2 research outputs found
The Dynamics of Triads in Aggregated Journal-Journal Citation Relations: Specialty Developments at the Above-Journal Level
Dyads of journals related by citations can agglomerate into specialties
through the mechanism of triadic closure. Using the Journal Citation Reports
2011, 2012, and 2013, we analyze triad formation as indicators of integration
(specialty growth) and disintegration (restructuring). The strongest
integration is found among the large journals that report on studies in
different scientific specialties, such as PLoS ONE, Nature Communications,
Nature, and Science. This tendency towards large-scale integration has not yet
stabilized. Using the Islands algorithm, we also distinguish 51 local maxima of
integration. We zoom into the cited articles that carry the integration for:
(i) a new development within high-energy physics and (ii) an emerging interface
between the journals Applied Mathematical Modeling and the International
Journal of Advanced Manufacturing Technology. In the first case, integration is
brought about by a specific communication reaching across specialty boundaries,
whereas in the second, the dyad of journals indicates an emerging interface
between specialties. These results suggest that integration picks up
substantive developments at the specialty level. An advantage of the bottom-up
method is that no ex ante classification of journals is assumed in the dynamic
analysis.Comment: Accepted for publication in Journal of Informetric
Identifying research facilitators in an emerging Asian Research Area
10.1007/s11192-013-1051-3Scientometrics97175-9