时间线和地形式可视化图谱：科学传播研究前沿演进趋势分析

Timeline and Landscape：A Case Study of Visualizing the Evolution of Science Communication Research Front

研究前沿是在一门学科领域中研究者最热衷、最新的研究主题。运用时间线和地形式可视化图谱方法进行研究前沿的确定和描绘,由原来的二维时间线图谱扩展至三维动态地形式图谱,为研究前沿的发展趋势绘制更加清晰可视化并具有动态性的知识图谱。以一份科学传播研究领域的权威期刊《科学传播》（ScienceCommunication）杂志1994～2007年的数据为例,对科学传播的研究前沿进行了可视化地梳理和描述,绘制出时间线和地形式可视化图谱,试图随着时间变化来演示科学传播领域研究前沿的动态变化过程与发展趋势,为技术预测和学科发展提供借鉴。

Research fronts are clusters of documents that tend to cite a fixed, time invariant set of base documents. In a specialty, research fronts are considered as major topics that most researchers are interested in. This paper plots the research fronts in science communication as timelines and landscapes for visualization. Timelines and landscapes, as new techniques of mapping knowledge domains, take advantage of a set of data processing and querying technologies based on Matlab and database prior to those based on text and memory. A set of data, collected from the reputable journal named Science Communication from 1994 to 2007 are used to manifest the dynamics and evolution of science communication research fronts over time. The mapping techniques are based on finding ＇research fronts＇ consisting of groups of papers clustered using bibliographic coupling. Timelines of research fronts, two-dimension maps, show the specialty dynamics over time. Landscapes of research fronts are three-dimension plots with many peaks rising one after another over time. Landscapes show the panorama of research fronts in science communication, and comparison of various research fronts over time comes to be easier in fact. Such information will provide some references for technology forecasting and further knowledge development.