Personal Research Database

Full Text: 1985\Scientometrics7, 195.pdf

Abstract: Percentage distributions of physics papers in 36 countries over ten subfields are compared. Factor and cluster analyses are applied to data from 1978 Physics Abstracts. Countries load highly on seven factors. Their meaning~s estimated by factor scores. Clusters of countries with similar publishing patterns are presented in a tree diagram.

? Glänzel, W. and Schubert, A. (1985), Price distribution: An exact formulation of price square root law. Scientometrics, 7 (3-6), 211-219.

Full Text: 1985\Scientometrics7, 211.pdf

Abstract: An exact probabilistic formulation of the ‘square root law’ conjectured by Price is given and a probability distribution satisfying this law is defined, for which the name Price distribution is suggested. Properties of the Price distribution are discussed, including its relationship with the laws of Lotka and Zipf. No empirical support of applicability of Price distribution as a model for publication productivity could be found.

? Chubin, D.E. (1985), Beyond invisible-colleges: Inspirations and aspirations of post-1972 social-studies of science. Scientometrics, 7 (3-6), 221-254.

Full Text: 1985\Scientometrics7, 221.pdf

Abstract: An exact probabilistic formulation of the ‘square root law’ conjectured by Price is given and a probability distribution satisfying this law is defined, for which the name Price distribution is suggested. Properties of the Price distribution are discussed, including its relationship with the laws of Lotka and Zipf. No empirical support of applicability of Price distribution as a model for publication productivity could be found.

? Long, J.S. and Mcginnis, R. (1985), The effects of the mentor on the academic career. Scientometrics, 7 (3-6), 255-280.

Full Text: 1985\Scientometrics7, 255.pdf

Abstract: The mentor plays an important role in initiating a process of cumulative advantage for the student. Our analyses present a c/ear and systematic pattern of effects of the mentor on the careers of biochemists. The influence of the mentor begins with collaboration, which is the single most important factor affecting the student’s predoctoral productivity. For those who collaborate, the effects of both eminence and performance further increase the student’s predoctoral productivity. The mentor’s performance has weak effects on the productivity of noncollaborating students. For those who collaborate with their mentor, the mentor continues to influence the careerwith a positive effect of the mentor’s performance on academic placement, an effect not found for noncollaborators. Even though the mentor’s performance affects the student’s placement, the student’s performances does not affect that placement, suggesting a process of ascription. For those who collaborate with their mentor, the mentor’s performance increases the student’s later publications and citations. For noncollaborators, whose mentors are much less productive during the student’s period of doctoral study, the mentor’s eminence has a smaUer, but significant effect on later productivity. Overall, the advantages of a strong mentor are drawn upon and enhanced through processes of both achievement and ascription.

? Irvine, J. and Martin, B.R. (1985), Evaluating big science: Cerns past performance and future-prospects. Scientometrics, 7 (3-6), 281-308.

Full Text: 1985\Scientometrics7, 281.pdf

Abstract: After explaining the reasons why science policy-makers face a growing need for more rigorous forms of research evaluation, we outline an approach combining bibliometric and peer-evaluation data that has been developed at the Science Policy Research Unit in the course of a programme of studies of Big Science specialties. The paper describes the results obtained when this ‘method of converging partial indicators’ is applied to compare the past research performance of the accelerators at CERN - the joint European Laboratory for Particle Physics - with that of the world’s other main accelerators. The paper concludes by demonstrating how, on the basis of an analysis of the factors that have structured research performance in the past, it is possible to arrive at a systematic set of conclusions about the future prospects for a major new research facility such as an accelerator.

? Dobrov, G.M. and Tonkal, V.E. (1985), Comparative-analysis and estimation of competence of research units. Scientometrics, 7 (3-6), 309-325.

Full Text: 1985\Scientometrics7, 309.pdf

Abstract: The UNESCO International Comparative Study on the Organization and Performance of Research Unists (ICSOPRU)** has entered the period of drawing the theoretical and methodological conclusions from and starting the practical application of its results. Based on the experience of the 3 rounds of ICSOPRU, the national team of the Ukrainian SSR has attempted to broaden the scope and methodology of this international project. The main features of our studies are as follows. 1. The comparative analysis is performed among research units working or intending to work on common research topics. 2. The complex characteristics determining the level of competence of the research units in achieving their research aims is evaluated by criteria specific to the given problems. 3. In order to gain the above mentioned results, certain additional material had been included into ‘The National Addendum’ and the national part of ‘External Evaluations Questionnaire’. Some additional software had also been developed)-3 This paper concentrates on some methodological aspects of this approach and refers also to some problems of more intensive use of science and technology.

? Kochen, M. and Lansing, J. (1985), On maps for discovery: Did the periodic table guide elemental discovery. Scientometrics, 7 (3-6), 327-339.

Full Text: 1985\Scientometrics7, 327.pdf

Abstract: The metaphor of ‘maps’ as cognitive tools aiding scientific discovery may be particularly appropriate for discussing the role of the periodic table of the elements in the progress of chemistry. In a tribute to the contributions of Derek Price, the use of maps, their advantages and disadvantages, and changes in the table are explored. The authors conclude that the table did serve as a general guide to discovery but that more insightful models of a different sort also played an important role.

? Mombers, C., Van Heeringen, A., Van Venetië, R. and Le Pair, C. (1985), Displaying strengths and weaknesses in national R-and-D performance through document cocitation. Scientometrics, 7 (3-6), 341-355.

Full Text: 1985\Scientometrics7, 341.pdf

Abstract: Document cocitation analysis, as developed by Small and Griffith, was employed as a means of assessing current Dutch participation in science. The method compared overall Dutch published contributions to science (1-2%) with the percentage of Dutch papers in both the cited ‘cores’ of clusters and the citing ‘margins’ of clusters (newly published papers). It was possible to identify clusters ranging form ones with strong Dutch participation to those without Dutch cited or citing papers. The method may help policymakers to detect areas of special concern. The technique can be used for any nation, but may be particularly helpful ibr the smaller developed countries. We consider the ide.al distribution of scientific productivity for those countries.

? Mullins, N.C. (1985), Invisible-colleges as science elites. Scientometrics, 7 (3-6), 357-368.

Full Text: 1985\Scientometrics7, 357.pdf

Abstract: An intensive investigation of the American science advisory system failed to find indications of elite structure in the selection or patterns of service of advisors. Advisory groups cannot act as elements of the invisible college circuits that Price refered to. The only long term advisors are ex officio members.

Advisory committee growth and activity is marked by three periods: 19.51 to 1957, slow growth, 1957 to 1966, rapid growth, and 1967 to 1972, no growth. Combined with the pattern of growth in numbers of eligible scientists, a perception of elite control may have been created.

? Narin, F. and Noma, E. (1985), Is technology becoming science? Scientometrics, 7 (3-6), 369-382.

Full Text: 1985\Scientometrics7, 369.pdf

Abstract: Citation and referencing data from recent biotechnology patients and bioscience papers is used to show that the bibliometric properties in these 2 realms are quite similar. Specifically, it is shown that the time distribution of references from both patients and papers are similar, with peak citing at 2-4 yr prior to publication or issue. This is shown to hold for patents citing patents, for papers citing papers, and for patents citing papers. There is a very skewed distribution of cited material in both patents and papers, with a relatively small number of highly cited patents and papers, and a relatively large number of documents which are cited only once or twice, or not at all. There is a substantial amount of citation from biotechnology patents to the central scientific literature. Science and technology are far more closely linked today than is normally perceived, and in fact, the division between leading edge biotechnology and modern bioscience has almost completely disappeared.

Aversa, E.S. (1985), Citation patterns of highly cited papers and their relationship to literature aging: A study of the working literature. Scientometrics, 7 (3-6), 383-389.

Full Text: 1985\Scientometrics7, 383.pdf

Abstract: Citation patterns of 400 very highly cited scientific papers are identified and the relationship of citation patterns to literature aging rates is investigated. Standardized citation counts for 1972 through 1980 are used as variables in a cluster analysis which groups papers with similar citation patterns and a discriminant analysis is used to refine the descriptions of clusters and to confirm the results. Among highly cited papers published in 1972, two basic citation patterns are identified: one group is highly cited in the first years following publication and declines in citedness thereafter, the second group reaches its citation peak in the sixth year following publication and declines in citedness in the seventh, eighth, and ninth years of the series. Both groups show general evidence of aging. Price’s suggestion that less highly cited papers age more rapidly than more highly cited papers is confernmed.

? Small, H. and Sweeney, E. (1985), Clustering the Science Citation Index using co-citations. 1. A comparison of methods. Scientometrics, 7 (3-6), 391-409.

Full Text: 1985\Scientometrics7, 391.pdf

Abstract: Earlier experiments in the use of co-citations to cluster the Scienee Citation Indey (SCI) database are reviewed. Two proposed improvements in the methodology are introduced: fractional citation counting and variable level clustering with a maximum cluster size limit. Results of an experiment using the 1979 SCI are described comparing the new methods with those previously employed. It is found that fractional citation counting helps reduce the bias toward high referencing fields such as biomedicine and biochemistry inherent in the use of an integer citation count threshold, and increases the range of subject matters covered by clusters. Variable level clustering, on the other hand, increases recall as measured by the percentage of highly cited items included in clusters. It is concluded that the two new methods used in combination will improve our ability to generate comprehensive maps of science as envisioned by Derek Price. This topic will be discussed in a forthcoming paper.

Keywords: Science Citation Index

? Christovão, H.T. (1985), The aging of the literature of biomedical sciences in developed and developing-countries. Scientometrics, 7 (3-6), 411-430.

Full Text: 1985\Scientometrics7, 411.pdf

Abstract: The analysis of the references contained in documents published by developed and underdeveloped countries indicate that developed and underdeveloped countries age the literature of ‘international’ areas of science in a similar pattern, underdeveloped countries age the literature reflecting ‘local’ problems slower than developed countries age the same literature, and the communication patterns among Regions follow a center-periphery model.

? Cozzens, S.E. (1985), Using the archive: Price, Derek theory of differences among the sciences. Scientometrics, 7 (3-6), 431-441.

Full Text: 1985\Scientometrics7, 431.pdf

Abstract: Derek Price’s theory of variation among the sciences stressed that the essential differences lay in the process through which scientists use each other’s results. He maintained that the critical processes were those which took place within small groups of scientists who shared an intellectual focus, and proposed that an indication of those processes could be found in referencing patterns. Later research, reviewed in this paper, has corroborated Price in these observations. Several bodies of evidence point to the desirability of further application of the basic concepts Price introduced for the purpose he proposed: as diagnostic tools to describe and compare processes of knowledge growth in the sciences.

? Cole, S. and Meyer, G.S. (1985), Little science, big science revisited. Scientometrics, 7 (3-6), 443-458.

Full Text: 1985\Scientometrics7, 443.pdf

Abstract: One of the basic dependent variables in the sociology of science is the rate at which scientific knowledge advances. Sociologists of science have in the past assumed that the rate of scientific advance was a function of the number of talented people entering science. This assumption was challenged by Derek Price who argued that as the number of scientists increased the number of ‘high quality’ scientists would increase at a slower rate. This paper reports the results of an empirical study of changes in the size of academic physics in the U.S. between 1963 and 1975. In each year we count the number of new Assistant Professors appointed in Ph. D.-granting departments. During the early 1960s there was a sharp increase in the size of entering cohorts followed by a sharp decline. A citation analysis indicates that the proportion of each cohort publishing work which was cited at least once in the first three years after appointment was relatively constant. This leads to the conclusion that the number of scientists capable of contributing to the advance of scientific knowledge through their published research is a linear function of the total number of people entering science.

? Yablonsky, A.I. (1985), Stable non-gaussian distributions in scientometrics. Scientometrics, 7 (3-6), 459-470.

Full Text: 1985\Scientometrics7, 459.pdf

Abstract: A mathematical treatment is given for the family of scientometric laws (usually referred to as the Zipf-Pareto law) that have been described byPrice and do not conform with the usual ‘Gaussian’ view of empirical distributions. An analysis of the Zipf-Pareto law in relationship with stable non Gaussian distributions. An analysis of the Zipf-Pareto law in relationship with stable non Gaussian distributions reveals, in particular, that the truncated Cauchy distribution asymptotically coincides with Lotka’s law, the most well-known frequency form of the Zipf-Pareto law. The mathematical theory of stable non Gaussian distributions, as applied to the analysis of the Zipf-Pareto law, leads to several conclusions on the mechanism of their genesis, the specific methods of processing empirical data, etc. The use of non-Gaussian processes in scientometric models suggests that this approach may result in a general mathematical theory describing the distribution of science related variables.

Keywords: Scientometrics

? Bonitz, M. (1985), Journal ranking by selective impact: New method based on SDI results and journal impact factors. Scientometrics, 7 (3-6), 471-485.

Full Text: 1985\Scientometrics7, 471.pdf

Abstract: Selecting an appropriate set of scientific journals which best meets the users’ needs and the dynamics of science requires usage of weight parameters by which journals can be ranked. Previous methods are based on the simple counting of relevant articles, or hits in SDI runs. The new method proposed combines hit numbers in SD! runs and journals’ impact factors to a weight parameter called Selective Impact. The experimental results obtained show that ranking by Selective Impact leads to a higher quality of the conclusions to be drawn from journal rank distributions.

? Garfield, E. (1985), In tribute to Price, Derek, John, Desolla: A citation analysis of little science, big science. Scientometrics, 7 (3-6), 487-503.

Full Text: 1985\Scientometrics7, 487.pdf

Abstract: Derek John de Solla Price died on September 3, 1983. The loss of this exciting and dynamic man is one which is felt not just by his friends, but by the scientific community as a whole. This article was originally planned as part of an essay for Current Contents | (CC| ~ But I was delighted by the opportunity to contribute it to this special tribute issue of Scientornetrics.

Vlachý, J. (1985), Citation histories of scientific publications: The data sources. Scientometrics, 7 (3-6), 505-528.

Full Text: 1985\Scientometrics7, 505.pdf

Abstract: Some 160 data-containing studies on the citation aging of scientific literature are reviewed. The hitherto proposed time-distribution models are examined for relevant parameter values.

? Braun, T. and Zsindely, S. (1985), Growth of scientific literature and the barnaby rich effect. Scientometrics, 7 (3-6), 529-530.

Full Text: 1985\Scientometrics7, 529.pdf

Abstract: The Barnaby Rich effect is defined as a high output of scientific writings accompanied by complaints on the excessive productivity of other authors.

? Szabó, A.T. (1985), Alphonse de Candolle’s early scientometrics (1883, 1885) with references to recent trends in the field (1978–1983). Scientometrics, 8 (1-2), 13-33.

Full Text: 1985\Scientometrics8, 13.pdf

Abstract: De Candolle analyzed in 1883 and 1885, respectively two important fields of human cultural evolution: the domestication of crop plants and the emergence of modern science. In his Histoire de science et des savants depuis deux sciecles, principles were established, science indicators outlined, interactions examined and mathematical methods applied to the study of a selected data set related to scientific development. In order to compare national and international scientific communities twenty standard factors were considered and national participation in international scientific societies was analysed for 14 European countries and the United States.De Candolle was the first to analyse mathematically the number, dynamics and national distribution of scientists in their professional organisations, the specialization and professionalization of scientists and characterized the scientific potential of different countries with the number of international science society members per inhabitant per period (1750–1884). The role of de Candolle as a forerunner of modern scientometrics and the science of science is revealed in a comparison of his work with recent trends. In the first five volumes of the journal Scientometrics 51 papers were identified dealing with topics related to those dealt with byde Candolle.

? Moed, H.F., Burger, W.J.M., Frankfort, J.G. and Van Raan, A.F.J. (1985), A comparative study of bibliometric past performance analysis and peer judgment. Scientometrics, 8 (3-4), 149-160.

Full Text: 1985\Scientometrics8, 149.pdf

Abstract: A comparison is made between two types of research past performance analysis: the results of bibliometric indicators and the results of peer judgment. This paper focuses on two case studies: the work of Dutch National Survey Committees on Chemistry and on Biology, both compared with our bibliometric results for research groups in these disciplines at the University of Leiden. The comparison reveals a serious lack of agreement between the two types of past performance analysis. This important, science-policy relevant observation is discussed in this paper.

? Porter, A.L. and Chubin, D.E. (1985), An indicator of cross-disciplinary research. Scientometrics, 8 (3-4), 161-176.

Full Text: 1985\Scientometrics8, 161.pdf

Abstract: Study of interdisciplinary research processes and performance is hampered by a lack of data. This project investigated possible indicators based in the open scientific literature to measure such processes. Focusing on the Journal Citation Reports as a suitable data base, alternative indicators were validated on a sample of 383 articles drawn from 19 journals. The results support the use of Citations Outside Category as an indicator of cross-disciplinary research activity. An estimated version of this indicator is used to examine three research categories - Demography, Operations Research/Management Science, and Toxicology - as to the extent of cross-disciplinary citation occurring by the journals in these categories and to them. Results suggest that Citations Outside Category can be a quite informative bibliometric measure. A key substantive finding is that citation across broad field categories (engineering, life sciences, physical sciences, and social sciences) is extremely infrequent.

? Moed, H.F., Burger, W.J.M., Frankfort, J.G. and Vanraan, A.F.J. (1985), The application of bibliometric indicators: Important field-dependent and time-dependent factors to be considered. Scientometrics, 8 (3-4), 177-204.

Full Text: 1985\Scientometrics8, 177.pdf

Abstract: An analysis of three major problems in the application of bibliometric research performance indicators is made in three separate sections. In the first section, the influence of field-dependent citation practices is analysed. The results indicate that rankings of publications from different fields, based on citation counts, can be affected seriously by differences between citation characteristics in those fields. If certain assumptions hold, one should expect high (short term) citation levels in Biochemistry, Celbiology and Biophysics. Medium citation levels are to be expected in Experimental and Molecular Physics, Physical and Organic Chemistry, Pharmacology and Plant Physiology, and low citation levels in Mathematics, Taxonomy, Pharmacognosy and Inorganic Solid State Chemistry. In the second section time-dependent factors are studied. It is shown that trend-analyses of output and impact based on bibliometric scores can be disturbed by changes in the SCI-database and in publication and citation practices. One of the disturbing factors is shown to be the inclusion of so called Books into the SCI data-base in 1977. Finally, in the third section a case is presented which illustrates the consequences of operating on incomplete bibliometric data in the evaluation of scientific performance. A completeness percentage of 99% for publication data is proposed as a standard in evaluations of the performance of small university research groups.

? Lange, L. (1985), Effects of disciplines and countries on citation habits: An analysis of empirical papers in behavioral-sciences. Scientometrics, 8 (3-4), 205-215.

Full Text: 1985\Scientometrics8, 205.pdf

Abstract: The theoretical introductions in empirical journal articles have been analyzed looking for factors determining citation habits. Own-country-biases and English-American predominance in citations were not regularly found. Preferred language of the cited publications and absolute citation frequencies were dependent upon both the disciplines and the countries where the journals are published. However, relative citation frequencies (citations related to the length of the text available) have been found to be rather constant across countries (within psychology and psychiatry, respectively) which indicates no such dependence.

? Libkind, A.N. (1985), One approach to study communication in science. Scientometrics,