4,728 research outputs found
A categorization of arguments for counting methods for publication and citation indicators
Most publication and citation indicators are based on datasets with
multi-authored publications and thus a change in counting method will often
change the value of an indicator. Therefore it is important to know why a
specific counting method has been applied. I have identified arguments for
counting methods in a sample of 32 bibliometric studies published in 2016 and
compared the result with discussions of arguments for counting methods in three
older studies. Based on the underlying logics of the arguments I have arranged
the arguments in four groups. Group 1 focuses on arguments related to what an
indicator measures, Group 2 on the additivity of a counting method, Group 3 on
pragmatic reasons for the choice of counting method, and Group 4 on an
indicator's influence on the research community or how it is perceived by
researchers. This categorization can be used to describe and discuss how
bibliometric studies with publication and citation indicators argue for
counting methods
Introducing CitedReferencesExplorer (CRExplorer): A program for Reference Publication Year Spectroscopy with Cited References Standardization
We introduce a new tool - the CitedReferencesExplorer (CRExplorer,
www.crexplorer.net) - which can be used to disambiguate and analyze the cited
references (CRs) of a publication set downloaded from the Web of Science (WoS).
The tool is especially suitable to identify those publications which have been
frequently cited by the researchers in a field and thereby to study for example
the historical roots of a research field or topic. CRExplorer simplifies the
identification of key publications by enabling the user to work with both a
graph for identifying most frequently cited reference publication years (RPYs)
and the list of references for the RPYs which have been most frequently cited.
A further focus of the program is on the standardization of CRs. It is a
serious problem in bibliometrics that there are several variants of the same CR
in the WoS. In this study, CRExplorer is used to study the CRs of all papers
published in the Journal of Informetrics. The analyses focus on the most
important papers published between 1980 and 1990.Comment: Accepted for publication in the Journal of Informetric
Information Metrics (iMetrics): A Research Specialty with a Socio-Cognitive Identity?
"Bibliometrics", "scientometrics", "informetrics", and "webometrics" can all
be considered as manifestations of a single research area with similar
objectives and methods, which we call "information metrics" or iMetrics. This
study explores the cognitive and social distinctness of iMetrics with respect
to the general information science (IS), focusing on a core of researchers,
shared vocabulary and literature/knowledge base. Our analysis investigates the
similarities and differences between four document sets. The document sets are
drawn from three core journals for iMetrics research (Scientometrics, Journal
of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, and Journal of
Informetrics). We split JASIST into document sets containing iMetrics and
general IS articles. The volume of publications in this representation of the
specialty has increased rapidly during the last decade. A core of researchers
that predominantly focus on iMetrics topics can thus be identified. This core
group has developed a shared vocabulary as exhibited in high similarity of
title words and one that shares a knowledge base. The research front of this
field moves faster than the research front of information science in general,
bringing it closer to Price's dream.Comment: Accepted for publication in Scientometric
Applied Evaluative Informetrics: Part 1
This manuscript is a preprint version of Part 1 (General Introduction and
Synopsis) of the book Applied Evaluative Informetrics, to be published by
Springer in the summer of 2017. This book presents an introduction to the field
of applied evaluative informetrics, and is written for interested scholars and
students from all domains of science and scholarship. It sketches the field's
history, recent achievements, and its potential and limits. It explains the
notion of multi-dimensional research performance, and discusses the pros and
cons of 28 citation-, patent-, reputation- and altmetrics-based indicators. In
addition, it presents quantitative research assessment as an evaluation
science, and focuses on the role of extra-informetric factors in the
development of indicators, and on the policy context of their application. It
also discusses the way forward, both for users and for developers of
informetric tools.Comment: The posted version is a preprint (author copy) of Part 1 (General
Introduction and Synopsis) of a book entitled Applied Evaluative
Bibliometrics, to be published by Springer in the summer of 201
The geography of references in elite articles: What countries contribute to the archives of knowledge
This study is intended to find an answer for the question on which national
"shoulders" the worldwide top-level research stands. Traditionally, national
scientific standings are evaluated in terms of the number of citations to their
papers. We raise a different question: instead of analyzing the citations to
the countries' articles (the forward view), we examine referenced publications
from specific countries cited in the most elite publications (the
backward-citing-view). "Elite publications" are operationalized as the top-1%
most-highly cited articles. Using the articles published during the years 2004
to 2013, we examine the research referenced in these works. Our results confirm
the well-known fact that China has emerged to become a major player in science.
However, China still belongs to the low contributors when countries are ranked
as contributors to the cited references in top-1% articles. Using this
perspective, the results do not point to a decreasing trend for the USA; in
fact, the USA exceeds expectations (compared to its publication share) in terms
of contributions to cited references in the top-1% articles. Switzerland,
Sweden, and the Netherlands also are shown at the top of the list. However, the
results for Germany are lower than statistically expected
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