Visualization of individual's knowledge by analyzing the citation networks

Visual analysis of knowledge domain is an emerging field of study as science is highly dynamic and constantly evolving. Behind the scene, a knowledge domain is formed and contributed by enormous researchers' publications that describe the common subject of the domain. There is large number of significant activities have been carried out to visualize and identify the knowledge domains of research projects, groups and communities. However, the research on visualizing the knowledge structure at individual level is relative inactive. It is difficult to track down the individual's contribution to the subject and the degree of the knowledge they possess. In this paper, we are attempting to visualize the individual's knowledge structure by analyzing the citation and co-authorship relational structures. We try to analyze and map author's documents to the knowledge domains. By mapping the documents to knowledge domain, we obtain the skeleton of knowledge structure of an individual. Then, we apply the visualization technique to present the result. © 2007 IEEE

The role of handbooks in knowledge creation and diffusion: A case of science and technology studies

Genre is considered to be an important element in scholarly communication and in the practice of scientific disciplines. However, scientometric studies have typically focused on a single genre, the journal article. The goal of this study is to understand the role that handbooks play in knowledge creation and diffusion and their relationship with the genre of journal articles, particularly in highly interdisciplinary and emergent social science and humanities disciplines. To shed light on these questions we focused on handbooks and journal articles published over the last four decades belonging to the research area of Science and Technology Studies (STS), broadly defined. To get a detailed picture we used the full-text of five handbooks (500,000 words) and a well-defined set of 11,700 STS articles. We confirmed the methodological split of STS into qualitative and quantitative (scientometric) approaches. Even when the two traditions explore similar topics (e.g., science and gender) they approach them from different starting points. The change in cognitive foci in both handbooks and articles partially reflects the changing trends in STS research, often driven by technology. Using text similarity measures we found that, in the case of STS, handbooks play no special role in either focusing the research efforts or marking their decline. In general, they do not represent the summaries of research directions that have emerged since the previous edition of the handbook.Comment: Accepted for publication in Journal of Informetric

Capturing Meanings of Place, Time and Social Interaction when Analyzing Human (Im)mobilities: Strengths and Challenges of the Application of (Im)mobility Biography

In this article, we suggest (im)mobility biography as a method for reconstructing human (im)mobilities and related negotiations of meanings of place, time and social interaction. Based on biographical-narrative approaches and participatory ideals the combination of life history interviewing with a participatory timeline tool is the best fit for capturing individuals' life-worlds over time. After presenting theoretical presuppositions on relational meanings of place, time and social interaction, we provide an overview of biographical and participatory research in the context of human (im)mobilities and sketch methodological origins of the life history interview and the timeline tool. Furthermore, we address issues essential for planning and preparing (im)mobility biography, and demonstrate two different applications of the method in migration contexts in Germany and Ecuador. Subsequently, we present options for analysis and interpretation of textual and graphical data outputs. Keeping in mind strengths and challenges, we consider (im)mobility biography a valuable method for capturing (im)mobile life-worlds as well as contextual embeddedness of individual decision-making on moving or staying. Especially in terms of its participatory orientation, the visualization of migration trajectories facilitates structuration and memorization of life histories, allows for shared analysis even at the interview stage, and encourages participants to reflect on their biographies.In diesem Artikel stellen wir (Im)mobilitäts-Biografie als Forschungsmethode zur Rekonstruktion von (Im)mobilitäten und damit verbundenen Aushandlungen von Bedeutungen von Ort, Zeit und sozialen Interaktionen vor. Basierend auf biografisch-narrativen Ansätzen und partizipativen Konzepten ist die Kombination aus Life History Interview und partizipativem Timeline Tool bestens geeignet, um individuelle Lebenswelten im zeitlichen Verlauf zu erfassen. Nach der Darstellung theoretischer Vorannahmen zu relationalen Bedeutungen von Ort, Zeit und sozialen Interaktionen geben wir einen Überblick über biografische und partizipative Forschung im Kontext von (Im)mobilitäten und zeichnen methodische Ursprünge des Life History Interviews und Timeline Tools nach. Des Weiteren beschäftigen wir uns mit Aspekten, die bei der Planung und Vorbereitung der (Im)mobilitäts-Biografie beachtet werden müssen und zeigen zwei verschiedene Anwendungsmöglichkeiten in Migrationskontexten in Deutschland und Ecuador auf. Im Anschluss stellen wir Optionen der Auswertung und Interpretation von textlichen und grafischen Daten vor. Nach einer Abwägung von Stärken und Herausforderungen halten wir die (Im)mobilitäts-Biografie für eine nützliche Methode, um (im)mobile Lebenswelten sowie die kontextuelle Einbettung individueller Entscheidungsfindungen bezüglich des Gehens oder Bleibens zu erfassen. Hinsichtlich der partizipativen Ausrichtung unterstützt vor allem die Visualisierung von (Im)mobilitätsverläufen die Strukturierung von und Erinnerung an Lebensgeschichten, sie ermöglicht eine gemeinsame Analyse bereits während des Interviews und regt die Teilnehmenden an, über ihre Biografien zu reflektieren

Identifying single influential publications in a research field: New analysis opportunities of the CRExplorer

Reference Publication Year Spectroscopy (RPYS) has been developed for identifying the cited references (CRs) with the greatest influence in a given paper set (mostly sets of papers on certain topics or fields). The program CRExplorer (see www.crexplorer.net) was specifically developed by Thor, Marx, Leydesdorff, and Bornmann (2016a, 2016b) for applying RPYS to publication sets downloaded from Scopus or Web of Science. In this study, we present some advanced methods which have been newly developed for CRExplorer. These methods are able to identify and characterize the CRs which have been influential across a longer period (many citing years). The new methods are demonstrated in this study using all the papers published in Scientometrics between 1978 and 2016. The indicators N_TOP50, N_TOP25, and N_TOP10 can be used to identify those CRs which belong to the 50%, 25%, or 10% most frequently cited publications (CRs) over many citing publication years. In the Scientometrics dataset, for example, Lotka's (1926) paper on the distribution of scientific productivity belongs to the top 10% publications (CRs) in 36 citing years. Furthermore, the new version of CRExplorer analyzes the impact sequence of CRs across citing years. CRs can have below average (-), average (0), or above average (+) impact in citing years (whereby average is meant in the sense of expected values). The sequence (e.g. 00++---0--00) is used by the program to identify papers with typical impact distributions. For example, CRs can have early, but not late impact ("hot papers", e.g. +++---) or vice versa ("sleeping beauties", e.g. ---0000---++)

Research Weaving: Visualizing the Future of Research Synthesis

We propose a new framework for research synthesis of both evidence and influence, named research weaving. It summarizes and visualizes information content, history, and networks among a collection of documents on any given topic. Research weaving achieves this feat by combining the power of two methods: systematic mapping and bibliometrics. Systematic mapping provides a snapshot of the current state of knowledge, identifying areas needing more research attention and those ready for full synthesis. Bibliometrics enables researchers to see how pieces of evidence are connected, revealing the structure and development of a field. We explain how researchers can use some or all of these tools to gain a deeper, more nuanced understanding of the scientific literature