Personal Research Database

Full Text: 2001\Scientometrics50, 345.pdf

? Egghe, L. (2001), Comments on the “Letter to the Editor” by Burrell. Scientometrics, 50 (2), 351.

Full Text: 2001\Scientometrics50, 351.pdf

Kostoff, R.N. (2001), The metrics of science and technology. Scientometrics, 50 (2), 353-361.

Full Text: 2001\Scientometrics50, 353.pdf

Egghe, L. (2001), A heuristic study of the first-citation distribution. Scientometrics, 50 (2), 363-363.

Full Text: 2001\Scientometrics50, 363.pdf

Jarneving, B. (2001), The cognitive structure of current cardiovascular research. Scientometrics, 50 (3), 365-389.

Full Text: S\Scientometrics50, 365.pdf

Abstract: This paper presents a citation analysis of the cognitive structure of current cardiovascular research. Used methods are co-citation analysis, bibliographic coupling and quantitative analysis of title words. Tables and graphs reveal: (1) The journal co-citation structure, (2) the cognitive content and the bibliometric structure of clusters based on co-citation: (3) the cognitive content and the bibliometric structure of clusters based on bibliographic coupling. A predominance of different research aspects on coronary artery disease was found in clusters based on co-citations as well as in dusters based on bibliographic coupling

Keywords: Bibliometric, Citation, Methods, Research, Science, Scientific Literatures, Scientometrics

? Ojasoo, T., Maisonneuve, H. and Dore, J.C. (2001), Evaluating publication trends in clinical research: How reliable are medical databases? Scientometrics, 50 (3), 391-404.

Full Text: 2001\Scientometrics50, 391.pdf

Abstract: The aim of this study was to draw attention to the possible existence of “quirks” in bibliographic databases and to discuss their implications. We analysed the time-trends of “publication types” (PTs) relating to clinical medicine in the most frequently searched medical database, MEDLINE. We counted the number of entries corresponding to 10 PTs indexed in MEDLINE (1963-1998) and drew up a matrix of [10 PTs x 36 years] which we analysed by correspondence factor analysis (CFA). The analysis showed that, although the “internal clock” of the database was broadly consistent, there were periods of erratic activity. Thus, observed trends might not always reflect true publication trends in clinical medicine but quirks in MEDLINE indexing of PTs. There may be, for instance, different limits for retrospective tagging of entries relating to different PTs. The time-trend for Reviews of Reported Cases differed substantially from that of other publication types. Despite the quirks, quite rational explanations could be provided for the strongest correlations among PTs. The main factorial map revealed how the advent of the Randomised Controlled Trial (RCT) and the accumulation of a critical mass of literature may have increased the rate of publication of research syntheses (meta-analyses, practice guidelines...). The RCT is now the “gold standard” in clinical investigation and is often a key component of formal “systematic reviews” of the literature. Medical journal editors have largely contributed to this situation and thus helped to foster the birth and development of a new paradigm, “evidence based medicine” which assumes that expert opinion is biased and therefore relies heavily - virtually exclusively on critical analysis of the peer-reviewed literature. Our exploratory factor analysis, however, leads us to question the consistency of MEDLINE’s indexing procedures and also the rationale for MEDLINE’s choice of descriptors. Databases have biases of their own, some of which are not independent of expert opinion. User-friendliness should not make us forget that outputs depend on how the databases are constructed and structured.

Keywords: Countries, Database, Databases, Factor Analysis, Literature, Medical, Medicine, Medline, Paradigm, Publication, Research, Science

? dos Santos, N.F. and Rumjanek, V.M. (2001), Brazilian immunology: One hundred years later. Scientometrics, 50 (3), 405-418.

Full Text: 2001\Scientometrics50, 405.pdf

Abstract: Brazilian immunology dates from the end of the 19(th) century. The aim of the present paper was to analyze the impact of this field in contemporary Brazilian biomedical research. For this, a 15 years period (1981-1995) was studied. Production of immunological articles in Brazil represented in 1995 a percentage of 8.66 of total papers in biomedical sciences in this country. This level was achieved by an exponential increase in 1991 in the number of papers in immunology followed by a steady increase in the subsequent years. This growth was only observed in articles published in international immunology journals listed by ISI, a similar increase did not occur when the most representative Brazilian journal in biomedical sciences was analyzed. The production in immunology in the last five years (1991-1995) represented 60.69% of total articles in this field published in the whole 15 years period. When quality was assessed based on impact factor of the journals were the articles appeared, 52.71% of total immunology papers had been published in journals with impact factors varying between 7.29 and 3.24. A higher degree of international co-authorship was seen both in articles published in international journals and presentations at international congresses compared to national ones. The main countries collaborating with Brazil were: EUA. England and France. Within Brazil, immunology research was not equally distributed. Around 80% of the articles were produced by four states (Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Minas Gerais and Bahia). Sao Paulo being responsible for more than half of those articles. This geographic distribution closely resembles the distribution of the Brazilian Society of Immunology (SBI) membership. The main field of study throughout the period was immunoparasitotogy.

Keywords: Articles, Biomedical Research, Co-Authorship, France, Impact, Impact Factor, Impact Factors, ISI, Journals, Research

? Wagner-Dobler, R. (2001), Rescher’s principle of decreasing marginal returns of scientific research. Scientometrics, 50 (3), 419-436.

Full Text: 2001\Scientometrics50, 419.pdf

Abstract: In his book “Scientific Progress”. Rescher (1978, German ed. 1982, French ed. 1993) developed a principle of decreasing marginal returns of scientific research, which is based, inter alia. on a law of logarithmic returns and on Lotka’s law in a certain interpretation. In the present paper, the historical precursors and the meaning of the principle are sketched out. It is reported on some empirical case studies concerning the principle spread over the literature. New bibliometric data are used about 19th-century mathematics and physics. They confirm Rescher’s principle apart From the early phases of the disciplines where a square root law seems to be more applicable. The implication of the principle that the returns of different quality levels grow the slower, the higher the level, is valid. However, the time-derivative ratio between (logarithmized) investment in terms of manpower and returns in terms of first-rate contributors seems not to be linear, but rather to fluctuate vividly, pointing to the cyclical nature of scientific progress. With regard to Rescher’s principle, in the light of bibliometric indicators no difference occurs between a natural science like physics and a formal science like mathematics. From mathematical progress of the 19th century, constant or increasing returns in the form of new formulas, theorems and axioms are observed, which leads to a complementary interpretation of the principle of decreasing marginal returns as a principle of scientific “mass production”.

Keywords: Bibliometric, Bibliometric Indicators, Case Studies, Law, Literature, Lotka’S Law, Mathematics, Research, Science

? Huber, J.C. and Wagner-Dobler, R. (2001), Scientific production: A statistical analysis of authors in physics, 1800-1900. Scientometrics, 50 (3), 437-453.

Full Text: 2001\Scientometrics50, 437.pdf

Abstract: We show that scientific production can be described by two variables: rate of production (rate of publications) and career duration. For 19(th) century physicists, we show that the time pattern of production is random and Poisson distributed, contrary to the theory of cumulative advantage. We show that the exponential distribution provides excellent goodness-of-fit to rate of production and career duration. The good fits to these distributions can be explained naturally from the statistics of exceedances. Thus, more powerful statistical tests and a better theoretical foundation is obtained for rate of production and career duration than has been the case for Lotka’s Law.

Keywords: Publications, Scientific Production, Statistics, Theory

? van Dalen, H.P. and Henkens, K. (2001), What makes a scientific article influential? The case of demographers. Scientometrics, 50 (3), 455-482.

Full Text: 2001\Scientometrics50, 455.pdf

Abstract: In this paper we examine, by means of a citation analysis, which factors influence the impact of articles published in demography journals between 1990 and 1992. Several quantifiable characteristics of the articles (characteristics with respect to authors, visibility, content and journals) are strongly related to their subsequent impact in the social sciences. Articles are most frequently cited when they deal with empirical, ahistorical research focusing on populations in the developed world, when they are prominently placed in a journal issue, when they are written in English and when they appear in core demography journals. Furthermore, although eminent scholars are likely to be cited on the basis of their reputation, the effect of reputation appears to be small in demography.

Keywords: Articles, Citation, Citation Analysis, Core, Impact, Journals, Origins, Research, Research Productivity, Social Sciences, Social-Science, Visibility

? Stegmann, J. and Grohmann, G. (2001), Citation rates, knowledge export and international visibility of dermatology journals listed and not listed in the Journal Citation Reports. Scientometrics, 50 (3), 483-502.

Full Text: 2001\Scientometrics50, 483.pdf

Abstract: Publication and citation data for the thirty journals listed in the Dermatology gr Venereal Diseases category of the 1996 edition of the Journal Citation Reports (JCR) on CDROM and seven dermatology journals not listed in the JCR-1996 were retrieved online from DIMDI and analysed with respect to short- and long-term impact factors, ratios of cited to uncited papers, as well as knowledge export and international visibility. The short-term impact factors (calculated according to the rules applied in the JCR) are very similiar to their JCR counterparts: thus there are only minor changes in the rankings according to JCR impact factors and those calculated on the basis of online data, The non-JCR journals rank within the upper (two titles) and the lower third of the 37 journals (one title being at the upper end of the last third and the other four titles being at the very end of the list). Ranking the journals according to their long-term impact factors results in no major changes of a journal’s position. Normalized mean citation rates which give a more direct impression of a journals’s citedness in relation to the average citedness of its subfield are also shown. Ratios of cited to uncited papers parallel in general the impact factors, i.e., journals with higher (constructed) impact factors have a higher percentage of cited papers. For each journal, the Gini concentration coefficient was calculated as a measure of unevenness of the citation distribution. In general, journals with higher (constructed) impact factors have higher Gini coefficients, i.e., the higher the impact factors the more uneven the citation distribution. Knowledge export and international visibility were measured by determination of the distinct categories to which the citing journals have been assigned (“citing subfields”) and of the distinct countries to which the citing authors belong (“citing countries”), respectively. Each journal exhibits a characteristic profile of citing subfields and citing countries, Normalized rankings based on knowledge export and international visibility (relating the number of published papers to the number of distinct subfields and distinct countries) are to a large extent different compared to the impact factor rankings. It is concluded that the additional data given, especially the data on knowledge export and international visibility, are necessary ingredients of a comprehensive description of a journal’s significance and its position within its subject category.

Keywords: Citation, Dermatology, Impact, Impact Factor, Impact Factors, Indicators, Journal Citation Reports, Journals, Ranking, Rankings, Scientific Journals, Visibility

Kim, M.J. (2001), A bibliometric analysis of physics publications in Korea, 1994-1998. Scientometrics, 50 (3), 503-521.

Full Text: 2001\Scientometrics50, 503.pdf

Abstract: This study examined research performance of Korean physicists, comparing Korean-authored papers versus internationally co-authored papers, indexed in SCI, 1994-1998, and using thenumber of citations received by internationally co-authored papers covered by the SCI CD-ROM. For the study, 4,665 papers published from the researchers affiliated with the physics departments or physics-associated laboratories at Korean universities and indexed by SCI were analyzed. Korean authored papers tended to be published in Korean, Japanese, and UK journals, while internationally co-authored papers were more likely to appear in German, Dutch, and Swiss journals. Among the 18 authorship countries (on the basis of first author), 93 internationally co-authored papers by U.S. researchers had the highest citation rate, an average 15.9 citations per paper. Of the eight countries that published over 5 papers, there was no correlation between the average number of citations per paper and the total number of citations. However, an ANOVA indicated a significant difference between the average number of citations per paper according to country (F = 5.84, p < 0.0005). In other words, papers by the U.S. and French researchers tended to be cited more frequently than papers by the Italian, Japanese, Korean, Russian, and German researchers.

Hornbostel, S. (2001), Third party funding of German universities. An indicator of research activity? Scientometrics, 50 (3), 523-537.

Full Text: S\Scientometrics50, 523.pdf

Abstract: This article focusses on third party funding of research in German universities. The central question is, whether funding data can function as suitable indicators for the measurement of research performance of university departments. After a brief description of the importance and the extent of third party funding in the German system of research funding, the quality of data is discussed and the funding indicator is compared with bibliometric indicators. Resultened, one can say that in subjects where external funding of research is usual, the funding indicator points to the same direction as other indicators do. Because of the peer review process involved in grant awarding, a funding indicator is in many subjects a suitable indicator to evaluate R&D impacts.

? Vinkler, P. (2001), An attempt for defining some basic categories of scientometrics and classifying the indicators of evaluative scientometrics. Scientometrics, 50 (3), 539-544.

Full Text: 2001\Scientometrics50, 539.pdf

Keywords: Big Scientometrics, Scientometrics

? Burrell, Q.L. (2001), Two problems posed by Egghe. Scientometrics, 50 (3), 545-550.

Full Text: 2001\Scientometrics50, 545.pdf

? Egghe, L. (2001), Comments on the “Letter to the Editor” by Burrell. Scientometrics, 50 (3), 551-552.

Full Text: 2001\Scientometrics50, 551.pdf

? Moed, H.F. (2001), Proceedings of the Sixth International Conference on Science and Technology Indicators - Introduction. Scientometrics, 51 (1), 5-8.

Full Text: 2001\Scientometrics51, 5.pdf

Keywords: International, Science, Technology

? Amaral, L.A.N., Gopikrishnan, P., Matia, K., Plerou, V. and Stanley, H.E. (2001), Application of statistical physics methods and concepts to the study of science & technology systems. Scientometrics, 51 (1), 9-36.

Full Text: 2001\Scientometrics51, 9.pdf

Abstract: We apply methods and concepts of statistical physics to the study of science & technology (S&T) systems. Specifically, our research is motivated by two concepts of fundamental importance in modern statistical physics: scaling and universality. We try to identify robust, universal, characteristics of the evolution of S&T systems that can provide guidance to forecasting the impact of changes in funding. We quantify the production of research in a novel fashion inspired by our previous study of the growth dynamics of business firms. We study the production of research from the point of view both of inputs (R&D funding) and of outputs (publications and patents) and find the existence of scaling laws describing the growth of these quantities. We also analyze R&D systems of different countries to test the “universality” of our results. We hypothesize that the proposed methods may be particularly useful for fields of S&T (or for levels of aggregation) for which either not enough information is available, or for which evolution is so fast that there is not enough time to collect enough data to make an informed decision.

Keywords: Alzheimer-Disease, Growth Dynamics, Impact, Indicators, Journal Impact Factors, Law, Long-Range Correlations, Patents, Publications, R&D, Rates, Research, Research Performance, Scaling Behavior, Science, Senile Plaques, Technology

? Bonitz, M. and Scharnhorst, A. (2001), Competition in science and the Matthew core journals. Scientometrics, 51 (1), 37-54.

Full Text: 2001\Scientometrics51, 37.pdf

Abstract: Competition is one of the most essential features of science. A new journal indicator - the “number of Matthew citations in a journal” was found that reflects certain aspects of this competition. The indicator mirrors the competition of countries in scientific journals for recognition in terms of seemingly “redistributed” citations. The indicator shows, as do other journal indicators, an extreme skewed distribution over an ensemble of 2712 SCI journals. Half of all Matthew citations are contained in 144 so-called Matthew core journals. In this paper, a new typology of scientific journals, including the Matthew core journals, is introduced. For a few selected journals, graphs are presented showing national impact factors as well as the absolute number of Matthew citations gained or lost by the countries publishing in the journal. Scientific competition among countries for recognition is strongest in the Matthew core journals, they ate the most competitive markets for scientific publications. Conclusions are drawn for national science policy, for the journal acquisition policy of national libraries, and for the publication behaviour of individual scientists.

Keywords: Citations, Competition, Core, Impact, Impact Factors, Journals, National Science, Publication, Publications, Publishing, Sci, Science, Scientific Journals, Scientific Publications

? Buter, R.K. and Noyons, E.C.M. (2001), Improving the functionality of interactive bibliometric science maps. Scientometrics, 51 (1), 55-68.

Full Text: 2001\Scientometrics51, 55.pdf

Abstract: The use of a map as a metaphor of a scientific field is an established idea and using it as an interface to bibliometric data seems to have great potential. Nevertheless, our own implementation of such an interface came up with some limits inhibiting the user to comprehend as to what he was looking at. As a result, the map was not used to its fullest potential. The implementation described in this paper as a high-level (conceptual) design, addresses the problems noted by users. It combines both top-down and bottom-up access to the bibliometric data, something we see as vital to mapping internal knowledge onto the external depiction and vice versa. And as such, it becomes a more complete tool to explore the mapped scientific field and to find and retrieve relevant information.

Keywords: Bibliometric, Mapping, Science

? Glänzel, W. (2001), National characteristics in international scientific co-authorship relations. Scientometrics, 51 (1), 69-115.

Full Text: 2001\Scientometrics51, 69.pdf

Abstract: The main objective of this study is the elaboration of national characteristics in international scientific co-authorship relations. An attempt is made to find statistical evidence of symmetry and asymmetry in co-publication links, of the relation between international co-authorship and both national research profiles and citation impact. Four basic types can be distinguished in the relative specialisation of domestic and internationally co-authored publications of 50 most active countries in 1995/96 concerning the significance of the difference between the two profiles. Co-publication maps reveal structural changes in international co-authorship links in the last decade. Besides stable links and coherent clusters, new nodes and links have also been found. Not all links between individual countries are symmetric. Specific (unidirectional) co-authorship affinity could also be detected in several countries. As expected, international co-authorship, on an average, results in publications with higher citation rates than purely domestic papers. However, the influence of international collaboration on the national citation impact varies considerably between the countries (and within one individual country between fields). In some cases there is, however, no citation advantage for one or even for both partners.

Keywords: Citation, Citation Impact, Co-Authorship, Collaboration, Impact, International Collaboration, Publications, Research

Koehler, W. (2001), Information science as ‘Little Science ‘: The implications of a bibliometric analysis of the Journal of the American Society for Information Science. Scientometrics, 51 (1), 117-132.

Full Text: 2001\Scientometrics51, 117.pdf

Abstract: This paper considers the status of information science as science through an exploration of one of the leading journals in the field - the Journal of the American Society for Information Science (JASIS) from its initial publication as American Documentation (AD) in 1950 through the closing issue of its Silver Anniversary year in December 1999, It is a bibliometric examination of AD, JASIS articles. Based on our analysis of articles published in AD and JASIS from 1950 to 1999, we find that there has been a slow but perhaps inevitable shift based first on the single nonfunded researcher and author to a much wider research and publishing participation among authors, regions, corporate authors, and countries. This suggests not only cross-fertilization of ideas, but also more complex research questions. A small trend toward greater external funding further reinforces this hypothesis. Information may no longer be ‘little’ science, but it is also not ‘big’ science

Keywords: Authorship, Bibliometric, Bibliometric Analysis, Citation Analysis, Cocitation, Countries, Jasis, Journals, Library, Publication, Publishing, Research, Scientific Literature, Scientometrics

Kortelainen, T.A.M. (2001), Studying the international diffusion of a national scientific journal. Scientometrics, 51 (1), 133-146.

Full Text: 2001\Scientometrics51, 133.pdf

Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to apply concepts of the diffusion of innovations research in the study of the international diffusion of a formerly national scientific journal, Annales Zoologici Fennici. The study was conducted using bibliometric methodology. The diffusion of the journal was described through citations of the journal and through the development of the national distribution of its contributors. The compatibility of the journal as well as the decrease of complexity were found to have an influence on diffusion. Bibliometric methods were able to represent the international diffusion of a scientific journal

Keywords: Bibliometric, Citation, Citations, Methods, Research, Scientometrics

? Mabe, M. and Amin, M. (2001), Growth dynamics of scholarly and scientific journals. Scientometrics,