Personal Research Database

Full Text: 2004\Scientometrics59, 311.pdf

Abstract: This paper investigates two bibliometric problems: the listing of books in a specialist area (ornithology) and the determination of the citation pattern to individual authors, who often re-issue their books in later editions. James Bond, a Philadelphia ornithologist, who specialised in the birds of the West Indies, is used as an example of a naturalist whose long career led to many journal articles and enduring scientific fame through a well-known book. He also attained some unexpected notoriety through the use of his name by a popular novelist. Methods for the evaluation of his book and associated bird checklists in comparison with other similar works are presented on the basis of their citations.

Keywords: Circulation, Library

? Aleixandre, R., Valderrama, J.C., Desantes, J.M. and Torregrosa, A.J. (2004), Identification of information sources and citation patterns in the field of reciprocating internal combustion engines. Scientometrics, 59 (3), 321-336.

Full Text: 2004\Scientometrics59, 321.pdf

Abstract: Processes and technology of reciprocating internal combustion engines (ICE) constitute a research field whose characteristics regarding information production and diffusion are determined by multidisciplinarity, the existence of pseudo-technical literature and the influence of confidentiality on the presentation of research outputs. The objective of this study is to provide a quantitative and objective basis for the evaluation of research in this field. This has been accomplished by identifying the most productive journals and the most cited sources, using the SCI and citation analysis. From this analysis, core journals have been identified, showing that their importance in this research area does not correlate with their impact factor. Moreover, conference proceedings (particularly those published by the Society of Automotive Engineers) are shown to be the most important information source in this field.

Keywords: Analysis, Citation, Citation Analysis, Combustion, Communication, Competition, Core Journals, Database, Diffusion, Evaluation, Impact, Impact Factor, Index, Information, Journals, Literature, Publication, Quantitative, Research, Sci, Science, Scientists, Self-Citation

? Shirabe, M. and Tomizawa, H. (2004), Likelihood of inbound/outbound access to co-authorship. Scientometrics, 59 (3), 337-344.

Full Text: 2004\Scientometrics59, 337.pdf

Abstract: We shall generalize the concept of our previous paper (SHIRABE & TOMIZAWA, 2002), which proposed an index for international scientific co-authorship. Based on a simple model of domestic and international co-authorships, we focused on likelihood of overseas access to co-authorships in the paper. Here, in consideration of bidirectionality of international co-authorship, we shall extend our previous index to two symmetrical indices. The indices can draw a reasonably clear picture of international co-authorship, with regard to difference in patterns of international co-authorship among countries.

Keywords: Co-Authorship, Co-Authorships, Coauthorship, Impact, International Scientific Collaboration, Model, Universities

? Wilson, C.S. and Markusova, V.A. (2004), Changes in the scientific output of Russia from 1980 to 2000, as reflected in the Science Citation Index, in relation to national politico-economic changes. Scientometrics, 59 (3), 345-389.

Full Text: 2004\Scientometrics59, 345.pdf

Abstract: Three features of the output of scientific papers from Russia which are covered by SCI are reported for the period 1980 to 2000. Changes are related to the major politico-economic developments in the USSR and Russia, and contrasted with similar data from France, Canada and Italy. The problems of isolating Russian papers in the output of the USSR and of estimating the proportion of Russian papers without stated addresses are treated. The Russian annual output grew from 1980 to 1990, but fell by 20-24% after the dissolution of the USSR in late 1991; from 1994 there has been an inconsistent partial recovery, and by 2000 the annual output had approximately regained its 1980 value. The reduced output in the 1990s derives mainly from low government funding for science. The proportion of Russian papers produced in collaboration with other nations has grown from six percent in the early 1980s to 31% in 2000, while the principal regions of collaboration shifted rapidly after 1990 from other republics in the USSR and East Europe to Western Europe and North America. These changes were initiated by glasnost and the end of the Cold War, and more recently have been driven in part by a need for foreign support. Russia’s annual output in the physical sciences in the 1980s was approximately twice, and from 1995 to 2000, approximately four times, that in the life sciences. This continuing dominance, which contrasts with the comparison countries, derives from the high priority given by the central governments to defense spending and related prestige projects.

Keywords: Alive, Canada, Citation, Collaboration, Cooperation, Countries, Discipline, Dissolution, Europe, France, Funding, International Collaboration, Italy, Journals, Life Sciences, Low, Papers, Physics, Recovery, Researchers, Russia, Sci, Science, Science Citation Index, Sciences, Scientific Output, State

? Bar-Ilan, J. (2004), A microscopic link analysis of academic institutions within a country - the case of Israel. Scientometrics, 59 (3), 391-403.

Full Text: 2004\Scientometrics59, 391.pdf

Abstract: Links analysis proved to be very fruitful on the Web. Google’s very successful ranking algorithm is based on link analysis. There are only a few studies that analyzed links qualitatively, most studies are quantitative. Our purpose was to characterize these links in order to gain a better understanding why links are created. We limited the study to the academic environment, and as a specific case we chose to characterize the interlinkage between the eight Israeli universities.

Keywords: Analysis, Environment, Impact Factors, Information, Interlinking, Pages, Quantitative, Ranking, Universities, University Web Sites

Ingwersen, P. and Jacobs, D. (2004), South African research in selected scientific areas: Status 1981-2000. Scientometrics, 59 (3), 405-423.

Full Text: 2004\Scientometrics59, 405.pdf

Abstract: The paper is a bibliometric study of the publication and citation patterns and impact of South African research 1981-2000 in five selected research fields: Animal Plant sciences, Chemistry, Biochemistry, Microbiology & molecular biology, including genetics, and Physics, excluding Space science. Data are collected from Science Citation Index via the ISI product National Science Indicators. With the exception of Microbiology & molecular biology and Physics the results demonstrate a decrease of SA publications from 1986-1990. The SA world share declines for all five fields. First from the period 1994-1998 the Animal & plant sciences and Microbiology & molecular biology turn the decline into an increase.

Absolute citation impact is increasing for all the fields from 1989-1993, except for Chemistry. One reason for the increase is a lower publication output. General & internal medicine, as an supplementary volume-heavy field observed, declines in citations until that same period from which it becomes stable, also in impact, but with a marked decrease in cited paper proportion.

In citation world shares the five fields combined show positive signs also since 1989-1993, after which period the international eco-political embargo of SA was lifted. However, Biochemistry and Chemistry continue to decline during the 1990s. Citation impact relative to the world shows a similar pattern, but stagnation appears towards the end of the 1990s in all the observed fields combined. The trends are quite similar to those of Mexico and New Zealand. It is thus highly uncertain if a general citation embargo of SA occurred, yet, in some fields like the Animal & plant sciences, Veterinary science, Chemistry, and General & internal medicine there are signs that a mild citation embargo might have occurred. However, the economic embargo, combined with a significant brain drain, may have had an effect on the publication productivity, after it was lifted. For all indicators Chemistry is undergoing a marked decline during the last decade. This is in line with the negative trends for General & internal medicine, whereas some other medical specialities, biology, economics and other social sciences, the engineering fields and materials sciences keep stable or increase their production. SA is in line with the Mexican development but below that of New Zealand, seemingly losing ground to the developed countries.

Keywords: Science

? Schummer, J. (2004), Multidisciplinarity, interdisciplinarity, and patterns of research collaboration in nanoscience and nanotechnology. Scientometrics, 59 (3), 425-465.

Full Text: 2004\Scientometrics59, 425.pdf

Abstract: This paper first describes the recent development that scientists and engineers of many disciplines, countries, and institutions increasingly engage in nanoscale research at breathtaking speed. By co-author analysis of over 600 papers published in “nano journals” in 2002 and 2003, I investigate if this apparent concurrence is accompanied by new forms and degrees of multi- and interdisciplinarity as well as of institutional and geographic research collaboration. Based on a new visualization method, patterns of research collaboration are analyzed and compared with those of classical disciplinary research. I argue that current nanoscale research reveals no particular patterns and degrees of interdisciplinarity and that its apparent multidisciplinarity consists of different largely mono-disciplinary fields which are rather unrelated to each other and which hardly share more than the prefix “nano”.

Keywords: Analysis, Collaboration, Development, Field, Indicators, Interdisciplinarity, Multidisciplinarity, Nanoscience, Nanotechnology, Papers, Research, Research Collaboration, Science, Technology, Visualization

? van Raan, A.F.J. (2004), Sleeping Beauties in science. Scientometrics, 59 (3), 467-472.

Full Text: 2004\Scientometrics59, 467.pdf

Abstract: A ‘Sleeping Beauty in Science’ is a publication that goes unnoticed (‘sleeps’) for a long time and then, almost suddenly, attracts a lot of attention (‘is awakened by a prince’). We here report the -to our knowledge- first extensive measurement of the occurrence of Sleeping Beauties in the science literature. We derived from the measurements an ‘awakening’ probability function and identified the ‘most extreme Sleeping Beauty so far’.

Keywords: Attention, Knowledge, Literature, Measurement, Publication, Science

Snizek, W.E. (2004), A view from sociology. Scientometrics, 60 (1), 11-12.

Full Text: 2004\Scientometrics60, 11.pdf

McCain, K. (2004), A view from information science. Scientometrics, 60 (1), 12-18.

Full Text: 2004\Scientometrics60, 11.pdf

? Bonitz, M. (2004), Self-emancipation proclamation and a light-hearted but nevertheless deeply-felt exception. Scientometrics, 60 (1), 19-24.

Full Text: 2004\Scientometrics60, 19.pdf

? Brown, C. (2004), The Matthew effect of the Annual Reviews series and the flow of scientific communication through the World Wide Web. Scientometrics, 60 (1), 25-36.

Full Text: 2004\Scientometrics60, 25.pdf

Abstract: Authors of the well-regarded Annual Reviews series incorporate URLs to in the text, figures, tables, and reference sections of their articles. Despite the lack of peer review, the number of pointers to scientific information on the World Wide Web in the biomedical and physical science reviews increased five fold between 1997 and 2001. However, only 34% and 76% of the URLs from 1997 and 2001, respectively, remain viable in 2003. This is disconcerting as the stability of the highly cited Annual Reviews series is integral to the flow of scientific information. In fact, the citation rate for the URL containing Annual Reviews articles was found to be less than half that observed for all the review articles analyzed. Taken together these data suggest that the viability of web information may influence the citation rate of authors who have previously basked in the halo of R.K. Merton’s Matt hew Effect.

Keywords: Acceptance, Authors, Biomedical, Citation, Citation Patterns, Communication, Electronic Preprints, Highly-Cited, Information, Matthew Effect, Peer Review, Peer-Review, Review, Science, Scientific Communication, Scientific Information, Stability, Usage, Viability, World Wide Web

? Cole, J.R. (2004), Robert K. Merton, 1910-2003. Scientometrics, 60 (1), 37-40.

Full Text: 2004\Scientometrics60, 37.pdf

? Cronin, B. (2004), Normative shaping of scientific practice: The magic of Merton. Scientometrics, 60 (1), 41-46.

Full Text: 2004\Scientometrics60, 41.pdf

Keywords: Citation, Practice

? Fox, M.F. (2004), R.K. Merton - Life time of influence. Scientometrics, 60 (1), 47-50.

Full Text: 2004\Scientometrics60, 47.pdf

Abstract: In this article, “Life time of influence” refers to Robert K. Merton’s impact broadly, and emblematically, to his influence upon my work. The article discusses 1) the scope and influence of Merton’s ideas about social structure and explanations of social processes; 2) his vast scholarship establishing the study of science as a social institution, with implications for theory and research; and 3) his fostering of the social study of science through immense published work, and through impact upon an inter-generational network of scholars.

Keywords: Impact, Life-Time, Network, Research, Scholarship, Science, Social, Theory

? Garfield, E. (2004), The intended consequences of Robert K. Merton. Scientometrics, 60 (1), 51-61.

Full Text: 2004\Scientometrics60, 51.pdf

Keywords: Author, Scientometrics

? Hargens, L.L. (2004), What is Mertonian sociology of science? Scientometrics, 60 (1), 63-70.

Full Text: 2004\Scientometrics60, 63.pdf

Abstract: In order to investigate the nature of Merton’s contribution to the sociology of science, I examine how his work has been cited by groups of authors who are highly co-cited with Merton. The groups differ substantially both in terms of which of Merton’s publications they cite,and how they cite them. This implies that subsequent scholars have found Merton’s sociology of science work valuable for many different reasons. This pattern is probably true for Merton’s sociological oeuvre as a whole, and suggests that scholarly preeminence in the social sciences consists of making contributions that many different groups of scholars judge to be useful in justifying the importance of their own research.

Keywords: Authors, Contribution, Publications, Research, Science, Sciences, Social, Social Sciences, Sociology, Sociology of Science

? Small, H. (2004), On the shoulders of Robert Merton: Towards a normative theory of citation. Scientometrics, 60 (1), 71-79.

Full Text: 2004\Scientometrics60, 71.pdf

Abstract: In a series of seminal studies Robert K. Merton created a coherent theoretical view of the social system of science that includes the salient features of the formal publication system, thereby providing a theoretical basis for scientometrics and citationology. A fundamental precept of this system is the view of citations as symbolic payment of intellectual debts. When this concept is merged with a complementary theory of the conceptual symbolism of citations, the possibility for a rapprochement of the normative and constructivist theories is achieved, where the dual function of citations as vehicles of peer recognition and constructed symbols for specific original achievements in science is realized. This new synthesis is embodied in a citation classification system,the citation cube, with dimensions of normative compliance, symbolic consensus, and disinterestedness (self-citation).

Keywords: Chapter, Citation, Citations, Compliance, Publication, Science, Scientific Discovery, Scientometrics, Self-Citation, Social, Sociology, Synthesis, Theories, Theory

? Stephan, P.E. (2004), Robert K. Merton’s perspective on priority and the provision of the public good knowledge. Scientometrics, 60 (1), 81-87.

Full Text: 2004\Scientometrics60, 81.pdf

Abstract: This essay examines Robert K. Merton’s perspective on how priority relates to the provision of the public good knowledge. Economists have long been interested in the provision of the class of goods that are referred to as “public.” By definition, public goods are not used up when consumed and are goods from which it is difficult to exclude potential users. The provision of public goods presents special challenges to the market that do not exist in the provision of private goods. Scientific research has properties of a public good. Merton recognized the public nature of science. In this he was not alone. The genius of Merton is that he not only recognized that science has properties of a public good but stood the public-private distinction on its head, proposing that the reward structure of science, based on priority, functioned to make a public good private. In economic terms, Merton recognized that it is the public nature of knowledge that facilitates establishing the idea as the private property of the scientist.

Keywords: Chapter, Economics, Knowledge, Property, Public Goods, Research, Science, Scientific Discovery, Scientific Research, Sociology

? Stigler, S.M. (2004), Robert K. Merton: Memorial. Scientometrics, 60 (1), 89-92.

Full Text: 2004\Scientometrics60, 89.pdf

? White, H.D. (2004), Reward, persuasion, and the Sokal Hoax: A study in citation identities. Scientometrics, 60 (1), 93-120.

Full Text: 2004\Scientometrics60, 93.pdf

Abstract: A citation identity is a list of an author’s citees ranked by how frequently that author has cited them in publications covered by the Institute for Scientific Information. The same Dialog software that creates identities can simultaneously show the overall citation counts of citees, which indicate their reputations. Using identities for 28 authors in several disciplines of science and scholarship, I show that the reputational counts of their citees always have an approximately log-normal distribution:citations to very famous names are roughly balanced by citations to obscure ones, and most citations go to authors of middling reputation. These results undercut claims by constructivists that the main function of citation is to marshal “big-name” support for arguments at the expense of crediting lesser-known figures. The results are better explained by Robert K. Merton’s norm of universalism, which holds that citers are rewarding use of relevant intellectual property, than by the constructivists’ particularism, which holds that citers are trying to persuade through manipulative rhetoric. A universalistic citation pattern appears even in Alan Sokal’s famous hoax article, where some of his citing was deliberately particularistic. In fact, Sokal’s basic adherence to universalism probably helped his hoax succeed, which suggests the strength of the Mertonian norm. In specimen cases, the constructivists themselves are shown as conforming to it.

Keywords: Adherence, Author, Author Cocitation Analysis, Authors, Behavior, Citation, Citation Counts, Citations, Citer Motivations, Facts, Identity, Model, Ortega Hypothesis, Publications, Scholarship, Science, Scientific Information, Software, Strength

? Yu, G., Yu, D. and Li, Y. (2004), The universal expression of periodical average publication delay at steady state. Scientometrics, 60 (2), 121-129.

Full Text: 2004\Scientometrics60, 121pdf

Abstract: The steady state solution of differential equations of periodical publication process is deduced, and based on this, the indicator of periodical publication delay, which reflects the degree of information ageing in editorial board of a periodical, is established. The indicator is proved to be the sum of two items: the pure publication delay, which reflects the editing rapidity of a periodical, and the ratio of deposited contribution quantity to the publishing quantity in one year, which reflects the waiting period of adopted papers deposited in editorial board. As a demonstration, the delay indicators of seven periodicals are calculated. Finally, the application of this indicator is discussed.

Keywords: Ageing, Contribution, Information, Papers, Periodical, Periodicals, Publication, Publishing, Ratio

Collazo-Reyes, F., Luna-Morales, M.E. and Russell, J.M. (2004), Publication and citation patterns of the Mexican contribution to a ‘Big Science’ discipline: Elementary particle physics. Scientometrics, 60 (2), 131-143.

Full Text: 2004\Scientometrics60, 131.pdf

Abstract: The publication and citation patterns of the Mexican community in elementary particle physics (MEPP) were determined by bibliometric analysis of the scientific production and citations registered in the SPIRES-HEP system from 1971 to 2000. All papers, both citing and cited, were classified as theoretical, phenomenological or experimental according to the type of study carried out and citing papers as local (Mexican) or foreign. The growth dynamics of the citation patterns over the thirty-year period was also studied. Results show that the Mexican scientific community in EPP follow the pre-publication and pre-citation communication patterns typical of a Big Science field.

Keywords: Preprints, Library, Prints

Lewison, G. and Paraje, G. (2004), The classification of biomedical journals by research level. Scientometrics, 60 (2), 145-157.

Full Text: 2004\Scientometrics60, 145.pdf

Abstract: A new method of classification of biomedical research journals by research level (RL) into clinical or basic, or somewhere in between, is described that updates the system developed by CHI Research Inc. nearly 30 years ago. It is based on counting articles that have one of about 100 ‘clinical’ title words, or one of a similar number of ‘basic’ title words, or both. It allows over 3000 journals in the Science Citation Index (or other databases) to be classified rapidly and transparently, for changes in their research level with time, and for many individual papers in ‘mixed’ journals to be categorised as clinical or basic.

Keywords: Impact

Leydesdorff, L. (2004), Top-down decomposition of the Journal Citation Report of the Social Science Citation Index: Graph- and factor-analytical approaches. Scientometrics, 60 (2), 159-180.

Full Text: 2004\Scientometrics60, 159.pdf

Abstract: The aggregated journal-journal citation matrix of the Journal Citation Report 2001 of the Social Science Citation Index is analyzed as a single domain in terms of both its eigenvectors and the bi-connected components contained in it. The traditional disciplines (e.g., economics, psychology, or political science) can be retrieved using both methods. These main disciplines do interact marginally. The space between them is occupied by a large number of small clusters of journals indicating specialties that gravitate among the major disciplines. These specialties operate in a mode different from that of the disciplines. For example, the impact factors are low on average and the developments remain volatile. Factor analysis enables us to study how the smaller bi-connected components are related to the larger ones. Factor analysis also highlights methodological differences among groups which may be theoretically connected in a single bicomponent.

Keywords: Scientific Journals, Indicators, Networks

Trueba, F.J. and Guerrero, H. (2004), A robust formula to credit authors for their publications. Scientometrics,