Nanotechnology research in Turkey: A university-driven achievement

We deal with nanotechnology research activities in Turkey. Based on publication data retrieved from ISI Web of SSCI database, the main actors and the main characteristics of nanotechnology research in Turkey are identified. Following a brief introduction to nanoscience and nanotechnology research, it goes on with a discussion on nanotechnology related science and technology policy efforts in developing countries and particularly in Turkey. Then using bibliometric methods and social network analysis techniques, this paper aims to understand the main actors of the nanoscale research in Turkey and how they collaborate across institutes and disciplines. The research indicates that there has been an exponential growth in the number of research articles published by Turkish nanoscience and nanotechnology (NST) scholars for the last ten years. However, the analysis of the main characteristics of nanotechnology research carried out at Turkish universities indicates some drawbacks and barriers to the future development of nanotechnology research in Turkey. These barriers are (i) a high concentration of nanoscale research at certain universities; (ii) low level of interdisciplinarity; (iii) a large number of universities which are not well connected to other universities in the field, and finally (iv) low level of international collaborations. Finally, science and technology policy implications of this research are discussed in the conclusion.Emerging technologies nanotechnology, nanoscience, scientific publications, SSCI, bibliometric data, social network analysis, collaborations, interdisciplinarity, science and technology policies, emerging economies, Turkey.

Seeking social capital and expertise in a newly-formed research community: a co-author analysis

This exploratory study applies social network analysis techniques to existing, publicly available data to understand collaboration patterns within the co-author network of a federally-funded, interdisciplinary research program. The central questions asked: What underlying social capital structures can be determined about a group of researchers from bibliometric data and other publicly available existing data? What are ways social network tools characterize the interdisciplinarity or cross-disciplinarity of co-author teams? The names of 411 grantees were searched in the Web of Science indexing database; author information from the WoS search results resulted in a 191-member co-author network. Research domains were included as attribute data for the co-author network. UCINet social network analysis software calculated a large 60 node component and two larger components with 12 and 8 nodes respectively, the remainder of the network consisted of smaller 2-5 node components. Within the 191-node co-author network the following analyses were performed to learn more about the structural social capital of this group: Degree and Eigenvector centrality measures, brokerage measures, and constraint measures. Additionally, ten randomly selected dyads and the five 4-node cliques within the 191-node network were examined to find patterns of cross-disciplinary collaboration among researcher and within award teams. Award numbers were added as attribute data to five 4-node cliques and 10 random dyads; these showed instances of collaboration among interdisciplinary award teams. Collaboration patterns across disciplines are discussed. Data from this research could serve as a baseline measure for growth in future analyses of the case studied. This method is recommended as a tool to gain insights to a research community and to track publication collaboration growth over time. This research method shows potential as a way to identify aspects of a research community’s social structural capital, particularly within an interdisciplinary network to highlight where researchers are working well together or to learn where there is little collaboration

Evaluation of the Impact of Engineering Education Research Grants Using Software Tools: A Foundation

The goal of our project was to provide the NSF with a software suite which evaluates the impact of engineering education research grants. We assisted the NSF by identifying interactions that influence the impact of grants and any measureable data within these interactions. We presented three deliverables and examined software tools to collect, organize, analyze, and visualize the quantifiable data within the interactions. Our endeavors serve as a framework for future investigation into grant impact evaluation

Measuring social capital and innovation in poor agricultural communities: The case of Cháparra, Peru

In the last decades substantive advance has been made in the measurement and understanding of frontier innovation in highly industrialized settings. However, little research focused on the process of learning and the introduction of novelties in smallholder farming of poor agricultural communities. Considering that 1.5 billion people in developing countries live in such smallholder households this is an essential shortcoming. In addressing three crucial questions about the measurement and promotion of endogenous local development this paper contributes to close this research gap. The three questions are: a) how can we measure social capital and innovation in poor agricultural communities, b) what is the impact of external agents on local structures and c) what are the relations between the social capital and the innovative performance of the farmer. In a first step a comprehensive questionnaire with 89 questions on diverse dimensions of social capital and innovation has been elaborated and applied to the agricultural valley of Cháparra in the South of Peru. The results allow for an indepth analysis of the capabilities, network position and innovative behavior of the farmers. In a second step, we apply social network analysis techniques to analyze the role and position of the relevant actors in the local as well as in the external technical information networks with a special focus on the influence of an external NGO. The analysis reveals a deep structural impact of the NGO and significant correlations between the network position of the farmers and their innovative performance. Three crucial issues for research on smallholder innovation are identified. First, diverse dimensions of social capital and innovation have to be differentiated when studying endogenous development. Second, it has to be assessed to which degree the modification of the existing social structures by external agents can be harmful or beneficial. Third, social network analysis can help us to gain a better understanding of the complex relations between social capital and innovation and how these can contribute to foster sustainable development projects. --social capital,innovation,smallholders,Cháparra,Peru,network analysis

The Structure and Dynamics of Co-Citation Clusters: A Multiple-Perspective Co-Citation Analysis

A multiple-perspective co-citation analysis method is introduced for characterizing and interpreting the structure and dynamics of co-citation clusters. The method facilitates analytic and sense making tasks by integrating network visualization, spectral clustering, automatic cluster labeling, and text summarization. Co-citation networks are decomposed into co-citation clusters. The interpretation of these clusters is augmented by automatic cluster labeling and summarization. The method focuses on the interrelations between a co-citation cluster's members and their citers. The generic method is applied to a three-part analysis of the field of Information Science as defined by 12 journals published between 1996 and 2008: 1) a comparative author co-citation analysis (ACA), 2) a progressive ACA of a time series of co-citation networks, and 3) a progressive document co-citation analysis (DCA). Results show that the multiple-perspective method increases the interpretability and accountability of both ACA and DCA networks.Comment: 33 pages, 11 figures, 10 tables. To appear in the Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technolog

Usage Bibliometrics

Scholarly usage data provides unique opportunities to address the known shortcomings of citation analysis. However, the collection, processing and analysis of usage data remains an area of active research. This article provides a review of the state-of-the-art in usage-based informetric, i.e. the use of usage data to study the scholarly process.Comment: Publisher's PDF (by permission). Publisher web site: books.infotoday.com/asist/arist44.shtm

State of the art 2015: a literature review of social media intelligence capabilities for counter-terrorism

Overview This paper is a review of how information and insight can be drawn from open social media sources. It focuses on the specific research techniques that have emerged, the capabilities they provide, the possible insights they offer, and the ethical and legal questions they raise. These techniques are considered relevant and valuable in so far as they can help to maintain public safety by preventing terrorism, preparing for it, protecting the public from it and pursuing its perpetrators. The report also considers how far this can be achieved against the backdrop of radically changing technology and public attitudes towards surveillance. This is an updated version of a 2013 report paper on the same subject, State of the Art. Since 2013, there have been significant changes in social media, how it is used by terrorist groups, and the methods being developed to make sense of it.  The paper is structured as follows: Part 1 is an overview of social media use, focused on how it is used by groups of interest to those involved in counter-terrorism. This includes new sections on trends of social media platforms; and a new section on Islamic State (IS). Part 2 provides an introduction to the key approaches of social media intelligence (henceforth ‘SOCMINT’) for counter-terrorism. Part 3 sets out a series of SOCMINT techniques. For each technique a series of capabilities and insights are considered, the validity and reliability of the method is considered, and how they might be applied to counter-terrorism work explored. Part 4 outlines a number of important legal, ethical and practical considerations when undertaking SOCMINT work