Personal Research Database

Full Text: 2009\Scientometrics81, 137.pdf

Abstract: The state of the art on the issue of sex differences in research efficiency agrees in recognizing higher performances for males, however there are divergences in explaining the possible causes. One of the causes advanced is that there are sex differences in the availability of aptitude at the “high end”. By comparing sex differences in concentration and performance of Italian academic star scientists to the case in the population complement, this work aims to verify if star, or “high-end”, scientists play a preponderant role in determining higher performance among males. The study reveals the existence of a greater relative concentration of males among star scientists, as well as a performance gap between male and female star scientists that is greater than for the rest of the population. In the latter subpopulation the performance gap between the two sexes is seen as truly marginal.

Keywords: Ability, Gender-Differences, Impact, Meta-Analysis, Metaanalysis, Patterns, Publication Productivity

? Park, H.W. and Leydesdorff, L. (2009), Knowledge linkage structures in communication studies using citation analysis among communication journals. Scientometrics, 81 (1), 157-175.

Full Text: 2009\Scientometrics81, 157.pdf

Abstract: This research analyzes a “who cites whom” matrix in terms of aggregated journal-journal citations to determine the location of communication studies on the academic spectrum. Using the Journal of Communication as the seed journal, the 2006 data in the Journal Citation Reports are used to map communication studies. The results show that social and experimental psychology journals are the most frequently used sources of information in this field. In addition, several journals devoted to the use and effects of media and advertising are weakly integrated into the larger communication research community, whereas communication studies are dominated by American journals.

Keywords: Index, Internet, Korea, Science, Scientific Journals, Social Network Analysis

? Sooryamoorthy, R. (2009), Do types of collaboration change citation? Collaboration and citation patterns of South African science publications. Scientometrics, 81 (1), 177-193.

Full Text: 2009\Scientometrics81, 177.pdf

Abstract: Bibliographic records are extensively used in the study of citations. Based on ISI data, this paper examines citation patterns of the publications of South African scientists in recent years. In particular, the focus of this paper is on citations as to the collaborative dimensions of South African scientists in their publications. The study reveals that the number of citations received by a publication varies not only according to the collaboration but also to the types of collaboration of the authors who are involved in its production. Furthermore, it emerges that the impact of citations on publications differs from discipline to discipline, and affiliating sector to sector, regardless of collaboration.

Keywords: Areas, Impact, Indicators, International Collaboration, Nations, Output, Periphery, Scientific Productivity

? Schmoch, U. and Schubert, T. (2009), Sustainability of incentives for excellent research - The German case. Scientometrics, 81 (1), 195-218.

Full Text: 2009\Scientometrics81, 195.pdf

Abstract: The state authorities in Germany used to fund public sector research without controlling the performance of the research units. This has changed during past decade, where the dominant mechanism by which formerly unconditional state funds are allocated nowadays is indicator-based performance measurement. The indicator sets used to measure the research-related performance in the German public science sector are usually very narrow, often consisting exclusively of finished doctoral theses and third-party funds. Using a unique dataset of 473 German research units from astrophysics, nanotechnology, economics and biotechnology, this paper outlines principles for the construction of sensible indicator sets for the performance measurement of scientific research groups. It is argued that scientific production is multidimensional. Thus one-sided indicator sets that fail to cover the relevant output dimensions give rise to incentives that will ultimately lower the performance of the science sector in total. Indicator sets should strive for sustainable incentives, which can be guaranteed if the sets are broad enough. As a starting point it is shown that the very common performance indicator ‘acquired third-party funds’ may affect research efficiency negatively, especially if the level of third-party funds is already very high. Therefore, we conclude that third-party funds should be used with great care, if at all.

Keywords: Data Envelopment Analysis, Efficiency, Higher-Education, Impact, Indicator, Research Performance, Science, System, Universities

? Valkimadi, P.E., Karageorgopoulos, D.E., Vliagoftis, H. and Falagas, M.E. (2009), Increasing dominance of English in publications archived by PubMed. Scientometrics, 81 (1), 219-223.

Full Text: 2009\Scientometrics81, 219.pdf

Abstract: English is becoming the international language in numerous fields of human civilization. We sought to evaluate the extent of use of English in the field of biomedical publications. We searched in PubMed for the number of articles written in the 57 indexed languages, during each one of the four past 10-year periods. The extent of use of English as the publication language of articles included in PubMed has gradually risen from 62.3% of the total number of indexed articles between 1967-1976, to 74.0% between 1977-1986, 83.4% between 1987-1996, and reached 89.3% in the period between 1997-2006. The percentage of articles written in each one of the other languages was less than 1.6% for the period of 1997-2006. Apart from English, only the percentage of articles written in Chinese has risen between 1967-1976 and 1997-2006 (from 0.05% to 1.49%). In conclusion, the dominance of English in biomedical publications archived by the most commonly used database is impressive and increasing. This fact may have several consequences, favourable or not, in various aspects of scientific production.

Keywords: Fields, Impact Factor, Journals, Language, Science

? Guerrero-Bote, V.P., Gomez-Crisostomo, R., Romo-Fernandez, L.M. and de Moya-Anegon, F. (2009), Visibility and responsibility of women in research papers through the order of signatures: the case of the University of Extremadura, 1990-2005. Scientometrics, 81 (1), 225-238.

Full Text: 2009\Scientometrics81, 225.pdf

Abstract: Though there are many and diverse opinions as to the order in which the authors appear in research papers, the most accepted is the one which gives more responsibility to the first and last author. In this work, a study is carried out of the order in which the authors appear in research papers, in which at least one author affiliated to the University of Extremadura (Spain) has collaborated in the 1990-2005 period. The objective is to determine the difference in the position of men and women, and the resulting responsibility and visibility of female authors as opposed to male authors. In the University of Extremadura these positions are principally occupied by men, since throughout the period studied, no more than 20% of the papers have women either in the first or last position, while the percentage obtained by men is around 50%, the remaining percentage being occupied by authors not belonging at present to the Uex. Nevertheless, the women of the University of Extremadura have both a higher percentage than expected and a positive evolution in the more relevant positions in recent years.

Keywords: Authorship, Scientists

? Duque, R.B., Shrum, W.M., Barriga, O. and Henriquez, G. (2009), Internet practice and professional networks in Chilean science: Dependency or progress? Scientometrics, 81 (1), 239-263.

Full Text: 2009\Scientometrics81, 239.pdf

Abstract: The conventional view depicts scientific communities in the developing world as globally isolated and dependent. Recent studies suggest that individual scientists tend to favor either local or international ties. Yet there are good reasons to believe that both kinds of ties are beneficial for knowledge production. Since they allow for the more efficient management of social networks, Internet technologies are expected to resolve this inverse relationship. They are also expected to decentralize access to resources within developing regions that have traditionally reflected an urban male bias. Elaborating upon science, development and social network perspectives, we examine the impact of the Internet in the Chilean scientific community, addressing the questions ‘to what extent is Internet use and experience associated with the size of foreign and domestic professional networks?’ and ‘are professional network resources equitably distributed across regional and demographical dimensions?’ We offer results from a communication network survey of 337 Chilean researchers working in both academic departments and research institutes. We introduce a new measure, ‘collaboration range’, to indicate the extent to which scientists engage in work with geographically dispersed contacts. Results suggest that larger foreign networks are associated with higher email use and diversity, but local networks are smaller with longer use of the Internet. Diversity of email use is also associated with diverse geographical networks. Moreover, Internet use may be reducing the significance of international meetings for scientific collaboration and networking. Finally, results also show that in the Internet age professional network resources are distributed symmetrically throughout the Chilean scientific community.

Keywords: Collaboration, Computer-Networks, Electronic Networks, Engineering Faculty, Information, Latin-America, Scholarly Communication, Small Institutions, Social-Sciences, Weak Ties

? Pinto, M., Guerrero, D., Fernandez-Ramos, A. and Doucet, A.V. (2009), Information provided by Spanish university websites on their assessment and quality processes. Scientometrics, 81 (1), 265-289.

Full Text: 2009\Scientometrics81, 265.pdf

Abstract: We analyze and evaluate the information provided by Spanish public universities on the web about their assessment and quality processes with the aim of detecting aspects for improvement and identifying best practices in universities that could act as a benchmark for the rest of the sector. A tested model/template incorporating a set of criteria and indicators is used to determine the quality of this information. The strengths and weaknesses of institutional websites are analyzed at both individual level and as a whole, the possible relation between website quality and the characteristics of the universities is also examined.

Keywords: Criteria, Health Information, Internet, Web Sites

? Koczy, L.A. and Strobel, M. (2009), The invariant method can be manipulated. Scientometrics, 81 (1), 291-293.

Full Text: 2009\Scientometrics81, 291.pdf

Abstract: We show that the invariant method [Pinski & Narin, 1976], recently axiomatised by Palacios-Huerta & Volij [2004], and used to quality-rank academic journals is subject to manipulation: a journal can boost its performance by making additional citations to other journals.

? Ortega, J.L., Cothey, V. and Aguillo, I.F. (2009), How old is the Web? Characterizing the age and the currency of the European scientific Web. Scientometrics, 81 (1), 295-309.

Full Text: 2009\Scientometrics81, 295.pdf

Abstract: The aim of this paper is to model and study the age of the Web using a sample of about four million of web pages from the 16 European Research Area countries obtained during 2004 and 2005. Web page time-stamp (date when the web pages were created or last changed for last time), format and size in bytes data have been analysed. Several indicators are introduced to measure longitudinal aspects of the Web. Half-age is proposed as a measure of the age distribution because this is found to be exponential. “Web Update Index” and “Lifespan Index” are introduced to measure the changing rate of a small sample over time. Results show that the British Web space has the youngest Web pages while the Greek and Belgian ones have the oldest. The study also compared Web pages topics and found that Biology pages are more stable than Physics pages.

Keywords: Academic Web, Decay, Life, Links, Obsolescence, Page, Persistence, References

? Egghe, L. (2009), Comparative study of h-index sequences. Scientometrics, 81 (2), 311-320.

Full Text: 2009\Scientometrics81, 311.pdf

Abstract: This paper studies four different h-index sequences (different in publication periods and/or citation periods). Lotkaian models for these h-index sequences are presented by mutual comparison of one sequence with another one. We also give graphs of these h-sequences for this author on which a discussion is presented. The same is done for the g-index and the R-index.

Keywords: Hirsch-Index

? Hendrix, D. (2009), Institutional self-citation rates: A three year study of universities in the United States. Scientometrics, 81 (2), 321-331.

Full Text: 2009\Scientometrics81, 321.pdf

Abstract: Using Institute for Scientific Information (ISI) data, this paper calculated institutional self citations rates (ISCRs) for 96 of the top research universities in the United States from 2005-2007. Exhibiting similar temporal patterns of author and journal self-citations, the ISCR was 29% in the first year post-publication, and decreased significantly in the second year post-publication (19%). Modeling the data via power laws revealed total publications and citations did not correlate with the ISCR, but did correlate highly with ISCs. California Institute of Technology exhibited the highest ISCR at 31%. Academic and cultural factors are discussed in relation to ISCRs.

Keywords: Authors, h-Index, Indicators, Information-Science, Journal Impact Factors, Network

? Catling, J.C., Mason, V.L. and Upton, D. (2009), Quality is in the eye of the beholder? An evaluation of impact factors and perception of journal prestige in the UK. Scientometrics, 81 (2), 333-345.

Full Text: 2009\Scientometrics81, 333.pdf

Abstract: A number of proxy measures have been used as indicators of journal quality. The most recent and commonly employed are journal impact factors. These measures are somewhat controversial, although they are frequently referred to in establishing the impact of published journal articles. Within psychology, little is known about the relationship between the ‘objective’ impact factors of journals and the ‘subjective’ ratings of prestige and perceived publishing difficulty amongst academics. In order to address this, a cross-sectional web-based survey was conducted in the UK to investigate research activity and academics’ views of journals within three fields of psychology, cognitive, health and social. Impact factors for each journal were correlated with individual academic’s perceptions of prestige and publishing difficulty for each journal. A number of variables pertaining to the individual academic and their place of work were assessed as predictors of these correlation values, including age, gender, institution type, and a measure of departmental research activity. The implications of these findings are discussed in relation to perceptions of journal prestige and publishing difficulty, higher education in general and the assessment of research activity within academic institutions.

Keywords: Citation Impact

? Ardanuy, J., Urbano, C. and Quintana, L. (2009), A citation analysis of Catalan literary studies (1974-2003): Towards a bibliometrics of humanities studies in minority languages. Scientometrics, 81 (2), 347-366.

Full Text: 2009\Scientometrics81, 347.pdf

Abstract: A citation analysis was carried out on the most important research journals in the field of Catalan literature between 1974 and 2003. The indicators and qualitative parameters obtained show the value of performing citation analysis in cultural and linguistic areas that are poorly covered by the A&HCI. Catalan literature shows a similar pattern to that of humanities in general, but it could still be in a stage of consolidation because too little work has as yet been published.

Keywords: Arts-And-Humanities, Author Self-Citations, English, Fine-Arts, Information Needs, Monographs, Patterns, Philosophy, Scholarship, Science

? Yegros, A.Y. and Amat, C.B. (2009), Editorial delay of food research papers is influenced by authors’ experience but not by country of origin of the manuscripts. Scientometrics, 81 (2), 367-380.

Full Text: 2009\Scientometrics81, 367.pdf

Abstract: Editorial delay, the time between submission and acceptance of scientific manuscripts, was investigated for a set of 4,540 papers published in 13 leading food research journals. Groups of accelerated papers were defined as those that fell in the lower quartile of the distribution of the editorial delay for the journals investigated. Delayed papers are those in the upper quartile of the distribution. Editorial stage is related to the peer review process and two variables were investigated in search of any bias in editorial review that could influence publication delay: countries of origin of the manuscript and authors’ previous publishing experience in the same journal. A ranking of countries was established based on contributions to the leading food research journals in the period 1999-2004 and four categories comprising heavy, medium, light and occasional country producers was established. Chi square tests show significant differences in country provenance of manuscripts only for one journal. The results for influence on editorial delay of cross-national research and international collaboration, conducted by means of the Fisher statistic test, were similar. A two-tailed Student’s t test shows significant differences (p < 0.05) in the distribution of experienced and novel authors across the delayed and accelerated groups of papers. Although these results are time and discipline limited, it can be concluded that authors’ publishing experience causes a faster review and acceptance of their papers and that neither country of provenance nor cross-national research influence the time involved in editorial acceptance of the papers.

Keywords: Acceptance, Assessments, Impact, Journals, Publication Bias, Stands Today, Statistical Significance, Submissions, Time, Trials

? Ball, R., Mittermaier, B. and Tunger, D. (2009), Creation of journal-based publication profiles of scientific institutions - A methodology for the interdisciplinary comparison of scientific research based on the J-factor. Scientometrics, 81 (2), 381-392.

Full Text: 2009\Scientometrics81, 381.pdf

Abstract: A form of normalisation is presented for the evaluation of citation data on multidisciplinary research. This method is based on the existing classification according to the publishing journals and not on the classification of output according to ISI subject categories. A publication profile is created for each institution to be investigated. This profile accounts for the weight of publications in a journal, represented by the number of publications as a proportion of the total output of the institution. In accordance with this weight, the citation rate of each journal is compared to a qualified relative indicator. The final result is a relative citation rate J, which is the relative perception of the performance of an institution accounting for its publication and citation habits and makes a transdisciplinary comparison possible.

Keywords: Impact, Indicators, Output

? Sombatsompop, N., Markpin, T., Wimolmala, E., Ratchatahirun, P., Premkamolnetr, N., Boonradsamee, B. and Yochai, W. (2009), Relationship on research publications and productivity-export volumes for natural rubber. Scientometrics, 81 (2), 393-405.

Full Text: 2009\Scientometrics81, 393.pdf

Abstract: This article investigated contributions of natural rubber (NR) research through research articles and patents in Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-Expanded) and SCOPUS databases and related the results with productivity-export volumes during 2002-2006. 1,771 research papers and 5,686 patents on “natural rubber” were retrieved from the databases. The results revealed that the top five countries produced the NR raw material by the order of productivity volumes were Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam and China whereas those produced the synthetic rubber were the United States, China, Japan, Russia and Germany. Among the top three countries for NR production, Malaysia became a NR producer for its own use, whereas Thailand and Indonesia still had higher export volumes. Research articles and patents on natural rubber had contribution shares of about 20.9% and 47.5% of all rubber publications, respectively. The patents on natural rubber were found to increase with time while the research articles remained unchanged. Journal of Applied Polymer Science was the most preferable for publishing the research papers on rubbers. Eight countries ranked in the top countries for contributing the research articles on natural rubber were the United States, India, Malaysia, France, Germany, Thailand, Japan and China, similar country distributions being also found for research articles on synthetic styrene-butadiene rubber except for Thailand and Malaysia. No linear relationship between the productivity-export volume and research publication number was observed, but the results implied that the growth rate for commercializing the rubber was greater than that for research and development of natural rubber. Most NR research works focused on neat NR, which was contributed the most by USA while NR blend and NR composite papers were mainly published by Indian researchers.

? Bornmann, L., Mutz, R. and Daniel, H.D. (2009), The influence of the applicants’ gender on the modeling of a peer review process by using latent Markov models. Scientometrics, 81 (2), 407-411.

Full Text: 2009\Scientometrics81, 407.pdf

Abstract: In the grant peer review process we can distinguish various evaluation stages in which assessors judge applications on a rating scale. Bornmann & al. [2008] show that latent Markov models offer a fundamentally good opportunity to model statistically peer review processes. The main objective of this short communication is to test the influence of the applicants’ gender on the modeling of a peer review process by using latent Markov models. We found differences in transition probabilities from one stage to the other for applications for a doctoral fellowship submitted by male and female applicants.

Keywords: Committee, Reliability, Selection, Validity

? Boshoff, N. (2009), Neo-colonialism and research collaboration in Central Africa. Scientometrics, 81 (2), 413-434.

Full Text: 2009\Scientometrics81, 413.pdf

Abstract: The study examines aspects of both neo-colonial ties and neo-colonial science in research papers produced by Central African countries. The primary focus is on the extent and pattern of neo-colonial ties and other foreign participation in the co-authorship of Central African research papers. The analysis revealed that 80% of Central Africa’s research papers are produced in collaboration with a partner from outside the region. Moreover, 46% of papers are produced in collaboration with European countries as the only partner, and 35% in collaboration with past colonial rulers. The top collaborating countries are France (32%), the USA (14%), and the UK and Germany (both 12%). Foreign powers also facilitate the production of regionally and continentally co-authored papers in Central Africa, where European countries participate in 77% of regionally co-authored papers. The practice of neo-colonial science, on the other hand, features in a survey of reprint authors of Cameroonian papers. The survey investigated specific contributions made by Cameroon coauthors to the research processes underlying a paper. Cameroonian researchers contribute intellectually and conceptually to the production of research papers, irrespective of whether the collaboration involves partners from past colonial or non-colonial countries. Their most frequent role in collaborative research with foreign researchers remains the conduct of fieldwork.

Keywords: Developing-Countries, Globalization, Periphery, Science, World

? Gomez-Sancho, J.M. and Mancebon-Torrubia, M.J. (2009), The evaluation of scientific production: Towards a neutral impact factor. Scientometrics,