Bibliometric cartography of information retrieval research by using co-word analysis

The aim of this study is to map the intellectual structure of the field of Information Retrieval (IR) during the period of 1987-1997. Co-word analysis was employed to reveal patterns and trends in the IR field by measuring the association strengths of terms representative of relevant publications or other texts produced in IR field. Data were collected from Science Citation Index (SCI) and Social Science Citation Index (SSCI) for the period of 1987-1997. In addition to the keywords added by the SCI and SSCI databases, other important keywords were extracted from titles and abstracts manually. These keywords were further standardized using vocabulary control tools. In order to trace the dynamic changes of the IR field, the whole 11-year period was further separated into two consecutive periods: 1987-1991 and 1992-1997. The results show that the IR field has some established research themes and it also changes rapidly to embrace new themes

Scientific information mapping: cocitation networks of classes and categories in scientific production of Medicine from Madrid´s researchers (1995-2003)

XXVII International Sunbelt Social Network Conference. V Mesa Hispana para el análisis de redes sociales. Corfu (Greece), May 2, 2007.La representación intelectual de una disciplina científica es un aspecto crítico en los trabajos bibliométricos. En esta investigación se presentan los resultados de un estudio bibliométrico con los mapas elaborados que representan los vínculos intelectuales de naturaleza estructural en la disciplina de la Medicina. Se han realizado a partir del análisis de 22499 documentos contenidos en el Web of Knowledge producidos en la Comunidad de Madrid, durante el período comprendido entre 1995 y 2003. Se ha empleado la técnica de cocitación de clases y categorías, utilizando en la visualización técnicas de redes sociales. El objetivo del trabajo, ha sido representar y examinar las relaciones disciplinares que se producen en este dominio a partir de la coocurrencia de la categorías temáticas de las revistas en las que publican sus investigaciones. Para ello, se han construido mapas heliocéntricos de cocitación de clases y tambien de categorías con el software Pajek, con técnicas que descubren la estructura de la red intelectual de la disciplina. Los mapas resultantes muestran los amplios vínculos temáticos internos y externos que posee la disciplina y pueden ser interpretados como una representación que muestra las dimensiones intelectuales del dominio tal y como queda reflejada en las publicaciones científicas de los investigadores.Intellectual representation of a scientific discipline is often a critical aspect of bibliometric research. A cocitation analisys about Madrid´s scientific production in Medicine was conducted over a time period spanning the years 1995-2003 from 22499 Web of Knowledge`s documents. The object of the work reported here has been to represent and to examine the intellectual relations that take place in this domain from the co-occurrence data of the thematic categories of the scientific journals in which researchers publish its results. We use Journal Citation Reports (JCR) categories as units of cocitation and measurement for the construction of heliocentric maps. Applying visualization techniques and social network analysis using Pajek, we presented three maps. The resulting maps shows the intellectual range of bonds that the discipline has and could be interpreted like a representation that shows the intellectual dimensions of the domain as it is reflected in scientific publications of researchers