International scientific co-operation and awareness within the European community: Problems and perspectives

International scientific co-operation (ISC) and awareness are topics of increasing interest for both scientists and science policy makers. In this paper, we adopt primarily the science policy point of view. After a concise overview of the literature we summarize the main results of the research we conducted. The main outcome with respect to ISC is that it increases. However, large differences exist between countries and between scientific disciplines. ISC and awareness constitute a complex phenomenon, affected by several factors, science-internal, as well as external. In the paper several techniques are described, amongst which those that can visualize ISC relations through analytical maps. An important aspect of our research methodology is the combination of various quantitative, bibliometric analyses and qualitative research on the structure of science and the relations between science and society. Finally, we sketch perspectives for future research.     

Mimicry in science?

Since bibliometric indicators have obtained a general acceptance in science policy and attained applied relevance in research evaluation, feedback effects on scientists?? behaviour resulting from the use of these indicators for science funding decisions have been reported. These adaptation strategies could be called mimicry in science. Scientists apply strategies that should enable them to comply to bibliometric accountability and to secure funds to their own research.     

How to identify research groups using publication analysis: an example in the field of nanotechnology

Summary We present a new bibliometric approach to identify research groups in a particular research field. With a combination of bibliometric mapping techniques and network analysis we identify and classify clusters of authors to represent research groups. In this paper we illustrate the application and potential of this approach and present two types of outcomes: actual research groups and potential research groups. The former enables us to define research groups beyond the organizational structure. The latter may be used to identify potential partners for collaboration. Our approach is a starting point to deal with the complex issue of research groups in a changing structure of scientific research.     

A bibliometric study of research activity in ASEAN related to the EU in FP7 priority areas

Two relevant recent developments in the area of science and technology (S&T) and related policy-making motivate this article: first, bibliometric data on a specific research area’s performance becomes an increasingly relevant source for S&T policy-making and evaluation. This trend is embedded in wider discussions on evidence-based policy-making. Secondly, the scientific output of Southeast Asian countries is rising, as is the number of international research collaborations with the second area of our interest: Europe. Against this background, we employ basic bibliometric methodology in order to draw a picture of Southeast Asian research strengths as well the amount and focus of S&T cooperation between the countries in Southeast Asia and the European Union. The results can prove useful for an interested public as well as for the scientific community and science, technology and innovation policy-making.     

Studying research collaboration using co-authorships

Scientific collaboration has become a major issue in science policy. The tremendous growth of collaboration among nations and research institutions witnessed during the last twenty years is a function of the internal dynamics of science as well as science policy initiatives. The need to survey and follow up the collaboration issue calls for statistical indicators sensitive enough to reveal the structure and change of collaborative networks. In this context, bibliometric analysis of co-authored scientific articles is one promising approach. This paper discusses the relationship between collaboration and co-authorship, the nature of bibliometric data, and exemplifies how they can be refined and used to analyse various aspects of collaboration.     

Some Thoughts on the Interaction between Scientometrics and Science and Technology Policy

In 1988 Le Pair postulated the existence of a citation gap for technological research. Several cases were studied, which confirmed his hypothesis. In the same period the use of bibliometric indicators for policy purposes increased. Here we saw the citation gap causing a disadvantage for application-oriented research groups. This is not merely an injustice, it also leads to suboptimum use of available funds, to the detriment of science as a whole. In addition, it may, in the long term, undermine the reputation of scientometrics as a science in its own right.     

A variation of the calculation of the first author cocitation strength in author cocitation analysis

The method of author cocitation analysis (ACA) was first presented by White and Griffith in 1981 as a “literature measure of intellectual structure” and its applicability for the mapping of areas of science has since then been tested in various bibliometric science mapping studies. In this study, an experimental method of calculating the first or single author cocitation frequency is presented and compared with the standard method. Applying Ward’s method of clustering, the analysis revealed that the two approaches did not produce similar results and a tentative interpretation of deviations was that the experimental method provided with a more detailed depiction of the specialty structure. It was also concluded that a number of additional research questions need to be resolved before a comprehensive understanding of the suggested method’s merits and demerits is reached.     

Impact of bibliometrics upon the science system: Inadvertent consequences?

Summary Ranking of research institutions by bibliometric methods is an improper tool for research performance evaluation, even at the level of large institutions. The problem, however, is not the ranking as such. The indicators used for ranking are often not advanced enough, and this situation is part of the broader problem of the application of insufficiently developed bibliometric indicators used by persons who do not have clear competence and experience in the field of quantitative studies of science. After a brief overview of the basic elements of bibliometric analysis, I discuss the major technical and methodological problems in the application of publication and citation data in the context of evaluation. Then I contend that the core of the problem lies not necessarily at the side of the data producer. Quite often persons responsible for research performance evaluation, for instance scientists themselves in their role as head of institutions and departments, science administrators at the government level and other policy makers show an attitude that encourages 'quick and dirty' bibliometric analyses whereas better quality is available. Finally, the necessary conditions for a successful application of advanced bibliometric indicators as support tool for peer review are discussed.     

Science-technology-industry correlative indicators for policy targeting on emerging technologies: exploring the core competencies and promising industries of aspirant economies

This paper seeks to contemplate a sequence of steps in connecting the fields of science, technology and industrial products. A method for linking different classifications (WoS–IPC–ISIC concordance) is proposed. The ensuing concordance tables inherit the roots of Grupp’s perspective on science, technology, product and market. The study contextualized the linking process as it can be instrumental for policy planning and technology targeting. The presented method allows us to postulate the potential development of technology in science and industrial products. The proposed method and organized concordance tables are intended as a guiding tool for policy makers to study the prospects of a technology or industry of interest. Two perceived high potential technologies—traditional medicine and ICT—that were sought by two aspirant economies—Hong Kong and Malaysia—are considered as case studies for the proposed method. The selected cases provide us the context of what technological research is being pursued for both fundamental knowledge and new industries. They enable us to understand the context of policy planning and targeting for sectoral and regional innovation systems. While we note the constraints of using joint-publishing and joint-patenting data to study the core competencies of developing economies and their potential for development, we realize that the proposed method enables us to highlight the gaps between science and technology and the core competencies of the selected economies, as well as their prospects in terms of technology and product development. The findings provide useful policy implications for further development of the respective cases.     

Combining full-text analysis and bibliometric indicators. A pilot study

Summary In the present study full-text analysis and traditional bibliometric methods are combined to improve the efficiency of the individual methods in the mapping of science. The methodology is applied to map research papers from a special issue of Scientometrics. The outcomes substantiate that such hybrid methodology can be applied to both research evaluation and information retrieval. The subject classification given by the guest-editors of the special issue is used for validation purposes. Because of the limited number of papers underlying the study the paper is considered a pilot study that will be extended in a later study on the basis of a larger corpus.     

Using a bibliometric approach to support research policy making: The case of the Flemish BOF-key

In this paper, we describe the development of a methodology and an instrument to support a major research funding allocation decision by the Flemish government. Over the last decade, and in parallel with the decentralization and the devolution of the Belgian federal policy authority towards the various regions and communities in the country, science and technology policy have become a major component of regional policy making. In the Flemish region, there has been an increasing focus on basing the funding allocation decisions that originate from this policy decentralization on “objective, quantifiable and repeatable” decision parameters. One of the data sources and indicator bases that have received ample attention in this evolution is the use of bibliometric data and indicators. This has now led to the creation of a dedicated research and policy support staff, called “Steunpunt O&O Statistieken,” and the first time application of bibliometric data and methods to support a major inter-university funding allocation decision. In this paper, we analyze this evolution. We show how bibliometric data have for the first time been used to allocate 93 million Euro of public research money between 6 Flemish universities for the fiscal year 2003, based on Web-of-Science SCI data provided to “Steunpunt O&O Statistieken” via a license agreement with Thomson-ISI. We also discuss the limitations of the current approach that was based on inter-university publication and citation counts. We provide insights into future adaptations that might make it more representative of the total research activity at the universities involved (e.g., by including data for the humanities) and of its visibility (e.g., by including impact measures). Finally, based on our current experience and interactions with the universities involved, we speculate on the future of the specific bibliometric approach that has now been adopted. More specifically, we hypothesize that the allocation method now developed and under further improvement will become more criticized if it turns out that it (1) also starts influencing intra-university research allocation decisions and, as a consequence (2) introduces adverse publication and citation behaviors at the universities involved. This revised version was published online in June 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Sectoral collaboration in biomedical research and development

This paper explores the role of sectors in scientific research and development networks by drawing on bibliometric analyses and innovation systems and triple helix literatures. I conducted a bibliometric study of Vancouver Canada’s worldwide infection and immunity network and examined network structure through sociograms, social network metrics, as well as relational contingency table and ANOVA network analyses. Universities are the key network sector followed by hospitals and government organisations. The private sector plays a weak role. Most sectors show a preference for collaborating within, as opposed to across, sectors. This trend is most pronounced in hospitals and least pronounced among firms. Hospitals and universities collaborate well above statistical expectations. I discuss the implications of these findings for future science policy and studies of research and development networks.     

Is science becoming more interdisciplinary? Measuring and mapping six research fields over time

In the last two decades there have been studies claiming that science is becoming ever more interdisciplinary. However, the evidence has been anecdotal or partial. Here we investigate how the degree of interdisciplinarity has changed between 1975 and 2005 over six research domains. To do so, we compute well-established bibliometric indicators alongside a new index of interdisciplinarity (Integration score, aka Rao-Stirling diversity) and a science mapping visualization method. The results attest to notable changes in research practices over this 30 year period, namely major increases in number of cited disciplines and references per article (both show about 50% growth), and co-authors per article (about 75% growth). However, the new index of interdisciplinarity only shows a modest increase (mostly around 5% growth). Science maps hint that this is because the distribution of citations of an article remains mainly within neighboring disciplinary areas. These findings suggest that science is indeed becoming more interdisciplinary, but in small steps — drawing mainly from neighboring fields and only modestly increasing the connections to distant cognitive areas. The combination of metrics and overlay science maps provides general benchmarks for future studies of interdisciplinary research characteristics.     

Bibliometric mapping of science in a policy context

Despite the promising introduction of bibliometric maps of science in a science policy context in the nineteen seventies, they have not been very successful yet. It seems, however, that only now they are becoming acknowledged as a useful tool. This is mainly due to the developments and integration of hypertext and graphical interfaces. Because of this, the strength of such navigation tools becomes obvious. The communication through the Internet enables the field expert (as a kind of peer review) as well as the user (from a science policy context) to contribute to the quality of the map and the interface. Moreover, the interface can provide suggestions to answer policy-related question, which is the initial purpose of such maps.     

Advanced bibliometric methods as quantitative core of peer review based evaluation and foresight exercises

This paper gives an overview of the potentials and limitations of bibliometric methods for the assessment of strengths and weaknesses in research performance, and for monitoring scientific developments. We distinguish two different methods. In the first application, research performance assessment, the bibliometric method is based on advanced analysis of publication and citation data. We show that the resulting indicators are very useful, and in fact an indispensable element next to peer review in research evaluation procedures. Indicators based on advanced bibliometric methods offer much more than only numbers. They provide insight into the position of actors at the research front in terms of influence and specializations, as well as into patterns of scientific communication and processes of knowledge dissemination. After a discussion of technical and methodological problems, we present practical examples of the use of research performance indicators. In the second application, monitoring scientific developments, bibliometric methods based on advanced mapping techniques are essential. We discuss these techniques briefly and indicate their most important potentials, particularly their role in foresight exercises. Finally, we give a first outline of how both bibliometric approaches can be combined to a broader and powerful methodology to observe scientific advancement and the role of actors.     

Software survey: VOSviewer,a computer program for bibliometric mapping

We present VOSviewer, a freely available computer program that we have developed for constructing and viewing bibliometric maps. Unlike most computer programs that are used for bibliometric mapping, VOSviewer pays special attention to the graphical representation of bibliometric maps. The functionality of VOSviewer is especially useful for displaying large bibliometric maps in an easy-to-interpret way. The paper consists of three parts. In the first part, an overview of VOSviewer’s functionality for displaying bibliometric maps is provided. In the second part, the technical implementation of specific parts of the program is discussed. Finally, in the third part, VOSviewer’s ability to handle large maps is demonstrated by using the program to construct and display a co-citation map of 5,000 major scientific journals.     

A concise review on the role of author self-citations in information science, bibliometrics and science policy

Summary  The objective of the present study is twofold: (1) to show the aims and means of quantitative interpretation of bibliographic features in bibliometrics and their re-interpretation in research policy, and (2) to summarise the state-of-art in self-citation research. The authors describe three approaches to the role of author self-citations and possible conflicts arising from the different perspectives. From the bibliometric viewpoint we can conclude that that there is no reason for condemning self-citations in general or for removing them from macro or meso statistics; supplementary indicators based on self-citations are, nonetheless, useful to understand communication patterns.     

Preface

Summary  The objective of the present study is twofold: (1) to show the aims and means of quantitative interpretation of bibliographic features in bibliometrics and their re-interpretation in research policy, and (2) to summarise the state-of-art in self-citation research. The authors describe three approaches to the role of author self-citations and possible conflicts arising from the different perspectives. From the bibliometric viewpoint we can conclude that that there is no reason for condemning self-citations in general or for removing them from macro or meso statistics; supplementary indicators based on self-citations are, nonetheless, useful to understand communication patterns.     

Age-sensitive bibliographic coupling reflecting the history of science: The case of the Species Problem

In science mapping, bibliographic coupling (BC) has been a standard tool for discovering the cognitive structure of research areas, such as constituent subareas, directions, schools of thought, or paradigms. Modelled as a set of documents, research areas are often sorted into document clusters via BC representing a thematic unit each. In this paper we propose an alternative method called age-sensitive bibliographic coupling: the aim is to enable the standard method to produce historically valid thematic units, that is, to yield document clusters that represent the historical development of the thematic structure of the subject as well. As such, the method is expected to be especially beneficial for investigations on science dynamics and the history of science. We apply the method within a bibliometric study in the modern history of bioscience, addressing the development of a complex, interdisciplinary discourse called the Species Problem. As a result, a quantitative and qualitative comparison of the standard and the proposed method of bibliographic coupling will be reported, together with a pilot study on the cognitive–historical structure of the Species Problem, regarding an important fragment of the discourse.