically significant (t = −7.36, p < 0.001). The area under the curve for the Receiver Operating Characteristic curve was 0.662.

Conclusion

Index score construction was scientifically plausible; and the index is relatively complete, fairly accurate, and practical. The risk index can help identify and target high risk children with drowning prevention programs. PREDIC index needs to be further tested for its accuracy, feasibility and effectiveness in drowning risk reduction in Bangladesh and other countries.