A consolidação da investigação em energias renováveis em Portugal : redes de colaboração nacionais e internacionais

As energias renováveis são parte essencial do actual processo de transição para sistemas energéticos baseados em energias endógenas e ambientalmente sustentáveis, mas a sua aplicação depende da sua maturação a nível de custo e ineficiente e da criação de know-how a nível local. No entanto, a literatura sobre a investigação nesta área é bastante limitada, apesar do destaque que as rubricas de energia adquiriram nos mecanismos europeus de financiamento de ciência. Este trabalho procura traçar a formação de uma comunidade de investigação em energias renováveis em Portugal num momento em que o país investiu fortemente na sua implementação, a partir da análise da produção científica e de redes de coautoria dos artigos indexados na Scopus com autores em instituições portuguesas e publicados no período 2001-2015. Os dados mostram a formação e crescimento rápido de uma comunidade sobretudo na área dos sistemas de energia e energia eólica, que reflete a sua ênfase no financiamento de ciência e as necessidades da indústria, e que se internacionalizou diversificando os seus parceiros, mas reforçando a colaboração bilateral com países com os quais mantém afinidades - Espanha (geográfica), Brasil (linguística), EUA (programa de colaboração na área).Renewable energies are an essential part of the current process of transition to energy systems based on endogenous and environmentally sustainable technologies, but their successful implementation depends on their maturation and the creation of local know-how. However, the literature on research in this area is rather limited, despite the emphasis that the energy lines have acquired in European science funding mechanisms. This work seeks to trace the formation of a research community in renewable energies in Portugal at a time when the country invested heavily in its implementation, based on the analysis of the scientific production and co-authorship networks of articles indexed in Scopus with authored in Portuguese institutions and published in the period 2001-2015. The data shows the formation and rapid growth of a community, particularly in energy systems and wind energy, which reflects its emphasis on science funding and the industry's needs. This community has diversified its international partners, but also strengthening bilateral collaboration with countries with which it maintains affinities - Spain (geographical), Brazil (linguistic), USA (collaboration program in the area)

The impact of author name disambiguation on knowledge discovery from large-scale scholarly data

In this study, I demonstrate that the choice of disambiguation methods for resolving author name ambiguity can adversely affect our understanding of scholarly collaboration patterns and coauthorship network structures extracted from large-scale scholarly data. By utilizing large-scale bibliometric data, scholars in many fields have gleaned knowledge for use in scholarly evaluation, collaborator recommendations, research policy evaluation, and network-evolution modeling. A common challenge has been that author names in bibliometric data are not properly disambiguated: authors may share the same name (i.e., different authors are sometimes misrepresented to be a single author which can lead to a “merging of identities”). In addition, one author may use name variations (i.e., an author may be represented as two or more different authors which can lead to a “splitting of identities”). When faced with these challenges, most scholars have pre-processed bibliometric data using simple heuristics (e.g., if two author names share the same surname and given name initials, they are presumed to represent the same author identity) and assumed that their findings are robust to errors due to author name ambiguity. I test this long-held assumption in bibliometrics by measuring the impact of author name ambiguity on network properties. I accomplish this under varying conditions, including network size and cumulative time window (from 1991 to 2009) using four large-scale bibliometric datasets that cover: biomedicine, computer science, psychology and neuroscience, and one nation’s entire domestic publication output. For this task, I collate the statistical properties of coauthorship networks constructed from algorithmically disambiguated data (i.e., close to clean data) against those that come from the same networks, but are compromised by misidentified authors via first-initial and all-initials disambiguation methods. In addition, I simulate the levels of merging and splitting incrementally using those empirical datasets. My findings show that initial-based name disambiguation methods can severely distort our understanding of given networks and such distortion gets worse over time. Moreover, the distortion sometimes leads to biased or false knowledge of coauthorship network formation and evolution mechanisms such as preferential attachment generating the power-law distribution of vertex degree and to false validation of theories about the choice of collaborators in scientific research. This may result in ill-informed decisions about research policy and resource allocation. Besides measuring the impact of name ambiguity on network properties, I also test how name ambiguity can be estimated using simple heuristics such as dataset size and how merged author identities can be detected via an author’s ego-network properties to provide a practical guidance for corrective measures. My research calls for further studying the effects of author name ambiguity on coauthorship network properties and is expected to help scholars establish better practices for knowledge discovery from large-scale scholarly data

Investigação em energias renováveis em Portugal : instituições, práticas e redes

Tese de doutoramento, Sociologia (Sociologia da Ciência e Tecnologia), Universidade de Lisboa, Instituto de Ciências Sociais, 2018As energias renováveis têm vindo a assumir um destaque sociopolítico particular, enquanto prioridade estratégica na redução do consumo de combustíveis fósseis, com o duplo objetivo de combate às alterações climáticas e de diminuir a dependência energética face ao exterior. A relevância socioeconómica das tecnologias de energia levou a que ao longo da última década as energias renováveis se tenham tornado um tópico de investigação de relevo em certas áreas das ciências sociais, em particular nos estudos de ciência e tecnologia e sociologia do ambiente. Esta literatura sobre a transição energética tem analisado sobretudo os instrumentos políticos de promoção da implementação da tecnologia e os seus efeitos na transformação dos sistemas de energia. Contudo, a produção sobre o enquadramento da investigação e da política científica na transição energética é bastante limitada, apesar do destaque que as rúbricas de energia adquiriram nos mecanismos europeus de financiamento de ciência. Este trabalho tem por objetivo caracterizar a organização da investigação científica e desenvolvimento tecnológico em energias renováveis em Portugal. Pretende-se compreender os processos de emergência e consolidação esta área científica, os modelos de organização da investigação e os processos de ligação entre ciência e sociedade numa área de produção de conhecimento que está enquadrada num programa central de transformação das economias contemporâneas - o desenvolvimento sustentável com base em fontes de energia inesgotáveis, menos poluentes e endógenas. A investigação recorre a métodos extensivos e intensivos de forma a construir uma imagem abrangente do objeto – análise de redes sociais com base em dados bibliométricos, análise documental, entrevistas com investigadores e um estudo de caso sobre a Lógica, uma empresa de I&D em energias renováveis criada pela Município de Moura.Renewable energies have been given a particular socio-political focus as a strategic priority in reducing fossil fuel consumption, with the dual objective of combating climate prospects and reducing energy dependence on the outside world. The socio-economic relevance of energy technologies has led renewable energies to become a prominent research topic in certain areas of the social sciences, particularly in science and technology studies and sociology of the environment. This literature on the energy transition has analysed above all the policy instruments to promote the implementation of technology and its effects on the transformation of the energy systems. However, production on the role of scientific research in the energy transition is rather limited, despite the emphasis that has been given to energy research on European science funding schemes. This work aims to characterize the organization of scientific research and technological development in renewable energies in Portugal. The processes of organization and administration and processes of organization of research and processes of connection between science and society in the area of knowledge production, which is part of a central program of transformation of contemporary economies - sustainable development based on less polluting and endogenous of sources of energy. The research uses extensive and intensive methods in order to construct a comprehensive image of the object - social network analysis based on bibliometric data, document analysis, interviews with researchers and a case study on Lógica, a renewable energy R&D firm created by the municipality of Moura