Two-phase edge outlier detection method for technology opportunity discovery

It has been observed that Southeast Asian countries and universities have ranked poorly in global research productivity and impact. The same is true for the field of language and linguistics. Some studies revealed that productivity and citation patterns in this field are lower compared to other fields of study. Thus, this study sought to examine the research performance of SEA countries and universities in the field of language and linguistics for efficient policy-making. The research performance of each SEA country and university was assessed through Scopus database using the following bibliometric indicators: total number of publications (P), total number of citations excluding self-citations (C), citations per publication (CPP), percent of non-cited articles (%PNC), and h-index. Findings revealed that SEA countries have only produced almost 2 % of all published articles in language and linguistics and around 1 % share in overall worldwide field citations. Interestingly, both the SEA countries and universities exhibit a trend toward increasing their yearly research productivity and citations. However, research productivity and citations in the field of language and linguistics are dominated by selected universities in each country particularly in Brunei, Singapore, Malaysia, and the Philippines. This study has implications for research policy-making and future studies.     

Evolution of the publications in clinical neurology: scientific impact of different countries during the 2000–2009 period

We analyzed the productivity and visibility of publications on the subject category of Clinical Neurology by countries in the period 2000–2009. We used the Science Citation Index Expanded database of the ISI Web of Knowledge. The analysis was restricted to the citable documents. Bibliometric indicators included the number of publications, the number of citations, the median and interquartile range of the citations, and the h-index. We identified 170,483 publications (84.9 % original articles) with a relative increase of 28.5 % throughout the decade. Fourteen countries published over 2,000 documents in the decade and received more than 50,000 citations. The average of citations received per publication was 8 (interquartile range: 3–20) and the h-index was 261. USA was the country with the highest number of publications, followed by Germany, Japan, the UK and Italy. Moreover, USA publications had the largest number of citations received (44.5 % of total), followed by the UK, Germany, Canada, and Italy. On the other hand, Sweden, the Netherlands and the UK had the highest median citations for their total publications. During the period 2000–2009 there was a significant increase in Clinical Neurology publications. Most of the publications and citations comprised 14 countries, with the USA in the first position. Interestingly, most of the publications and citations originated from only 14 countries, with European countries with relatively low population, such as Switzerland, Austria, Sweden, Belgium, and the Netherlands, in this top group.     

Publication trends in materials science: a global perspective

This paper attempts to highlight quantitatively and qualitatively the growth and development of world literature on materials science in terms of publication output and citations as per Web of Science (2006–2010). The objective of the study was to perform a scientometric analysis of all materials science research publications in the world. The parameters studied include growth of publications and citations, continent-wise distribution of publications and citations, country-wise distribution of publications, domain-wise distribution of publications and citations, publication efficiency index, distribution of publications and citations according to number of collaborating countries, variation of mean impact factor in materials science domains, identification of highly cited publications and highly preferred journals, quality of research output and application of Bradford’s law.     

A bibliometric analysis of publications by the School of Biological Sciences, Seoul National University, South Korea

This study presents an in-depth survey of research and citation performance of the School of Biological Sciences (SBS) 39-member faculty at Seoul National University (SNU), the most prestigious university in South Korea, for the years 2004–2009. Thirty-nine faculty members published a total of 640 publications during the period, representing an average of 16.4 publications per scientist. Among the 640 publications, 521 (81.4 %) were cited 9,204 times, an average of 14.4 citations per publication. More publications co-authored by the SBS faculty with foreign researchers (mostly from the U.S.A.) were published in mainstream journals than publications by three other co-authorship types. Accordingly, publications by international co-authorships received more citations compared to citation levels of three other co-authorship types in terms of the average citations per publication. The study has found a concentration effect, whereby quite a small number of publications received approximately one-third of the citation performance generated by the SBS faculty at SNU. The results demonstrate that the citation performance of the SBS at SNU can be influenced considerably by the presence and productivity of ‘star’ scientists.     

Bibliometric analysis of biotechnology research in Pakistan

In this study we present an analysis of the research trends in Pakistan in the field of biotechnology for the period 1980–2011. Starting with just 15 publications in 1980 with a negligible annual growth rate for the initial 15 years, the number of publications reached 3,273 in 2011 with an annual growth rate of 22 % for the last 15 years. This growth in publications is studied through factors such as Relative Growth Rate and Doubling Time. A comparison of organizations actively engaged in research in biotechnology is made through factors such as their total publications, total citations, and average citations per paper and indices that determine the quality of publications like h-index, g-index, hg-index and p-index. University of Karachi shows the highest number of publications (2,698), while National Institute of Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering with fewer publications shows the highest average citation per paper (8.07). Agha Khan University however, shows the highest h, g, hg and p indices.     

International earth science literature from Turkey — 1970–2005: Trends and possible causes

We investigated the publication trends in the international earth science literature coming out of Turkey in the period of 1970–2005 using the Science Citation Index Expanded database. A database of 2310 earth science publications with at least one of the authors with an address in Turkey was compiled. The number of earth science publications from Turkey shows a very rapid increase starting in the 1990’s in parallel with the increase in the total scientific output of Turkey. In the last decade the annual growth rate has been 16%. There was also a concomitant increase in the number of citations. The causes of the sharp increase in the publication numbers are, in order of importance, changes in the rules of academic promotion and appointment, changes in academic attitudes towards publishing, increasing support for research, financial incentives for publishing, and expansion of higher education. However, the sharp increase in the publication numbers was not accompanied by a similar increase in the impact of the publications as measured by the citations. Although publications with first authors from outside Turkey make up only 20% of the Turkish earth science publications in the period 1970–2005, these account for 38% of the total citations, and constitute 48 out of 100 most cited papers.     

Classic articles on social work field in Social Science Citation Index: a bibliometric analysis

This study aimed to identify and analyze characteristics of classic articles published in the Web of Science social work subject category from 1856 to 2011. Articles that have been cited at least 50 times were assessed regarding publication outputs, distribution of outputs in journals, publications of authors, institutions, countries as well as citation life cycles of articles with the highest total citations since its publication up to 2011 and the highest citations in 2011. Five bibliometric indicators were used to evaluate source countries, institutions, and authors. Results showed that 721 of the most highly referenced articles, published between 1957 and 2008, had been cited at least 50 times. Child Abuse & Neglect and American Journal of Community Psychology published the most classic articles. USA produced 89 % of classic articles and also published the most number of single, internationally collaborative, first author, and corresponding author classic articles. The top 38 productive institutions were all located in the US. The University of Illinois was the most productive institution for the total classic articles while University of California, Los Angeles produced the most inter-institutionally collaborative articles and Arizona State University published the most single institution articles. Furthermore, a new indicator, Y-index was successfully applied to evaluate publication characteristics of authors and institutions. High percentage of authors had the same numbers of first author and corresponding author status of classic articles in social work field.     

Analysis of publication patterns in Korean library and information science research

This study assessed research patterns and trends of library and information science (LIS) in Korea by applying bibliometric analysis to 159 Korean LIS professors?? 2,401 peer-reviewed publications published between 2001 and 2010. Bibliometric analysis of publication data found an increasing trend for collaboration, robust publication patterns, increasing number of international publications, and internationalization of LIS in Korea. The maturation and internalization of LIS research was evidenced in increased number of publications in high impact journals (e.g., SSI, SSCI), growing participation in leading international conferences (e.g., ASIST, TREC), increasing proportion of Korean LIS faculty with international degrees, and high publication rates by professors with international degrees. Though limited in its evaluative power without citation data, publication data can be a rich source for bibliometric analysis as this study has shown. The analysis of publication patterns conducted by the study, which is a first step in our aim to establish a multi-faceted approach for assessing the impact of scholarly work, will be followed up in a future study, where the question of quantity versus quality will be examined by comparing publication counts with citation counts.     

Research performance of Turkish astronomers in the period of 1980–2010

We investigated the development of astronomy and astrophysics research productivity in Turkey in terms of publication output and their impacts as reflected in the science citation index for the period 1980–2010. Our study involves 838 refereed publications, including 801 articles, 16 letters, 15 reviews, and six research notes. The number of papers were prominently increased after 2000 and the average number of papers per researcher is calculated as 0.89. Total number of received citations for 838 papers is 6938, while number of citations per papers is approximately 8.3 in 30 years. Publication performance of Turkish astronomers and astrophysicists was compared with those of seven countries that have similar gross domestic expenditures on research and development, and members of organization for economic co-operation and development. Our study reveals that the output of astronomy and astrophysics research in Turkey has gradually increased over the years.     

Comparison of independent research of China’s top universities using bibliometric indicators

The institutionally independent publications of Tsinghua University and Peking University were compared by two main indicators namely peak-year citations per publication and h-index, based on the data extracted from the Science Citation Index Expanded, Web of Science from 1974 to 2011. Analyzed aspects covered total publication outputs, annual production, impact, authorships, Web of Science categories, journals, and most cited articles. Results shows that the two universities were in the same scale based on the peak-year citations per publication, the h-index, and top cited articles with no less than 100 citations. Publication of the top three most productive Web of Science categories differed between these two universities. Tsinghua University published more articles in applied science and engineering fields, while Peking University had more basic science articles. In addition, article life was applied to compare the impact of the most cited articles and single author articles of the two universities.     

How does scientific success relate to individual and organizational characteristics? A scientometric study of psychology researchers in the German-speaking countries

Purpose: To provide up-to-date bibliometric reference data describing the output and success of psychology researchers in the German-speaking countries, including lifetime publication and citation numbers, and to investigate associations of bibliometric measures with academic status and gender as well as the department characteristics of size and quota of senior researchers. Method Queried literature databases using an extensive online register of academic psychologists in the German-speaking countries, obtaining valid data for 85 % (N = 1742) of the population of interest. Findings Skewed distributions for publications and citations; maximum number of German-language (=native) publications much higher than maximum number of English-language publications; relatively large part of population publishing almost exclusively in German; publication count predictable by academic status, gender, department size, and quota of senior researchers; citation count predictable by publication count, status, department size, and quota of senior researchers; department characteristics interact with individual characteristics to produce specific conditions under which publication count and citation count are higher or lower than expected: combination of female gender, small department size and large quota of senior researchers is associated with particularly increased publication count; female gender and large department size are associated with decreased publication count; high publication count, large department size and low quota of senior researchers are associated with increased citation count; low publication count and large quota of senior researchers are associated with decreased citation count. Conclusions Reference values for scientific output provided in this study provide an anchor for monitoring and international comparison; despite considerable noise in data, we show that interactions of individual and organizational characteristics are relevant for scientific success and should be investigated further, e.g. by adopting various measures of organizational diversity and tracing a population longitudinally.     

Impact of open access on citation of scholarly publications in the field of civil engineering

The development of science is accompanied by growth of scholarly publications, primarily in the form of articles in peer-reviewed journals. Scientific work is often evaluated through the number of scientific publications in international journals and their citations. This article discusses the impact of open access (OA) on the number of citations for an institution from the field of civil engineering. We analyzed articles, published in 2007 in 14 international journals with impact factor, which are included in the Journal Citation Reports subject category “Civil Engineering”. The influence of open access on the number of citations was analyzed. The aim of our research was to determine if open access articles from the field of civil engineering receive more citations than non-open access articles. Based on the value of impact factor and ranking in quartiles, we also looked at the influence of the rank of journals on the number of citations, separately for OA and Non OA articles, in databases Web of Science (WOS), Scopus and Google Scholar. For 2,026 studied articles we found out that 22 % of them were published as OA articles. They received 29 % of all citations in the observed period. We can conclude by the significance level 5 % or less that in the databases WOS and Scopus the articles from top ranked journals (first quartile) achieved more citations than Non OA articles. This argument can be confirmed for some other journals from second quartile as well, while for the journals ranked into the third quartile it can’t be confirmed. This could be confirmed only partly for journals from the second quartile, and would not be confirmed for journals ranked into the third quartile. This shows that open access is not a sufficient condition for citation, but increases the number of citations for articles published in journals with high impact.     

Scientific production and citation impact: a bibliometric analysis in acupuncture over three decades

Acupuncture, the most important nonpharmacological therapy in traditional Chinese medicine, has attracted significant attention since its introduction to the Western world. This study employs bibliometric analysis to examine the profile of publication activity related to it. The data are retrieved from the database of Science Citation Index Expanded during 1980–2009, and 7,592 papers are identified for analysis. This study finds that almost 20 % of papers are published in CAM journals, and the average cited times per acupuncture paper is 8.69. While the most cited article has been cited 2,109 times, however, 38.15 % of total publications have never been cited. Europe has the largest amount of authored papers with high h-index values; the USA has the largest number of publications on and citations of acupuncture based on country distribution, and this has continued as a significant rising trend. The proportion of collaborative papers shows this upward trend on the worldwide scale while the percentage shares of national collaborations are the highest. The USA produces the most international collaborative documents, although South Korea occupies the highest percentage figure for international collaborative papers. International collaborative papers are the most frequently cited. The average number of authors per paper is 3.69 in the top eight countries/regions. Papers contributed by South Korea are authored by the most people. International collaboration papers are authored by more people, except in Taiwan. South Korea’s Kyung Hee University is ranked first in terms of number of papers while Harvard University in the USA accounts for the largest proportion of citations. The University of Exeter, Harvard University and Karolinska Institute have the highest h-index values.     

A scientometric analysis of international LIS journals: Productivity and characteristics

This paper presents a quantitative study of productivity, characteristics and various aspects of global publication in the field of library and information science (LIS). A total of 894 contributions published in 56 LIS journals indexed in SSCI during the years of 2000-2004 were analyzed. A total of 1361 authors had contributed publications during the five years. The overwhelming majority (89.93%) of them wrote one paper. The average number of authors per paper is 1.52. All the studied papers were published in English. The sum of research output of the authors form USA and UK reaches 70% of the total productivity. Most papers received few citations. Each article received on an average 1.6 citations and the LIS researchers cite mostly latest articles. About 48% of citing authors had tendency of self-citation. The productive authors, their contribution and authorship position are listed to indicate their productivity and degree of involvement in their research publications.     

Scientometric analysis of relative performance in a key university in Romania

A scientometric analysis of the Babe?-Bolyai University in Romania is provided, highlighting the strong and the weak points with respect to a range of leading international universities and referencing to some extent to nation-wide data from several countries. Taken into account are such items as total number of publications, analyses per subject area or per research field, number of citations, types of publications, Hirsch indexes, and books. Internationally, chemistry, physics, mathematics, computer science, religion, area studies, geology, paleontology, and public administration are identified as the most active areas. Nationally, a number of additional strong points are identified, such as psychology, history, and environmental sciences. The percentage of researchers with reasonably high activity (e.g., at least ~ one publication per year as indexed in major databases) is relatively low (~10 %), and the percentage with reasonably high international competitiveness (based on citation counts, number of publications, books indexed in international libraries) is at only ~2 %. The decisive factor controlling an exponential increase in publications since ~2000–2004 appears to have been a conservatively managed exponential increase of the national GDP and implicitly of the research budgets.     

Relationship among research collaboration, number of documents and number of citations: a case study in Spanish computer science production in 2000–2009

This paper analyzes the relationship among research collaboration, number of documents and number of citations of computer science research activity. It analyzes the number of documents and citations and how they vary by number of authors. They are also analyzed (according to author set cardinality) under different circumstances, that is, when documents are written in different types of collaboration, when documents are published in different document types, when documents are published in different computer science subdisciplines, and, finally, when documents are published by journals with different impact factor quartiles. To investigate the above relationships, this paper analyzes the publications listed in the Web of Science and produced by active Spanish university professors between 2000 and 2009, working in the computer science field. Analyzing all documents, we show that the highest percentage of documents are published by three authors, whereas single-authored documents account for the lowest percentage. By number of citations, there is no positive association between the author cardinality and citation impact. Statistical tests show that documents written by two authors receive more citations per document and year than documents published by more authors. In contrast, results do not show statistically significant differences between documents published by two authors and one author. The research findings suggest that international collaboration results on average in publications with higher citation rates than national and institutional collaborations. We also find differences regarding citation rates between journals and conferences, across different computer science subdisciplines and journal quartiles as expected. Finally, our impression is that the collaborative level (number of authors per document) will increase in the coming years, and documents published by three or four authors will be the trend in computer science literature.     

Mapping past,current and future energy research trend in Pakistan: a scientometric assessment

This work describes the contribution of researchers in the field of the energy from Pakistan in the period 1990–2016. A scientometric approach was applied to analyze the scientific publications in the field using the Scopus Elsevier database. Different aspects of the publications were analyzed, such as publication type, major research areas, journals, citations, authorship pattern, affiliations as well as the keyword occurrence frequency. The present research trends are analyzed and future research directions are outlined. The impact factor, h-index and number of citations were used to investigate the strength of active institutes, authors, and journals in the field of the energy in Pakistan. From 1990 to 2016, 991 articles have been published by 2139 authors from 213 research institutes. The total number of citations and impact factor are 10,287 and 2301 respectively, corresponding to 10 citations per paper and an impact factor of 2.32 per publication. The research articles originate primarily from COMSATS, NUST, PIEAS, and PINSTECH. Pakistan has published 60% of publication with the collaboration of the foreign institutes, mainly from the United States, the United Kingdom, China and Malaysia. The core research activities in the field are mainly focused on resource assessment, energy policy, energy efficiency, feasibility study, energy economics, and performance assessment. The most productive journal, author, institution, are renewable & sustainable energy review, Shahbaz M., and COMSATS, respectively.     

Relative age of references as a tool to identify emerging research fields with an application to the field of ecology and environmental sciences

Emerging scientific fields are commonly identified by different citation based bibliometric parameters. However, their main shortcoming is the existence of a time lag needed for a publication to receive citations. In the present study, we assessed the relationship between the age of references in scientific publications and the change in publication rate within a research field. Two indices based on the age of references are presented, the relative age of references and the ratio of references published during the preceding 2 years, and applied thereafter on four datasets from the previously published studies, which assessed eutrophication research, sturgeon research, fisheries research, and the general field of ecology. We observed a consistent pattern that the emerging research topics had a lower median age of references and a higher ratio of references published in the preceding 2 years than their respective general research fields. The main advantage of indices based on the age of references is that they are not influenced by a time lag, and as such they are able to provide insight into current scientific trends. The best potential of the presented indices is to use them combined with other approaches, as each one can reveal different aspects and properties of the assessed data, and provide validation of the obtained results. Their use should be however assessed further before they are employed as standard tools by scientists, science managers and policy makers.     

A ‘perverse incentive’ from bibliometrics: could National Research Assessment Exercises (NRAEs) restrict literature availability for nature conservation?

National Research Assessment Exercises (NRAEs) aim to improve returns from public funding of research. Critics argue that they undervalue publications influencing practice, not citations, implying that journals valued least by NRAEs are disproportionately useful to practitioners. Conservation biology can evaluate this criticism because it uses species recovery plans, which are practitioner-authored blueprints for recovering threatened species. The literature cited in them indicates what is important to practitioners’ work. We profiled journals cited in 50 randomly selected recovery plans from each of the USA, Australia and New Zealand, using ranking criteria from the Australian Research Council and the SCImago Institute. Citations showed no consistent pattern. Sometimes higher ranked publications were represented more frequently, sometimes lower ranked publications. Recovery plans in all countries also contained 37 % or more citations to ‘grey literature’, discounted in NRAEs. If NRAEs discourage peer-reviewed publication at any level they could exacerbate the trend not to publish information useful for applied conservation, possibly harming conservation efforts. While indicating the potential for an impact does not establish that it occurs, it does suggest preventive steps. NRAEs considering the proportion of papers in top journals may discourage publication in lower-ranked journals, because one way to increase the proportion of outputs in top journals is by not publishing in lower ones. Instead, perhaps only a user-nominated subset of publications could be evaluated, a department’s or an individual’s share of the top publications in a field could be noted, or innovative new multivariate assessments of research productivity applied, including social impact.