The need to develop tailored tools for improving the quality of thematic bibliometric analyses: Evidence from papers published in Sustainability and Scientometrics

Purpose: The aim of this article is to explore up to seven parameters related to the methodological quality and reproducibility of thematic bibliometric research published in the two most productive journals in bibliometrics, Sustainability(a journal outside the discipline) and Scientometrics, the flagship journal in the field.Design/methodology/approach: The study identifies the need for developing tailored tools for improving the quality of thematic bibliometric analyses, and presents a framework that can guide the development of such tools. A total of 508 papers are analysed, 77% of Sustainability, and 23% published in Scientometrics, for the 2019-2021 period.Findings: An average of 2.6 shortcomings per paper was found for the whole sample, with an almost identical number of flaws in both journals. Sustainability has more flaws than Scientometrics in four of the seven parameters studied, while Scientometrics has more shortcomings in the remaining three variables.Research limitations: The first limitation of this work is that it is a study of two scientific journals, so the results cannot be directly extrapolated to the set of thematic bibliometric analyses published in journals from all fields.Practical implications: We propose the adoption of protocols, guidelines, and other similar tools, adapted to bibliometric practice, which could increase the thoroughness, transparency, and reproducibility of this type of research.Originality/value: These results show considerable room for improvement in terms of the adequate use and breakdown of methodological procedures in thematic bibliometric research, both in journals in the Information Science area and journals outside the discipline.

The 14th National Conference of Chinese Society for Scientometrics and Informetrics was held in Taiyuan

On June 23-25,2023,The 14th National Conference of Chinese Society for Scientometrics and Informetrics(CSSI)was successfully held in Taiyuan,Shanxi Province.The meeting was hosted by Chinese Society for Scientometrics and Informetrics(CSSI)、Chinese Academy of Science and Education Evaluation(CASEE)and Academy of Data Science and Informetrics(ADSI)of Hangzhou Dianzi University、Research Center for Chinese Science Evaluation(RCCSE)of Wuhan University and co-organized by School of Management of Shanxi Medical University.More than 1000 participants virtually and over 250 participants physically attended the conference.

从Scientometrics期刊的自引看科学计量学的学科特点

引文分析乃是当今世界上最富声望的科学计量技术,在科学发展研究当中、特别是在信息科学领域有着广泛的应用。以科学计量学领域最为重要的期刊之一——Scientometrics过去10年的自引情况为例,剖析了科学计量学的学科特点。

国际科学计量学研究代表人物的科学知识图谱——基于《Scientometrics》期刊的作者共被引网络分析

《Scientometrics》是国际科学计量学研究领域的第一本专门期刊。对该期刊文献的作者进行共被引网络分析,网络中关键节点人物代表了国际科学计量学研究领域的核心作者,代表了国际科学计量学研究的主流方向。利用信息可视化技术对2001-2010年间发表的文献数据进行分析,在作者共被引网络中形成了以Hirsch J.为代表的H指数相关研究团体,以MeyerM.,Narin F.等为代表的专利计量研究团体,以Price D.,WhiteH.,Small H.等为代表的共被引分析和科学计量指标研究团体等为主体的研究结构。

国际科学计量学研究前沿的可视化探测——基于《Scientometrics》期刊文献共被引网络的分析

《Scientometrics》是国际科学计量学研究领域的第一本专门期刊,代表了国际科学计量学研究的主流方向。对其刊载的2001-2010年间的文献进行计量分析,通过信息可视化技术探测国际科学计量学研究的前沿问题。在文献共被引网络基础上,进行文献聚类分析,直观展现了国际科学计量学主流研究方向的前沿问题包括:科学发展规律的数量统计分析;H指数及其相关指标研究;三螺旋理论研究;学术网络、语义结构研究;中国科学计量学研究等。

Scientometrics2000～2014年载文分析

以SCI数据库中Scientometrics2000～2014年期间刊载的2 415篇论文为研究对象,采用文献计量学的方法,从载文量、被引情况、合作情况、核心作者、研究热点等几个角度进行分析,同时对中国作者发表的论文进行重点分析。研究结果表明,中国的发文量逐年上升,2011～2014年一直排在第一,但是总被引次数以及篇均被引次数都偏低,合作论文以国内合作为主,国际合作比例偏小,主要的合作国家有美国、比利时等。

历时视角下的作者引证规律研究——以Scientometrics为例

开展作者引证规律研究可以了解研究人员使用学术文献的特征,实现文献的利用以及开展科学评价工作。文章以Scientometrics期刊论文为研究对象,引入作者首次引证时间、作者引证时间跨度以及作者最佳引证时间三个测度指标,对样本数据进行了测度。研究发现:不同出版年份的测度结果有所不同,即使是同一出版年份其测度结果也有所差异;三种测度指标总体上呈现出下降态势,但作者引证时间跨度测度数据变化相对复杂(下降-平稳-下降)。

Infrastructure of Scientometrics: The Big and Network Picture

A network is a set of nodes connected via edges,with possibly directions and weights on the edges.Sometimes,in a multi-layer network,the nodes can also be heterogeneous.In this perspective,based on previous studies,we argue that networks can be regarded as the infrastructure of scientometrics in the sense that networks can be used to represent scientometric data.Then the task of answering various scientometric questions related to this data becomes an algorithmic problem in the corresponding network.

International Conference on Scientometrics & Informetrics October 16–20,2017,Wuhan·China

Call for PapersThe Organizing Committee would like to invite participants to submit to the 16th International Society of Scientometrics and Informetrics Conference that will be held in Wuhan, China （http：//www.issi2017.org）. The ISSI 2017 Conference will provide an international forum for scientists, research managers and administrators, as well as information and communication related professionals to share research and debate the advancements of informetric and scientometric theory and applica- tions. The conference is organized under the auspices of ISSI - the International Society for Informetrics and Scientometrics （http：//www.issi-society.org/）. Paper submission： https：//easychair.org/conferences/？conf=issi2017.

The 13th National Conference of Chinese Society for Scientometrics and Informetrics was held in Zhen Zhou

On September 23-25,2022,The 13th National Conference of Chinese Society for Scientometrics and Informetrics(CSSI)was successfully held in Zhen Zhou,Henan Province.The meeting was hosted by Chinese Society for Scientometrics and Informetrics(CSSI)、Chinese Academy of Science and Education Evaluation(CASEE)and Academy of Data Science and Informetrics(ADSI)of Hangzhou Dianzi University、Research Center for Chinese Science Evaluation(RCCSE)of Wuhan University and co-organized by School of Information Management of Zhengzhou University and Zhengzhou Data Science Research Center.

Knowledge mapping analysis of the track and hotspot of water lubrication:A scientometrics review

With the enhancement of environmental protection awareness of the international community and the continuous promotion of green and sustainable development of manufacturing industry,water lubrication instead of mineral oil has become the future development trend due to its green,pollution-free,clean,safe,and sustainable advantages especially in ships,marine,coal mining,and other fields.In recent years,with the rapid development of water lubrication research,significant progress has been made in related research knowledge domain and discipline.A systematic and extensive assessment of water lubrication research has become increasingly important.The objective of this research is to reveal the research status,research hotspots,and development trends in the field of water lubrication.Therefore,CiteSpace was used to conduct a systematic bibliometric and scientometrical analysis of 1,792 publications from Web of Science core collection database(1997–2021).The results show that China and USA are the most productive countries in the field of water lubrication and have made outstanding contributions.Through the analysis of hot key words and co-citation references,this paper reviews the research status of water lubrication in three aspects:(1)lubricating medium modification;(2)material preparation;(3)surface optimization.It has become a research hotspot to promote the superlubricity contact interface and the application of nanotechnology.The results of this study can make a significant contribution to the development of water lubrication by providing a comprehensive understanding of the research status and research hotspots in this field.Personal understanding and discussion of research hotspots and research status are expected to provide insights into future research trends.In addition,this study will provide valuable references and guidelines for researchers who are interested in this field.

Immunotherapy of gastric cancer:Present status and future perspectives

In this editorial,we comment on the article entitled“Advances and key focus areas in gastric cancer immunotherapy:A comprehensive scientometric and clinical trial review(1999-2023),”which was published in the recent issue of the World Journal of Gastroenterology.We focused on the results of the authors’bibliometric analysis concerning gastric cancer immunotherapy,which they analyzed in depth by compiling the relevant publications of the last 20 years.Before that,we briefly describe the most recent data concerning the epidemiological parameters of gastric cancer(GC)in different countries,attempting to give an interpretation based on the etiological factors involved in the etiopathogenesis of the neoplasm.We then briefly discuss the conservative treatment(chemotherapy)of the various forms of this malignant neoplasm.We describe the treatment of resectable tumors,locally advanced neoplasms,and unresectable(advanced)cases.Special attention is given to modern therapeutic approaches with emphasis on immunotherapy,which seems to be the future of GC treatment,especially in combination with chemotherapy.There is also a thorough analysis of the results of the study under review in terms of the number of scientific publications,the countries in which the studies were conducted,the authors,and the scientific centers of origin,as well as the clinical studies in progress.Finally,an attempt is made to draw some conclusions and to point out possible future directions.

Citation distributions and research evaluations:The impossibility of formulating a universal indicator

Purpose:To analyze the diversity of citation distributions to publications in different research topics to investigate the accuracy of size-independent,rank-based indicators.The top percentile-based indicators are the most common indicators of this type,and the evaluations of Japan are the most evident misjudgments.Design/methodology/approach:The distributions of citations to publications from countries and journals in several research topics were analyzed along with the corresponding global publications using histograms with logarithmic binning,double rank plots,and normal probability plots of log-transformed numbers of citations.Findings:Size-independent,top percentile-based indicators are accurate when the global ranks of local publications fit a power law,but deviations in the least cited papers are frequent in countries and occur in all journals with high impact factors.In these cases,a single indicator is misleading.Comparisons of the proportions of uncited papers are the best way to predict these deviations.Research limitations:This study is fundamentally analytical,and its results describe mathematical facts that are self-evident.Practical implications:Respectable institutions,such as the OECD,the European Commission,and the U.S.National Science Board,produce research country rankings and individual evaluations using size-independent percentile indicators that are misleading in many countries.These misleading evaluations should be discontinued because they can cause confusion among research policymakers and lead to incorrect research policies.Originality/value:Studies linking the lower tail of citation distribution,including uncited papers,to percentile research indicators have not been performed previously.The present results demonstrate that studies of this type are necessary to find reliable procedures for research assessments.

Visualizing Language and Aging From 2013-2022

Declining cognitive abilities can be a concomitant of advanced age.As language is closely associated with cognitive abilities,changes in language abilities can be an important marker of changes in cognitive abilities.The current study is to review cognitive studies of language and aging by first identifying and exploring the major clusters and pivotal articles and then detecting emerging trends.Data of 3,266 articles on language and aging from 2013 to 2022 were collected from the Web of Science Core Collection database.Adopting Document Co-citation Analysis,Freeman’s betweenness centrality metric(Freeman,2002)and Kleinberg’s burst detection algorithm(Kleinberg,2002),we explored major clusters,pivotal articles and emerging trends in this field.Cognition appears to be the most remarkable cluster.Bilingualism,speech production,listening effort,and reading comprehension are other major active clusters in a certain period.The most recent active cluster concerns the studies of Alzheimer’s disease.Articles serving as pivotal points concentrate on cognitive studies of the Framework for Understanding Effortful Listening(FUEL),the new Ease of Language Understanding model(EUL)and a hierarchical multi-representational generative framework of language comprehension.The progress in statistical methods,the relationship between language and cognitive impairment and the relationship between language abilities and cognition are the emerging trends.These emerging trends will provide some insights into how cognitive abilities influence language abilities in aging.

Trends and hotspots of global ultra-processed food research(2010-2023):A scientometric study

Background:Recently,ultra-processed foods(UPFs)have attracted considerable attention,leading to numerous studies worldwide.Scientometrics is currently gaining popularity among scientific communities,offering advantage of providing critical references to scholars of specific fields.Methods:This scientometric study aimed to analyze trends and hotspots of UPF research using English articles or reviews related to UPFs retrieved from the Web of Science Core Collection on March 5,2023.Two independent researchers selected the identified records on titles,abstracts,and author’s keywords,and the data were analyzed using R-bibliometrix,CiteSpace,and VOSviewer.Results:A total of 1018 publications(901 articles and 117 reviews)published from 2010 to 2023 were included.The result showed a significant increase in UPF publications over the past decades.Brazil published the highest number of papers(n=473),with over half of the top 10 active institutions were located in Brazil.The University of São Paulo contributed the most publications(n=206)and the 10 most productive authors belonged to this institution,with Monteiro CA and Levy RB contributing the most publications.The main research foundations included the NOVA system,the definition of UPFs,the prevalence of UPFs,and the impact of UPFs on dietary quality and health status.The main research frontiers included topics such as“systematic review,”“NOVA food classification,”“COVID-19,”“diabetes,”“pregnancy,”“food addiction,”“warning labels,”“plant-based diet,”and“commercial determinants of health”.Conclusions:This study provided a comprehensive overview of development trends and research hotspots of global UPF studies.

Research evolution of metal organic frameworks: A scientometric approach with human-in-the-loop

Purpose:This paper reports on a scientometric analysis bolstered by human-in-the-loop,domain experts,to examine the field of metal-organic frameworks(MOFs)research.Scientometric analyses reveal the intellectual landscape of a field.The study engaged MOF scientists in the design and review of our research workflow.MOF materials are an essential component in next-generation renewable energy storage and biomedical technologies.The research approach demonstrates how engaging experts,via human-in-the-loop processes,can help develop a comprehensive view of a field’s research trends,influential works,and specialized topics.Design/methodology/approach:Ascientometric analysis was conducted,integrating natural language processing(NLP),topic modeling,and network analysis methods.The analytical approach was enhanced through a human-in-the-loop iterative process involving MOF research scientists at selected intervals.MOF researcher feedback was incorporated into our method.The data sample included 65,209 MOF research articles.Python3 and software tool VOSviewer were used to perform the analysis.Findings:The findings demonstrate the value of including domain experts in research workflows,refinement,and interpretation of results.At each stage of the analysis,the MOF researchers contributed to interpreting the results and method refinements targeting our focus Research evolution of metal organic frameworks:A scientometric approach with human-in-the-loop on MOF research.This study identified influential works and their themes.Our findings also underscore four main MOF research directions and applications.Research limitations:This study is limited by the sample(articles identified and referenced by the Cambridge Structural Database)that informed our analysis.Practical implications:Our findings contribute to addressing the current gap in fully mapping out the comprehensive landscape of MOF research.Additionally,the results will help domain scientists target future research directions.Originality/value:To the best of our knowledge,the number of publications collected for analysis exceeds those of previous studies.This enabled us to explore a more extensive body of MOF research compared to previous studies.Another contribution of our work is the iterative engagement of domain scientists,who brought in-depth,expert interpretation to the data analysis,helping hone the study.

Global research trends in postoperative ileus from 2011 to 2023:A scientometric study

BACKGROUND Postoperative ileus(POI)is a common complication after abdominal surgery with high morbidity,which hinders patient recovery,prolongs hospitalization,and increases healthcare costs.Therefore,POI has become a global public health challenge.POI triggering is multifactorial.Autonomic and hormonal mechanisms are generally involved in POI pathogenesis.Recent studies have shown that beta adrenergic signaling of enteric glia is a POI trigger.Currently,the status quo,trends,and frontiers of global research on POI remain unclear.AIM To explore the current status,trends,and frontiers of POI research from 2011 to the present based on bibliometric analysis.METHODS Publications published on POI research from 2011 to 2023 were retrieved on June 1,2023,from the Web of Science Core Collection.CiteSpace 6.2.R2 and VOSviewer were used to conduct bibliometric visualization.RESULTS In total,778 POI records published from 2011 to 2023 were retrieved.Over the past few decades,the annual cumulative number of related articles has linearly increased,with China and the United States of America contributing prominently.All publications were from 59 countries and territories.China and the University of Bonn were the top contributing country and institution,respectively.Neurogastroenterology&Motility was the most prolific journal.The Journal of Gastrointestinal Surgery had the highest number of citations.Wehner Sven was the most productive author.Burst keywords(e.g.,colon,prolonged ileus,acupuncture,paralytic ileus,pathophysiology,rectal cancer,gastrointestinal function,risk)and a series of reference citation bursts provided evidence for the research frontiers in recent years.CONCLUSION This study demonstrates trends in the published literature on POI and provides new insights for researchers.It emphasizes the importance of multidisciplinary cooperation in the development of this field.

Mapping the Research Landscape of Language Development in Autistic Children: A Preliminary Scientometric Analysis

Children with autism spectrum disorder(ASD)often encounter difficulties in language learning and utilization,a concern that has gained significant academic attention,particularly given the widespread occurrence of ASD globally.Previous reviews,however,have relied on empirical observations rather than a more rigorous selection criterion.This preliminary study seeks to systematize the scientific knowledge base regarding language development in autistic children by utilizing the analysis tool Citespace 6.2.R5.We visualized and analyzed research patterns and trends regarding autism by drawing data from the Web of Science.Through document citation and emerging trend analyses,seven key research clusters and their chronological associations are identified,along with research hotspots such as language disorder diagnosis and intervention,social communication,language acquisition,and multilingual and multicultural influences.Research findings show that there exist some issues with the current research,including small sample sizes,the need for further investigation into receptive language development,and a lack of cross-cultural comparative studies.Meanwhile,the scope and depth of interdisciplinary research on language development in autistic children also need to be further enhanced.The research contributes to the extant literature by providing valuable references for autism researchers and practitioners.

The notion of dominant terminology in bibliometric research

In this opinion paper, we introduce the expressions of dominant terminology and dominant term in the quantitative studies of science in analogy to the notion of dominant design in product development and innovation.

Is big team research fair in national research assessments? The case of the UK Research Excellence Framework 2021

Collaborative research causes problems for research assessments because of the difficulty in fairly crediting its authors.Whilst splitting the rewards for an article amongst its authors has the greatest surface-level fairness,many important evaluations assign full credit to each author,irrespective of team size.The underlying rationales for this are labour reduction and the need to incentivise collaborative work because it is necessary to solve many important societal problems.This article assesses whether full counting changes results compared to fractional counting in the case of the UK’s Research Excellence Framework(REF)2021.For this assessment,fractional counting reduces the number of journal articles to as little as 10%of the full counting value,depending on the Unit of Assessment(UoA).Despite this large difference,allocating an overall grade point average(GPA)based on full counting or fractional counting gives results with a median Pearson correlation within UoAs of 0.98.The largest changes are for Archaeology(r=0.84)and Physics(r=0.88).There is a weak tendency for higher scoring institutions to lose from fractional counting,with the loss being statistically significant in 5 of the 34 UoAs.Thus,whilst the apparent over-weighting of contributions to collaboratively authored outputs does not seem too problematic from a fairness perspective overall,it may be worth examining in the few UoAs in which it makes the most difference.