Science Models as Value-Added Services for Scholarly Information Systems

The paper introduces scholarly Information Retrieval (IR) as a further dimension that should be considered in the science modeling debate. The IR use case is seen as a validation model of the adequacy of science models in representing and predicting structure and dynamics in science. Particular conceptualizations of scholarly activity and structures in science are used as value-added search services to improve retrieval quality: a co-word model depicting the cognitive structure of a field (used for query expansion), the Bradford law of information concentration, and a model of co-authorship networks (both used for re-ranking search results). An evaluation of the retrieval quality when science model driven services are used turned out that the models proposed actually provide beneficial effects to retrieval quality. From an IR perspective, the models studied are therefore verified as expressive conceptualizations of central phenomena in science. Thus, it could be shown that the IR perspective can significantly contribute to a better understanding of scholarly structures and activities.Comment: 26 pages, to appear in Scientometric

A Review of Theory and Practice in Scientometrics

Scientometrics is the study of the quantitative aspects of the process of science as a communication system. It is centrally, but not only, concerned with the analysis of citations in the academic literature. In recent years it has come to play a major role in the measurement and evaluation of research performance. In this review we consider: the historical development of scientometrics, sources of citation data, citation metrics and the “laws" of scientometrics, normalisation, journal impact factors and other journal metrics, visualising and mapping science, evaluation and policy, and future developments

A single journal study : Malaysian Journal of Computer Science

Single journal studies are reviewed and measures used in the studies are highlighted. The following quantitative measures are used to study 272 articles published in Malaysian Journal of Computer Science, (1) the article productivity of the journal from 1985 to 2007, (2) the observed and expected authorship productivity tested using Lotka's Law of author productivity, identification and listing of core authors; (3) the authorship, co-authorship pattern by authors' country of origin and institutional affiliations; (4) the subject areas of research; (5) the citation analysis of resources referenced as well as the age and half-life of citations; the journals referenced and tested for zonal distribution using Bradford's law of journal scattering; the extent of web citations; and (6) the citations received by articles published in MJCS and impact factor of the journal based on information obtained from Google Scholar, the level of author and journal self-citation

Publishing patterns within the UK accounting and finance academic community

This study reports on publishing patterns in the UK and Irish accounting and finance academic community for the 2-year period 1998-1999 using the data contained in the BAR Research Register. It is found that the community has been growing modestly since 1991, with a doubling in the number of PhD-qualified staff (to 30%) and a reduction in the number with a professional qualification (from 81 to 58%). Nearly half of all outputs appear in other than academic journals. The mean number of publications is 1.76 per capita, with significantly more staff active in publishing than in 1991 (44% compared to 35%). However, only 17% publish in a subset of 60 'top' journals. Just over half of all articles are published in the core discipline journals, the rest appearing mainly in management, economics, sociology, education and IT journals. This may indicate a growing maturity in the disciplines, whereby applied research findings are flowing back into related foundation and business disciplines. Nearly two-thirds of academic articles are co-authored, with 25% of contributions coming from outside the community, indicating an openness to interdisciplinary collaboration, collaboration with overseas academics and collaboration with individuals in practice. The findings of this study will be of assistance to those making career decisions (either their own career or decisions involving other people's careers). They also raise awareness of the way in which the accounting and finance disciplines are developing

The management of absence: why it matters : an analysis of absence management issues, with a case study based in a UK academic library

This paper seeks to give an overview of some ongoing research into absence management practices in a UK university library. The aim of the research in question is to evaluate the effectiveness of current management practices

The HIHI- and H2H_{2}-to-stellar mass correlations of late- and early-type galaxies and their consistency with the observational mass functions

We compile and carrefully homogenize local galaxy samples with available information on stellar, $\rm HI$ and/or $\rm H_{2}$ masses, and morphology. After processing the information on upper limits in the case of non gas detections, we determine the $\rm HI$- and $\rm H_{2}$-to-stellar mass relations and their $1\sigma$ scatter for both late- and early-type galaxies. The obtained relations are fitted to single or double power laws. Late-type galaxies are significantly gas richer than early-type ones, specially at high masses. The respective $\rm H_{2}$-to-$\rm HI$ mass ratios as a function of $M_{\ast}$ are discussed. Further, we constrain the full mass-dependent distribution functions of the $\rm HI$- and $\rm H_{2}$-to-stellar mass ratios. We find that they can be described by a Schechter function for late types and a (broken) Schechter + uniform function for early types. By using the observed galaxy stellar mass function and the volume-complete late-to-early-type galaxy ratio as a function of $M_{\ast}$, these empirical distribution functions are mapped into $\rm HI$ and $\rm H_{2}$ mass functions. The obtained mass functions are consistent with those inferred from large surveys. The empirical gas-to-stellar mass relations and their distributions for local late- and early-type galaxies presented here can be used to constrain models and simulations of galaxy evolution.Comment: 43 pages, 18 figures, to appear in RMxAA. Minor corrections introduced. The presented results are optimal for comparisons with theoretical predictions. Py-code to generate the HI- and H2-to-stellar mass relations and their 1sigma scatter, as well as the full mass-dependent distribution functions of the MHI/Ms and MH2/Ms ratios are available upon request to A.R. Calett