A citationist perspective on science in Latin America and the Caribbean, 1981–1993

The publication productivity and citation record of the Latin American countries are analyzed and evaluated by using adequate databases.     

Gender differences and patenting in Latin America: understanding female participation in commercial science

Scientometrics - Although female involvement in science and technology has been growing over recent years, it is still low. Latin America is no exception. Even though the Latin American region has...     

Mapping emergence across the Atlantic: Some (tentative) lessons on nanotechnology in Latin America

This article is a tentative exploration of the early history of nanotechnology, focusing on the distinct meanings attributed to this field within the United States, Europe and Latin America. In assessing the patterns of nanotechnology on both sides of the Atlantic, this article identifies this field as a hybrid category, combining forms of social reflexivity, industrial organization, and localized histories of research and development. It is argued that such patterns are only understood by rendering nanotechnology as a category used by actors in defining practices, products and institutions rather than as a solid core of technical competencies. Some implications of holding this view are drawn for Latin America.     

Mapping the backbone of science

Summary This paper presents a new map representing the structure of all of science, based on journal articles, including both the natural and social sciences. Similar to cartographic maps of our world, the map of science provides a bird’s eye view of today’s scientific landscape. It can be used to visually identify major areas of science, their size, similarity, and interconnectedness. In order to be useful, the map needs to be accurate on a local and on a global scale. While our recent work has focused on the former aspect,1 this paper summarizes results on how to achieve structural accuracy. Eight alternative measures of journal similarity were applied to a data set of 7,121 journals covering over 1 million documents in the combined Science Citation and Social Science Citation Indexes. For each journal similarity measure we generated two-dimensional spatial layouts using the force-directed graph layout tool, VxOrd. Next, mutual information values were calculated for each graph at different clustering levels to give a measure of structural accuracy for each map. The best co-citation and inter-citation maps according to local and structural accuracy were selected and are presented and characterized. These two maps are compared to establish robustness. The inter-citation map is then used to examine linkages between disciplines. Biochemistry appears as the most interdisciplinary discipline in science.     

Indicators and the relations between science and technology

The relationship between science and technology is an important issue, as science-based technologies play a key role in modern economies. The exploration of the science-technology interface can be effectively supported by quantitative indicators, in particular patents of scientific institutions, publications of industrial enterprises, and scientific references in patent search reports. The most promising approach is the parallel observation of patents and publications in order to analyse the dynamics of the interaction of science and technology and the professional move of academic and industrial researchers between institutions.     

Mapping interactions within the evolving science of science and innovation policy community

The Science of Science and Innovation Policy (SciSIP) program at the National Science Foundation (NSF) supports research designed to advance the scientific basis of science and innovation policy. The program was established at NSF in 2005 in response to a call from Dr. John Marburger III, then science advisor to the U.S. President, for a “science” of science policy. As of January 2011, it has co-funded 162 awards that aim to develop, improve, and expand data, analytical tools, and models that can be directly applied in the science policy decision making process. The long-term goals of the SciSIP program are to provide a scientifically rigorous and quantitative basis for science policy and to establish an international community of practice. The program has an active listserv that, as of January 2011, has almost 700 members from academia, government, and industry. This study analyzed all SciSIP awards (through January 2011) to identify existing collaboration networks and co-funding relations between SciSIP and other areas of science. In addition, listserv data was downloaded and analyzed to derive complementary discourse information. Key results include evidence of rich diversity in communication and funding networks and effective strategies for interlinking researcher and science policy makers, prompting discussion, and resource sharing.     

Bibliometric analysis of aids literature in Latin America and the Caribbean

This work reports on the preliminary results of a bibliometric analysis of AIDS literature, as produced in or about Latin America and the Caribbean for the period 1980–1996. Two international and two regional secondary sources were used in order to obtain comparative analyses regarding for example, comprehensiveness of AIDS literature coverage and local/main frame visibility. Less than 1000 records were retrieved from each of the databases searched. Leading countries in AIDSLINE were Haiti, Brasil, Mexico and Puerto Rico. The distribution by year of publication showed a decrease in Haiti records, from 54 in 1983, to 4 in 1995. The rest of the countries either increased or maintained an average production throughout the years. Regional secondary information sources were less current and comprehensive in the field. Further lines of research are described by the authors.     

Mapping the structure of science through usage

Summary Science has traditionally been mapped on the basis of authorship and citation data. Due to publication and citation delays such data represents the structure of science as it existed in the past. We propose to map science by proxy of journal relationships derived from usage data to determine research trends as they presently occur. This mapping is performed by applying a principal components analysis superimposed with a k-means cluster analysis on networks of journal relationships derived from a large set of article usage data collected for the Los Alamos National Laboratory research community. Results indicate that meaningful maps of the interests of a local scientific community can be derived from usage data. Subject groupings in the mappings corresponds to Thomson ISI subject categories. A comparison to maps resulting from the analysis of 2003 Thomson ISI Journal Citation Report data reveals interesting differences between the features of local usage and global citation data.     

Clustering the science citation index using co-citations. II. Mapping science

Previous attempts to map science using the co-citation clustering methodology are reviewed, and their shortcomings analyzed. Two enhancements of the methodology presented in Part I of the paper-fractional citation counting and variable level clustering—are briefly described and a third enhancement, the iterative clustering of clusters, is introduced. When combined, these three techniques improve our ability to generate comprehensive and representative mappings of science across the multidisciplinaryScience Citation Index (SCI) data base. Results of a four step analysis of the 1979SCI are presented, and the resulting map at the fourth iteration is described in detail. The map shows a tightly integrated network of approximate disciplinary regions, unique in that for the first time links between mathematics and biomedical science have brought about a closure of the previously linear arrangement of disciplines. Disciplinary balance between biomedical and physical science has improved, and the appearance of less cited subject areas, such as mathematics and applied science, makes this map the most comprehensive one yet produced by the co-citation methodology. Remaining problems and goals for future work are discussed.     

Bibliometric and webometric analysis of health system reforms in Latin America and the Caribbean

Health systems are reforming their structures and services world-wide. Both, developed and developing countries are searching for better organisation and functioning schemes of their health systems. The social service delivery system in developing countries is severely limited in its ability to respond and adjust to changing circumstances by institutional, organisational, and structural factors. As a result, different countries of the Latin American and Caribbean regions have developed a diversity of reform models. While international agencies and non-government academic organisations have been funding some of the health system reform initiatives among developing countries, no clear picture exists as to the results or impact of this support. Indicators related to knowledge administration, published results or shared experiences are needed to establish a diagnosis of the existing situation and to support decision making processes in terms of policy and research funding. This work presents the results of a bibliometric and webometric analysis on the production and distribution of the literature generated on health system reforms, as produced in or about Latin America and the Caribbean, for the period 1980–1999. Results indicated the limitations and low quality of local and regional databases to represent the productivity in the field. Data was obtained regarding the patterns of production and distribution of documents over time; the main countries and areas involved in health system reform processes; and the institutions behind the initiatives. The implications of the results derived from this research to health policy makers, researchers, librarians, database producers, and information scientists are discussed by the author. This revised version was published online in June 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Science in Latin America how much and along what lines?

Scientific output in the Caribbean and Latin American countries was studied examining the publications indexed by the Institute for Scientific Information which conform the mainstream literature. The growth patterns of first-authors-publishing-scientific-papers coming from the five most productive countries of the region were determined. In addition, the scientific publications from each country of the region, as indexed in 1981, were classified per field. It was found that most of the research was done in the life sciences area. However, the small scientific output observed in all fields appears insufficient to assure a positive role of science for the best overall development of each individual society. This situation may reflect a lack of support for the progress of science in these countries and therefore political commitment towards this purpose is considered to be of particular importance.     

Innovation in Latin America through the lens of bibliometrics: crammed and fading away

Scientometrics - Research in the field of innovation in business, management, and accounting (BMA) in Latin America (LATAM) has surpassed all expectations of its net output. Yet this digital tide...     

Characteristics of the publishing infrastructure of peripheral countries: A comparison of periodical publications from Latin America with periodicals from the US and the UK

Bibliometric research can provide science policy makers with indicators of the capacity of a country's national scientific system to produce printed information. The capacity of the local publishing industry to produce scientific and technical periodical publications reflects the availability of outlets for the dissemination of scientific findings. The present research attempts to evaluate the role of the publishing industry in the level of bibliographic control, and the level of peer review of periodical publications from Latin America. A random search was performed on the 1990 Cd-Rom version ofThe Serials Directory, a commercially produced international reference source on periodical publications. A sample of 311 periodicals from Latin America was downloaded to a local database. A similar search was performed on publications from the United States and the United Kingdom for comparison purposes. A random search of 235 publications was downloaded into a local database. Publishers were classified for both samples according to three types: academic, governmental, and commercial. Publications were sorted thematically and indicators of bibliographic control, and of peer review were recorded for both samples. Publications from Latin America showed a very low level of bibliographic control, particularly in the case of the assignment of ISSN numbers, where 58% of the sample studied was published without this element of bibliographic control. This contrasted sharply with the periodicals from the US and UK, where 83% (195) journals had an ISSN number assigned. The involvement of editorial boards in the academic quality of Latin American publications amounted only to 21% of the sample studied. Periodicals from the US and UK reported an editor as responsible for the journal in 40% (93) of the cases. This amount constitutes about double the number of editors reported by Latin American publications. Latin American academic publishers are the most numerous publishers in the sample studied accounting for 37% (114) of the journals studied however, 68% (77) of those editors printed periodicals without a named editor. Governmental publishers are the second largest publisher type. They produced 29% (89) of the journals in the sample. Commercial publishers are responsible for 26% (82) of the journals studied. Publications from the US and UK show a clear predominance of commercial publishers, accounting for 47% (111) of the journals. Academic publishers only produced 29% (68) of the 235 journals in the sample. This clear dominance of the commercial publisher sector shows that publishing in at least the two countries studied is clearly practised as a business enterprise. This is in sharp comparison to the publishing patterns exhibited in Latin America where the academic sector is the most prominent one.