45 research outputs found
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
Katalogizacija i klasifikacija u Sjedinjenim Američkim Državama
In the Paper are treated the Principles and the Implementation of the Cataloguization and Classification in USA, with a special overview on modern streams. The main goal of the organization of Library Holdings is the satisfaction of different User’s needs for Information. The organization of Knowledge in the Libraries implies the organization of several different types of information and media. In the Paper are described the Anglo-American Rules for Cataloguization and MARC, as standards for the alphabetical Cataloguization. As well the influence of the cooperative cataloguization and the usage of computer technology within the development of these Standards. One can find also a brief description of Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC) and the Classification of the Congress Library in Washington D.C, as the two dominating classificational Systems. Followed by the description of the controled dictionnaries, with special overview on Subject Heading of the Congress Library. The Paper treats also the Problem of Information on the Internet, as well proliferation of the Material in electronic format, which requires the incorporation in traditional library Catalogues
Towards a more realistic citation model: The key role of research team sizes
We propose a new citation model which builds on the existing models that
explicitly or implicitly include "direct" and "indirect" (learning about a
cited paper's existence from references in another paper) citation mechanisms.
Our model departs from the usual, unrealistic assumption of uniform probability
of direct citation, in which initial differences in citation arise purely
randomly. Instead, we demonstrate that a two-mechanism model in which the
probability of direct citation is proportional to the number of authors on a
paper (team size) is able to reproduce the empirical citation distributions of
articles published in the field of astronomy remarkably well, and at different
points in time. Interpretation of our model is that the intrinsic citation
capacity, and hence the initial visibility of a paper, will be enhanced when
more people are intimately familiar with some work, favoring papers from larger
teams. While the intrinsic citation capacity cannot depend only on the team
size, our model demonstrates that it must be to some degree correlated with it,
and distributed in a similar way, i.e., having a power-law tail. Consequently,
our team-size model qualitatively explains the existence of a correlation
between the number of citations and the number of authors on a paper.Comment: Published in journal Entropy. Open access article available at
https://www.mdpi.com/journal/entrop
Citations: Indicators of Quality? The Impact Fallacy
We argue that citation is a composed indicator: short-term citations can be
considered as currency at the research front, whereas long-term citations can
contribute to the codification of knowledge claims into concept symbols.
Knowledge claims at the research front are more likely to be transitory and are
therefore problematic as indicators of quality. Citation impact studies focus
on short-term citation, and therefore tend to measure not epistemic quality,
but involvement in current discourses in which contributions are positioned by
referencing. We explore this argument using three case studies: (1) citations
of the journal Soziale Welt as an example of a venue that tends not to publish
papers at a research front, unlike, for example, JACS; (2) Robert Merton as a
concept symbol across theories of citation; and (3) the Multi-RPYS
("Multi-Referenced Publication Year Spectroscopy") of the journals
Scientometrics, Gene, and Soziale Welt. We show empirically that the
measurement of "quality" in terms of citations can further be qualified:
short-term citation currency at the research front can be distinguished from
longer-term processes of incorporation and codification of knowledge claims
into bodies of knowledge. The recently introduced Multi-RPYS can be used to
distinguish between short-term and long-term impacts.Comment: accepted for publication in Frontiers in Research Metrics and
Analysis; doi: 10.3389/frma.2016.0000