Personal Research Database

Full Text: 2011\Scientometrics86, 299.pdf

Abstract: China is becoming a leading nation in terms of its share of the world’s publications in the emerging nanotechnology domain. This paper demonstrates that the international rise of China’s position in nanotechnology has been underwritten by the emergence of a series of regional hubs of nanotechnology R&D activity within the country. We develop a unique database of Chinese nanotechnology articles covering the period 1990 to mid-2006 to identify the regional distribution of nanotechnology research in China. To build this database, a new approach was developed to clean and standardize the geographical allocation of Chinese publication records. We then analyze the data to understand the regional development of nanotechnology research in China over our study period and to map interregional and international research collaboration linkages. We find that the geographical distribution of China’s domestic nanotechnology research is characterized by regional imbalance, with most of the leading regions located in eastern China, including not only Beijing and Shanghai but also a series of other new regional hubs. There is much less development of nanotechnology research in central and western China. Beijing, Shanghai, and Hong Kong are among the leading Chinese regions for international nanotechnology research collaboration. Other Chinese nanotechnology regions are less focused on international collaboration, although they have developed domestic interregional collaborations. Although new regional research hubs have emerged in the nanotechnology domain, the paper notes that their concentration in eastern China reinforces existing imbalances in science and technology capabilities in China, and in turn this may further reinforce the dominant position of eastern China in the commercialization of new technologies such as nanotechnology.

Keywords: Allocation, Approach, Bibliometric Analysis, China, Chinese, Co-Authorship, Collaboration, Collaborations, Concentration, Country, Data, Database, Development, Distribution, Growth, Hong Kong, Infrastructure, International, Nanoscience, Nanotechnology, Nanotechnology Research, Networks, Patterns, Publication, Publications, Records, Regional, Regional Development, Research, Research Collaboration, Science, Science And Technology, Technologies, Technology

? Hsu, J.W. and Huang, D.W. (2011), Correlation between impact and collaboration. Scientometrics, 86 (2), 317-324.

Full Text: 2011\Scientometrics86, 317.pdf

Abstract: We obtained data of statistical significance to verify the intuitive impression that collaboration leads to higher impact. We selected eight scientific journals to analyze the correlations between the number of citations and the number of coauthors. For different journals, the single-authored articles always contained the lowest citations. The citations to those articles with fewer than five coauthors are lower than the average citations of the journal. We also provided a simple measurement to the value of authorship with regards to the increase number of citations. Compared to the citation distribution, similar but smaller fluctuations appeared in the coauthor distribution. Around 70% of the citations were accumulated in 30% of the papers, while 60% of the coauthors appeared in 40% of the papers. We find that predicting the citation number from the coauthor number can be more reliable than predicting the coauthor number from the citation number. For both citation distribution and coauthor distribution, the standard deviation is larger than the average value. We caution the use of such an unrepresentative average value. The average value can be biased significantly by extreme minority, and might not reflect the majority.

Keywords: Authorship, Citation, Citations, Coauthorship, Coauthorship, Collaboration, Correlations, Data, Distribution, Impact, Journal, Journals, Measurement, Papers, Scientific Journals, Significance, Standard, Value

? Buter, R.K., Noyons, C.M. and Van Raan, A.F.J. (2011), Searching for converging research using field to field citations. Scientometrics, 86 (2), 325-338.

Full Text: 2011\Scientometrics86, 325.pdf

Abstract: We define converging research as the emergence of an interdisciplinary research area from fields that did not show interdisciplinary connections before. This paper presents a process to search for converging research using journal subject categories as a proxy for fields and citations to measure interdisciplinary connections, as well as an application of this search. The search consists of two phases: a quantitative phase in which pairs of citing and cited fields are located that show a significant change in number of citations, followed by a qualitative phase in which thematic focus is sought in publications associated with located pairs. Applying this search on publications from the Web of Science published between 1995 and 2005, 38 candidate converging pairs were located, 27 of which showed thematic focus, and 20 also showed a similar focus in the other, reciprocal pair.

Keywords: Application, Citations, Convergence, Dynamics, Emergence, Field, Impact, Interdisciplinarity, Interdisciplinary, Interdisciplinary Research, Journal, Journal Subject Categories, Measure, Model, Nanotechnology, Non-Linear Growth, Patterns, Physics, Publication, Publications, Qualitative, Research, Research Areas, Research Focus, Science, Web of Science

? Franceschini, F. and Maisano, D. (2011), Criticism on the hg-index. Scientometrics, 86 (2), 339-346.

Full Text: 2011\Scientometrics86, 339.pdf

Abstract: Although composition of bibliometric indicators appears to be desirable, in many cases it may be misleading. After a brief introduction on the properties of scales of measurement, the attention of this communication is focused on a recent composite indicator, the hg-index, suggested by Alonso et al. (Scientometrics 82(2):391-400, 2010). Specifically, hg-index has three major criticalities: (1) the hg scale is the result of a composition of the h- and g-indices, which are defined both on ordinal scales, (2) the equivalence classes of hg are questionable and the substitution rate between h and g may arbitrarily change depending on the specific h and g values, (3) the apparent increase in granularity of hg, with respect to h and g, is illusory and misleading. Argument is supported by several examples.

Keywords: Bibliometric, Bibliometric Indicators, Bibliometrics, Communication, Composite, Composite Indicator, Composition, G-Index, h-Index, hg-Index, Hirsch Index, Indicator, Indicator Composition, Indicators, Measurement, Ordinal Scale, Recent, Scale, Scale Granularity, Scales, Scales of Measurement, Scientometrics, Substitution

? Abramo, G. and D’Angelo, C.A. (2011), National-scale research performance assessment at the individual level. Scientometrics, 86 (2), 347-364.

Full Text: 2011\Scientometrics86, 347.pdf

Abstract: There is an evident and rapid trend towards the adoption of evaluation exercises for national research systems for purposes, among others, of improving allocative efficiency in public funding of individual institutions. However the desired macroeconomic aims could be compromised if internal redistribution of government resources within each research institution does not follow a consistent logic: the intended effects of national evaluation systems can result only if a “funds for quality” rule is followed at all levels of decision-making. The objective of this study is to propose a bibliometric methodology for: (i) large-scale comparative evaluation of research performance by individual scientists, research groups and departments within research institution, to inform selective funding allocations, and (ii) assessment of strengths and weaknesses by field of research, to inform strategic planning and control. The proposed methodology has been applied to the hard science disciplines of the Italian university research system for the period 2004-2006.

Keywords: Adoption, Assessment, Bibliometric, Bibliometric Indicators, Bibliometrics, Control, Decision Making, Decision-Making, Efficiency, Evaluation, Exercises, Field, Funding, Institutions, Italy, Logic, Methodology, Output, Performance, Planning, Public, Redistribution, Research, Research Assessment Exercises, Research Funding, Research Performance, Resources, Science, Strategic, Strategic Planning, Systems, Trend, University

? Chen, Y.C., Yeh, H.Y., Wu, J.C., Haschler, I., Chen, T.J. and Wetter, T. (2011), Taiwan’s National Health Insurance Research Database: Administrative health care database as study object in bibliometrics. Scientometrics, 86 (2), 365-380.

Full Text: 2011\Scientometrics86, 365.pdf

Abstract: The trend to use administrative health care databases as research material is increasing but not well explored. Taiwan’s National Health Insurance Research Database (NHIRD), one of the largest administrative health care databases around the world, has been used widely in academic studies. This study analyzed 383 NHIRD studies published between 2000 and 2009 to quantify the effects on overall growth, scholar response, and spread of the study fields. The NHIRD studies expanded rapidly in both quantity and quality since the first study was published in 2000. Researchers usually collaborated to share knowledge, which was crucial to process the NHIRD data. However, once the fundamental problem had been overcome, success to get published became more reproducible. NHIRD studies were also published diversely in a growing number of journals. Both general health and clinical science studies benefited from NIIIRD. In conclusion, this new research material widely promotes scientific production in a greater magnitude. The experience of Taiwan’s NHIRD should encourage national- or institutional-level data holders to consider re-using their administrative databases for academic purposes.

Keywords: Administrative Health Care Database, Bibliometric Analysis, Bibliometrics, Care, Clinical, Data, Database, Databases, Epidemiologic Research, Experience, First, General, Growth, Health, Health Care, Journals, Knowledge, Knowledge Growth, National Health Insurance Research Database, Pharmacoepidemiology, Quality, Research, Research Material, Science, Scientific Production, Secondary Data Sources, Trend, World

? Hsieh, C.M. (2011), Explicitly searching for useful inventions: Dynamic relatedness and the costs of connecting versus synthesizing. Scientometrics, 86 (2), 381-404.

Full Text: 2011\Scientometrics86, 381.pdf

Abstract: Inventions combine technological features. When features are barely related, burdensomely broad knowledge is required to identify the situations that they share. When features are overly related, burdensomely broad knowledge is required to identify the situations that distinguish them. Thus, according to my first hypothesis, when features are moderately related, the costs of connecting and costs of synthesizing are cumulatively minimized, and the most useful inventions emerge. I also hypothesize that continued experimentation with a specific set of features is likely to lead to the discovery of decreasingly useful inventions, the earlier-identified connections reflect the more common consumer situations. Covering data from all industries, the empirical analysis provides broad support for the first hypothesis. Regressions to test the second hypothesis are inconclusive when examining industry types individually. Yet, this study represents an exploratory investigation, and future research should test refined hypotheses with more sophisticated data, such as that found in literature-based discovery research.

Keywords: Analysis, Connections, Costs, Count Data, Data, Discovery, Dynamic, First, Indicators, Innovative Activities, Inventions, Investigation, Knowledge, Lead, Learning-Curve, Linkage, Literature-Based Discovery, Opportunity Recognition, Patent Citations, Patents, Performance, Relatedness, Research, Science-and-Technology, Search, Support

? Hosotsubo, M. (2011), A statistical study of transferral and promotion mechanisms relating to the appointment of professors at Japanese national universities based on cross tabulation and log-linear model analysis. Scientometrics, 86 (2), 405-430.

Full Text: 2011\Scientometrics86, 405.pdf

Abstract: The aim of this study is to use the Japanese university employee list (published by Kojunsha) to compile a database of teacher transferrals in higher education (HM-DB) at 9 points in time over the 21-year period from 1988 to 2008, and then to use this database to assess and analyze the status of national university teachers immediately before and after assuming office as professors in order to gain some understanding of the transferral mechanisms of teachers at Japan’s national universities. From the results of cross-tabulation analysis, it has become clear that a growing proportion of transfers involving the appointment of professors involve movements between very similar universities (transferral blocking phenomenon), and that there is a growing tendency for professorial appointments to involve a migration from universities with a lower share of published research papers to universities with a higher share. Also, by constructing a log-linear model and performing a residual analysis, we have found that although these trends are clearly apparent, they do not yet have a great deal of influence.

Keywords: Analysis, Appointment of Professors To National Universities, Cross Tabulation, Database, Education, Higher Education, Log Linear Model, Mechanisms, Migration, Model, Papers, Promotion, Research, Transferral, Trends, Understanding, Universities, University

? Halilem, N., Amara, N. and Landry, R. (2011), Is the academic Ivory Tower becoming a managed structure? A nested analysis of the variance in activities of researchers from natural sciences and engineering in Canada. Scientometrics, 86 (2), 431-448.

Full Text: 2011\Scientometrics86, 431.pdf

Abstract: As an adaptation to its new environment, universities have engaged in various organisational innovations and taken a more active role in the orientation of the researcher. The emerging institutional management imposes specific constraints and opportunities for researchers. Thus, the impact of institutional membership, notably on the different institutional policies, is increasingly a dominant force in academic working lives. However, some scholars have argued that the context of researchers remains an Ivory Tower situation, where academic working life is defined through the twin discourse of academic freedom and professional autonomy. This article analyses the activities of research faculty members funded by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, in comparison to the theories that contribute to the explanation of researchers’ behaviour. By using intra-class correlation, which is based on a multi-level analysis of the variance distribution, we find that the grouping effect is still small. In other words, despite the emerging constraints and opportunities determined by their institutional context, researchers still exist in an Ivory Tower, where the explanation of their behaviour is still a matter of individual differences.

Keywords: Adaptation, Analyses, Analysis, Autonomy, Behaviour, Canada, Comparison, Context, Correlation, Discourse, Distribution, Engineering, Environment, Explanation, Faculty, Force, Freedom, Higher-Education, Impact, Institutional Management, Intellectual Property, Ivory Tower, Life, Management, Multi-Level Variance Analysis, Natural, Nested, Policies, Research, Research Productivity, Research Selectivity, Research University, Role, Sciences, Small, Spin-Offs, Structure, Time Allocation, Triple-Helix Indicators, Twin, UK Universities, Universities

? Sugimoto, C.R. (2011), Looking across communicative genres: A call for inclusive indicators of interdisciplinarity. Scientometrics, 86 (2), 449-461.

Full Text: 2011\Scientometrics86, 449.pdf

Abstract: Disciplines vary in the types of communicative genres they use to disseminate knowledge and citing patterns used within these genres. However, citation analyses have predominately relied on the references and citations of one type of communicative genre. It is argued that this is particularly problematic for studies of interdisciplinarity, where analyses bias the disciplines that communicate using the genre under investigation. This may lead to inaccurate or incomplete results in terms of fully understanding the interrelationships between disciplines. This study analyzes a set of 15,870 references from 97 US dissertations, in order to demonstrate the difference in discipline and author rankings, based on the genre under investigation. This work encourages future work that takes into account multiple citing and cited works, especially where indicators of interdisciplinarity are used for the allocation of resources or ranking of scholars.

Keywords: Allocation, Analyses, Bias, Citation, Citation Analysis, Citations, Collaboration, Communicative Genres, Disciplinarity, Indicators, Interdisciplinarity, Investigation, Knowledge, LC Class, Lead, Map, Networks, Ranking, Rankings, References, Resources, Science, Understanding, US, Work

? Franceschini, F. and Maisano, D. (2011), Bibliometric positioning of scientific manufacturing journals: A comparative analysis. Scientometrics, 86 (2), 463-485.

Full Text: 2011\Scientometrics86, 463.pdf

Abstract: This article analyzes some of the most popular scientific journals in the Manufacturing field from the point of view of four bibliometric indicators: the ISI impact factor (ISI-IF), the Hirsch (h) index-for-journal, the total number of citations and the h-spectrum. h-spectrum is a novel tool based on h, making it possible to (i) identify a reference profile of the typical authors of a journal, (ii) compare different journals and (iii) provide a rough indication of their “bibliometric positioning” in the scientific community. Results of this analysis can be helpful for guiding potential authors and members of the scientific community in the Manufacturing area. Of particular interest is the construction of maps based on h-spectrum and IST-IF to compare journals and monitor their bibliometric positioning over time. A large amount of empirical data are presented and discussed.

Keywords: Analysis, Authors, Bibliometric, Bibliometric Indicators, Bibliometric Positioning, Bibliometrics, Citations, Community, Construction, Data, Distributions, Field, h-Index, Hirsch, Hirsch Index, Hirsch Spectrum, Hirsch-Index, Impact, Impact Factor, Indication, Indicators, Isi, Journal, Journal Authors, Journals, Manufacturing, Manufacturing Journal, Potential, Reference, Scientific Journals, Tail

? Bartneck, C. (2011), The end of the beginning: A reflection on the first five years of the HRI conference. Scientometrics, 86 (2), 487-504.

Full Text: 2011\Scientometrics86, 487.pdf

Abstract: This study presents a historical overview of the International Conference on Human Robot Interaction (HRI). It summarizes its growth, internationalization and collaboration. Rankings for countries, organizations and authors are provided. Furthermore, an analysis of the military funding for HRI papers is performed. Approximately 20% of the papers are funded by the US Military. The proportion of papers from the US is around 65% and the dominant role of the US is only challenged by the strong position of Japan, in particular by the contributions by AIR.

Keywords: Air, Analysis, Authors, Bibliometrics, Collaboration, Conference, First, Funding, Google Scholar, Growth, HRI, Impact, Index, Internationalization, Japan, Military, Papers, Rankings, Reflection, Role, Science, US

? Glänzel, W. and Zhou, P. (2011), Publication activity, citation impact and bi-directional links between publications and patents in biotechnology. Scientometrics, 86 (2), 505-525.

Full Text: 2011\Scientometrics86, 505.pdf

Abstract: The study focuses on publication activity, citation impact and citation links between publications and patents in biotechnology. The European Union (EU), US, Japan and China are the most important global players. However, the landscape is changing since the EU and the US are losing ground because of challenges from a group of emerging economies. National profiles differ between the two groups of main players and upcoming countries, the focus on red biotechnology in the US and Europe is contrasted by propensity for white and green technology in Asia. Furthermore, the subject profile of biotechnology papers citing patents and cited by patents as well as the relationship between patent citations and citation impact in scientific literature is explored. Papers that cite patents tend to reflect propensity towards white biotechnology while patent-cited publications have a higher relative share in red biotechnology. No significant difference concerning the citation impact of publications ‘citing patents’ and ‘not citing patents’ can be found. This is contrasted by the observation that patent-cited papers perform distinctly better in terms of standard bibliometric indicators than comparable publications that are not linked to technology in this direction.

Keywords: Asia, Bibliometric, Bibliometric Analysis, Bibliometric Indicators, Biology, Biotechnology, China, Citation, Citation Impact, Citations, Eu, Europe, European Union, Germany, Impact, Indicators, International Collaboration, Japan, Knowledge-Base, Landscape, Literature, Observation, Papers, Patent, Patent Citation, Patent Citations, Patents, Profiles, Publication, Publication Activity, Publications, Red Biotechnology, Science Fields, Science-Technology Linkage, Scientific Literature, Standard, Statistics, Technology, US

? Kenna, R. and Berche, B. (2011), Critical mass and the dependency of research quality on group size. Scientometrics, 86 (2), 527-540.

Full Text: 2011\Scientometrics86, 527.pdf

Abstract: Academic research groups are treated as complex systems and their cooperative behaviour is analysed from a mathematical and statistical viewpoint. Contrary to the naive expectation that the quality of a research group is simply given by the mean calibre of its individual scientists, we show that intra-group interactions play a dominant role. Our model manifests phenomena akin to phase transitions which are brought about by these interactions, and which facilitate the quantification of the notion of critical mass for research groups. We present these critical masses for many academic areas. A consequence of our analysis is that overall research performance of a given discipline is improved by supporting medium-sized groups over large ones, while small groups must strive to achieve critical mass.

Keywords: Agence D’Evaluation De La Recherche Et De L’Enseignement Superieur, Analysis, Behaviour, Complex Systems, Critical Mass in Research, Dependency, Dynamics, Model, Notion, Performance, Phase Transitions, Quality, Quality of, Quantification, Research, Research Assessment Exercise, Research Excellence Framework, Research Funding, Research Performance, Research Policy, Research Quality, Role, Size, Small, Systems

? Pouris, A. and Pouris, A. (2011), Scientometrics of a pandemic: HIV/AIDS research in South Africa and the World. Scientometrics, 86 (2), 541-552.

Full Text: 2011\Scientometrics86, 541.pdf

Abstract: The HIV/AIDS pandemic is of international interest with the 2008 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine having being awarded for the discovery of the virus that causes AIDS. South Africa has a particular interest in the field of HIV/AIDS research as it is the country with the largest number of HIV infections in the world and the issue has created a number of political and scientific debates. This investigation identifies the state of HIV/ AIDS related research in South Africa vis-a-vis the rest of the world using evaluative scientometrics in order to inform relevant policy. South Africa is identified as producing an increasing number of HIV/AIDS related publications, making it one of the most prolific fields in the country. The rest of the world appears to have stabilized its research efforts after the development of highly active antiretroviral therapies. The USA is identified as the main producer of HIV/AIDS research while Europe appears to under-emphasise the issue. Comparison of the world’s most prolific universities with those in South Africa identifies that the latter has a fragmented system. A number of policy issues are discussed.

Keywords: Africa, Aid, Aids, Country, Development, Discovery, Europe, Field, Highly Active, HIV, HIV Infections, HIV, AIDS, Human Immunodeficiency Virus, Infections, International, Investigation, Medicine, Physiology, Policy, Publications, Research, Science Policy, Scientometrics, South Africa, State, Universities, USA, World

? Fiala, D. (2011), Mining citation information from CiteSeer data. Scientometrics,