Scientists' performance and consolidation of research teams in Biology and Biomedicine at the Spanish Council for Scientific Research

Summary Empirical evidence is given on how membership in a consolidated, well-established research team provides researchers with some competitive advantage as compared to their colleagues in non-consolidated teams. Data were obtained from a survey of researchers ascribed to the 'Biology and Biomedicine' area of the Spanish Council for Scientific Research, as well as from their curricula vitae. One quarter of the scientists work as members of teams in the process of consolidation. Our findings illustrate the importance, for the development and consolidation of research teams, of the availability of a minimum number of researchers with a permanent position and of a minimum number of support staff and non-staff personnel (mainly post-doctoral fellows). Consolidation of research teams has a clear influence on the more academic-oriented quantitative indicators of the scientific activity of individuals. Researchers belonging to consolidated teams perform quantitatively better than their colleagues in terms of the number of articles published in journals covered in the Journal Citation Reports, but not in terms of the impact of these publications. Consolidation favours publication, but not patenting, and it also has a positive effect on the academic prestige of scientists and on their capacity to train new researchers. It does not significantly foster participation in funded R&D projects, nor does it influence the establishment of international collaborations. Impact is influenced to a remarkable degree by seniority and professional background, and is significantly greater for young scientists who have spent time abroad at prestigious research laboratories.     

The application of scientometric indicators to the Spanish Scientific Research Council

The assessment of the research performance of the Spanish Scientific Research Council using scientometric indicators was done. Number of scientists and budget involved in research projects were used as input measures while articles published in foreign journals, patent applications and citations received provided output figures. The time period studied was 1984–1987. Target of the analysis were wide research areas and the research Institutes included in them. The obtained results point out that very often costs, productivity and impact do not go in the same direction. Most likely, other activities no measurable by scientometric indicators may have played an important role in some Institutes. Besides, the presence of highly cited articles at Institutes with low productivity scores indicates not correspondence of quantity with impact. It is suggested that the research group level would be a more reliable unit for analysis than the aggregated level of Institute or research area.     

The Spanish experience in the field of technological information

The article describes the new patent information services which are being developed in the Spanish Office following adoption in 1986 of a New Patent Act. The services are largely based on data obtained from the new computer system on which all information concerning applications and documents entering the office is recorded. The services include:

1. a Technical Information Gazette including bibliographic information of granted Spanish patents with an abstract and the most significant drawing;
2. publication of the Industrial Property Official Gazette in paper, microfiche and on magnetic tape;
3. a version in Spanish of the IPC;

online services based on the administrative database SITADEX, bibliographic database of Spanish patents CIBERPAT, a phonetic trademark database INPAMAR, a CLINPAT database containing the complete text in Spanish of the IPC; a LATIPAT database containing bibliographic information of Latin-American patents; and a GRAFMAR database of trademarks in graphics.     

中药膜分离领域的科学与技术问题

从分离的物质基础、分离的目标及可用于分离的性质等方面，探讨中药复杂体系的膜分离科学与技术问题，提出中药膜分离技术的工艺设计原则及膜污染防治思路．     

Cooperative research projects between the Spanish National Research Council and Latin-American institutions

Research projects in cooperation between Spanish National Research Council and Latin-American Organizations, that have been developed in the last eight years, were studied. Around forty Spanish research institutes have cooperated with Latin-American ones, mostly with Cuba, Chile, Brazil and Mexico. The interpretation of the collaboration rates with the different countries is discussed. Duration of the projects, number of researchers and research output were examined. The cooperation results were quantified through articles, presentations to congresses, reports, monographs, patents and thesis. Diffusion, languages and impact of the journals used for publication were studied. Non quantifiable outputs were also examined.Paper presented at the International Conference on Science Indicators for Developing Countries, Paris, 15–19 October, 1990.     

Changes on publishing behavior in response to research policy guidelines. The case of the Spanish Research Council in the field of agronomy

The aim of this study is to identify changes in publishing behavior of Spanish scientists belonging to the Area of Agronomy of the Spanish Research Council (CSIC), in response to scientific policy actions carried out in Spain. For this purpose, we analyze Spanish scientific output published in Spanish journals (covered by the ICYT database), as well as in international journals (covered by theScience Citation Index), during the period 1980–1995. Congress and conference publications, books and monographs, are also considered. The following changes in publication habits have been noticed: migration of works towards SCI journals and increased use of books and monographs as channel of publication of research works. A decreasing participation of Spanish researchers in scientific meetings has also been noticed, especially since 1989.     

The transfer of knowledge from the Spanish public R&D system to the productive sectors in the field of Biotechnology

To determine the capability and resources of the Spanish R & D system to produce knowledge useful for the Biotechnology industries, an analysis of indicators derived from published work, scientific papers cited in US patents and inventions patented, has been carried out. The results show that the number of publications compares well with that of other European countries. The visibility of those publications seems evident as about two thirds of the authors studied have been cited in patents assigned to foreign enterprises, but very few of them have applied for patents. This is analysed in connection with the existing policies.     

Analysis of the Spanish scientific and technological output in the ICT sector

Summary This study presents a general view of the scientific and technological production in the ICT sector in Spain during the period 1990-2002 and its relative weight in the international production, as well as the identification of the main institutional actors and the performance patterns of the researchers in this scientific community through bibliometric techniques, with the aim of exploring the character of its outputs, both in terms of publications and patents. Indicators at macro-meso level are presented by: geographic regions, thematic areas at different aggregation levels, institutional sectors and research centres. Bibliometric indicators may help focus attention on the position and contribution of Spanish ICT science and technological capabilities.     

The unbalanced performance and regional differences in scientific and technological collaboration in the field of solar cells

This study attempts to explore collaborations in the field of solar cell science and technology, focusing on the productivity and citations of papers and patents at the global and country levels. This study finds that most papers and patents are collaborative efforts, however, the rate of collaboration is higher for papers. In particular, international collaboration is not common in patents. In terms of performance, international collaborations have shown the best performance overall if looking at trends that cover the 30 years from 1980 to 2009, but the performance of single-authored papers has been better in the more recent ten-year period, 2000–2009. At the country level, we found that most countries have higher rates of international collaboration with greater numbers in papers and patents. Asian countries such as Japan, Taiwan and India have significant citation performance with high ratios for domestic collaboration; the rates are even greater than the average ratio for international collaboration.     

Scientific literature cited in USPTO patent documents as indicators for the evaluation and analysis of Spanish scientific research in biomedical disciplines

The use of indicators based on the analysis of the scientific literature cited in patent documents is proposed for the evaluation of biomedical research. A study carried out on several groups of researchers working in universities, public research centers, and hospitals, has shown that an important percentage of Spanish scientists have authored publications that are cited in US patents in the field of Biotechnology. The study and analysis of those cites allows a evaluation of the flow of knowledge generated by the different groups of scientists towards the development of technologies, and to learn on the relationship between the characteristics of the cited publications and the frequency they are cited in the patents. The results obtained avail the use of new indicators based on the cites in patents to perform a more complete evaluation of the published research related with Biotechnology and Biomedicine, both at the level of research institutions and individual scientists.     

Comparison and evaluation of Chinese research performance in the field of bioinformatics

Bioinformatics is an emerging and rapidly evolving discipline. The bioinformatics literature is growing exponentially. This paper aims to provide an integrated bibliometric study of the knowledge base of Chinese research community, based on the bibliometric information in the field of bioinformatics from SCI-Expanded database during the period of 2000–2005. It is found that China is productive in bioinformatics as far as publication activity in international journals is concerned. For comparative purpose, the results are benchmarked against the findings from five other major nations in the field of bioinformatics: USA, UK, Germany, Japan and India. In terms of collaboration profile, the findings imply that the collaborative scope of China has gradually transcended boundaries of organizations, regions and nations as well. Finally, further analyses on the citation share and some surrogate scientometric indicators show that the publications of Chinese authors suffer from a lowest international visibility among the six countries. Strikingly, Japan has achieved most remarkable impact of publication when compared to research effort devoted to bioinformatics amongst the six countries. The policy implication of the findings lies in that Chinese scientific community needs much work on improving the research impact and pays more attention to strengthening the academic linkages between China and worldwide nations, particularly scientifically advanced countries.     

实际运行环境下的多联机性能评价方法研究

由于室外环境条件无法控制,使得实际运行环境下的多联机性能评价存在困难。针对该问题,本文参考多联机产品性能评价指标制冷季节能效比/制热季节能效比/全年性能系数,提出6点测试法用于评价实际运行环境下的多联机性能。以办公建筑中实际运行的1套多联机为例验证本文提出的多联机性能评价方法。经测试计算,发现实际运行环境下的多联机制冷季节能效比测量值与标准计算值之间的偏差小于10%。研究结果表明,该评价方法可以用于评估多联机设计与实际运行之间的性能差异,也可以用于不同多联机之间的性能对比分析,具有较好的工程实用价值。     

Research performance evaluation in the German university sector

This paper reviews the history of research performance evaluation in the university sector of the Federal Republic of Germany over a fifteen-year period from 1975–88. While the first studies were rankings of entire institutions, recent studies have focused on performance differences between departments and individual researchers of the same discipline. Many different performance measures have been used to rank universities and departments within disciplines. Differences in conceptualization, data collection, counting and weighting procedures, however, make it very difficult to generalize findings across studies. This first generation of German research evaluation studies should, therefore, be viewed more as examplifying interesting methodological approaches than as offering definitive and clear-cut conclusions. Nevertheless some important lessons have been learnt from fifteen years of studies on university research performance evaluation.     

Scientific capabilities and technological performance of national innovation systems: An exploration of emerging industrial relevant research domains

Today's theories and models on innovation stress the importance of scientific capabilities and science-technology proximity, especially in new emerging fields of economic activity. Inthis contribution we examine the relationship between national scientific capabilities, the science intensity of technology and technological performance within six emergent industrial fields. Our findings reveal that national technological performance is positively associated with scientific capabilities. Countries performing better on a technological level are characterized both by larger numbers of publications and by numbers of involved institutions that exceed average expected values. The latter observation holds for both companies and knowledge generating institutes actively involved in scientific activities. As such, our findings seem to suggest beneficial effects of scientific capabilities shouldered by a multitude of organizations. In addition, higher numbers of patent activity coincide with higher levels of science intensity pointing out the relevance of science 'proximity' when developing technology in newer, emerging fields. Limitations and directions for further research are discussed.     

Scientific production of Spanish universities in the fields of Social Sciences and Language

This article reviews the scientific production of the Spanish universities in the areas of Social Sciences and Language Sciences during the period 1986–1988. A series of quantitative criteria are being applied to the submission of data on total scientific production, productivity rate, publications/authors ratio, coauthorship, type of documents edited and their distribution, all of them broken down per university. Last but not least, a review is made of the distribution by subjects of each publication. The results obtained underline the increasing rate of production achieved in the three-year period, a certain stagnation in the number of authors and in team research activities, a far too endogamic diffusion in periodical publications and a somewhat unbalanced thematic diversification as compared to the geographical and cultural variety of our country. The article concludes by suggesting new lines of study for determining the factors that may explain the existing patterns of scientific production, and for identifying useful bibliometric measures aiming at an assessment of this type of literature.     

水声通信系统性能评估方法研究

水声通信系统性能主要受水声信道和通信体制影响,通常采取海洋水声试验的手段进行性能测试,但这需要进行多次不同信道条件下的试验才能得出正确的评估结论,难度较大且成本较高。因此,建立准确的水声通信系统性能评估模型和评估方法,对于通信系统设计及性能预测显得尤为重要。从水声信道模型开始分析,结合水声通信特点,讨论了典型水声通信接收机结构,提出了一种通用水声通信系统性能评估模型和方法,并针对采用QPSK调制的通信系统性能进行了评估,结果与海试数据较为接近。     

Identification and characterisation of technological topics in the field of Molecular Biology

Following up the European project PromTech the aim of which was to detect emerging technologies by studying the scientific literature, we chose one field, Molecular Biology, to identify and characterize emerging topics within that domain. We combined two analytical approaches: the first one introduces a model of the terminological evolution of the field based on bibliometric indicators and the second one operates a diachronic clustering analysis. Our objective is to bring answers to questions such as: Which technological aspects can be detected? Which of them are already established and which of them are new? How are the topics linked to each other?     

An evaluation of field total petroleum hydrocarbon (TPH) systems

An evaluation of several field kits and petroleum hydrocarbon measuring systems was conducted. The field kits were the immunoassay based EnviroGard petroleum fuels in soil test kit (EnviroGard, Millipore Canada, Mississauga, Ont., Canada), the turbidimetric based PetroFlag hydrocarbon test kit for soil (Dexsil, Hamden, CT, USA), a DR/2000 field kit (Hach Company, Loveland CO, USA) employing colorimetric test procedures and a total organic carbon (TOC) analysis instrument (Dohrmann Division, Rosemount Analytical Inc., Santa Clara, CA, USA) using oxidation principles. These procedures were compared to the traditional technique of extraction of the petroleum hydrocarbons using trichlorotrifluoroethane (Freon 113) as the solvent and subsequent infrared (IR) analysis using a portable fixed wavelength analyzer (Buck Scientific, East Norwalk, CT, USA).The EnviroGard kit was affected by the sample matrix. The soil type and the presence or lack thereof specific chemical components affected the capability to detect the petroleum hydrocarbon concentration. The PetroFlag soil test kit tended to generate results higher than the accepted concentration. The IR method was better capable of producing results similar to the expected concentration values of the prepared samples.Results indicate that the total organic carbon analysis technique evaluated is best suited for samples containing dissolved hydrocarbons in water and is not a preferred procedure for water samples containing dispersed or floating oil. At low concentrations of 10ppm and less, the TOC method and IR method have concentration values within a few parts-per-million (ppm) of each other, however, an examination of the trends in the results for all samples shows no similarity. This would indicate that the traditional extraction and infrared method and the total organic carbon method are not measuring the same parameter.Finally, the colorimetric field kit was capable of quantifying the concentration of oil in water samples within limits. The results from the oil-in-water method built into the unit at the factory were not comparable with analysis carried out by the infrared technique. With specific methods for each oil incorporated into the spectrophotometer, the comparability of data increased significantly. Results generated by the kit are dependent upon the color and amount of the oil in the sample. The kit is best suited for dark colored oils and the water samples with concentrations in the range of 10 to 85ppm by weight.     

日本VCCI认证

2009年3月16日中国质量认证中心(CQC)与日本电磁干扰控制委员会(VCCI)于在北京成功举办了日本VCCI认证研讨会. CQC与VCCI共同举办的这次研讨会,为国内信息技术产品的生产企业和测试机构建立了一个了解和熟悉VCCI认证的平台.