Dormitory of Physical and Engineering Sciences: Sleeping Beauties May Be Sleeping Innovations

A ‘Sleeping Beauty in Science’ is a publication that goes unnoticed (‘sleeps’) for a long time and then, almost suddenly, attracts a lot of attention (‘is awakened by a prince’). The aim of this paper is to present a general methodology to investigate (1) important properties of Sleeping Beauties such as the time-dependent distribution, author characteristics, journals and fields, and (2) the cognitive environment of Sleeping Beauties. We are particularly interested to find out to what extent Sleeping Beauties are application-oriented and thus are potential Sleeping Innovations. In this study we focus primarily on physics (including materials science and astrophysics) and present first results for chemistry and for engineering & computer science. We find that more than half of the SBs are application-oriented. To study the cognitive environments of Sleeping Beauties we develop a new approach in which the cognitive environment of the SBs is analyzed, based on the mapping of Sleeping Beauties using their citation links and conceptual relations, particularly co-citation mapping. In this way we investigate the research themes in which the SBs are ‘used’ and possible causes of why the premature work in the SBs becomes topical, i.e., the trigger of the awakening of the SBs. This approach is tested with a blue skies SB and an application-oriented SB. We think that the mapping procedures discussed in this paper are not only important for bibliometric analyses. They also provide researchers with useful, interactive tools to discover both relevant older work as well as new developments, for instance in themes related to Sleeping Beauties that are also Sleeping Innovations

Early maturing Kipsigis women have higher reproductive success than late maturing women and cost more to marry

Demographic analyses from 3 cohorts of Kenyan Kipsigis women married between 1940 and 1973 demonstrate that early maturing women have higher reproductive success than do late maturing women, due to longer reproductive lifespans and higher fertility. This result is independent of confounding effects of husband's wealth, but not of the wealth of a woman's parents which affects both menarcheal age and subsequent reproductive success. Data on bridewealth payments at 194 marriages occurring after 1959 show that men make higher marriage payments for early maturing women than for late maturing women. Together these results suggest that Kipsigis men vary their marriage payments in accordance with the reproductive value of their brides. The question of why men use age at menarche rather than bride's parents' wealth as a cue to their bride's subsequent reproductive performance is discussed in the light of changing social and economic conditions experienced by Kipsigis since the late 1920s.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/46888/1/265_2004_Article_BF00292097.pd

Bibliometric delineation of scientific fields

International audienceDelineation of scientific domains (fields, areas of science) is a prior task in bibliometric studies at the meso-level, far from straightforward in domains with high multidisciplinarity, variety and instability. The Context section shows the connection of delineation problem to the question of disciplines vs. invisible colleges, through three combinable models: ready-made classifications of science, classical information retrieval searches, mapping and clustering. They differ in the role and modalities of supervision. The Tools section sketches various bibliometric techniques on the background of information retrieval, data analysis, network theory, showing both their power and their limitations in delineation processes. The role and modalities of supervision are emphasized. The section Multiple Networks and Hybridization addresses the comparison and combination of bibliometric networks (actors, texts, citations) and the various ways of hybridization. In the concluding section, typical protocols and further questions are proposed