The development of political science in Central and Eastern Europe : bibliometric perspective, 1996–2013

This research aims to develop a deeper insight into the development of political science from the bibliometric perspective by analysing peer-reviewed journal articles (n = 1117) indexed in the Scopus database and published by authors from fifteen Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries in the period 1996–2013. Results indicate that the majority of articles (84%) by CEE authors have been published in international journals and in the English language. The visibility of these articles in international journals, measured by the mean number of citations, is 5.2 per paper, while the same indicator for CEE journal articles amounts to 0.2. Authorship analysis indicates a gradual but continuous increase in co-authorships. Additionally, there are significant differences in citations between single-authored and co-authored articles, both in international and CEE journals. Co-authorship among CEE authors is present in only 1% of the analysed articles, confirming weak collaboration between political scientists in CEE countries

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