Co-author Weighting in Bibliometric Methodology and Subfields of a Scientific Discipline

Purpose: To give a theoretical framework to measure the relative impact of bibliometric methodology on the subfields of a scientific discipline, and how that impact depends on the method of evaluation used to credit individual scientists with citations and publications. The authors include a study of the discipline of physics to illustrate the method. Indicators are introduced to measure the proportion of a credit space awarded to a subfield or a set of authors.Design/methodology/approach: The theoretical methodology introduces the notion of credit spaces for a discipline. These quantify the total citation or publication credit accumulated by the scientists in the discipline. One can then examine how the credit is divided among the subfields. The design of the physics study uses the American Physical Society print journals to assign subdiscipline classifications to articles and gather citation, publication, and author information. Credit spaces for the collection of Physical Review Journal articles are computed as a proxy for physics.Findings: There is a substantial difference in the value or impact of a specific subfield depending on the credit system employed to credit individual authors.Research limitations: Subfield classification information is difficult to obtain. In the illustrative physics study, subfields are treated in groups designated by the Physical Review journals. While this collection of articles represents a broad part of the physics literature, it is not all the literature nor a random sample.Practical implications: The method of crediting individual scientists has consequences beyond the individual and affects the perceived impact of whole subfields and institutions. Originality/value: The article reveals the consequences of bibliometric methodology on subfields of a disciple by introducing a systematic theoretical framework for measuring the consequences.

Evaluation of Scholar’s Contribution to Team Based on Weighted Co-author Network

The contributions of scientific researchers include personal influence and talent training achievements. In this paper, using 9964 high-quality coauthor scientific papers in English teaching research from China citation database from 1997 to 2016, a weighted coauthor network with variety factors is constructed. A model was proposed to calculate the author’s contribution to the research team by combining personal and network characteristics. The results reveal a variety of characteristics of the co-author networks in English teaching research field, including statistical properties, community features, and authors’ contribution to teams in this discipline.

Current Status and Enhancement of Collaborative Research in the World:A Case Study of Osaka University

Purpose:The purpose of this research is to provide evidence for decision-makers to realize the potentials of collaborations between countries/regions via the scientometric analysis of co-authoring in academic publications.Design/methodology/approach:The approach is that Osaka University,which has set a strategy to become a global campus,is positioned to have a leading role to enhance such collaborations.This research measures co-authoring relations between Osaka University and other countries/regions to identify networks for fostering strong research collaborations.Findings:Five countries are identified as candidates for the future global campuses of Osaka University based on three factors,co-authoring relations,GDP growth,and population growth.Research limitations:The main limitation of this study is not being able to use the relations by the former positions of authors in Osaka University,because the data retrieved is limited by the query of the organization name at the first step.Practical implications:The significance of this work is to provide evidence for the university strategy to expand abroad based on the quantity and visualization of trends.Originality/value:With wider practical implementations,the approach of this research is useful in making a strategic roadmap for scientific organizations that intend to collaborate internationally.

Hierarchy, clusters, and spatial differences in Chinese inter-city networks constructed by scientific collaborators

The Chinese urban system is currently experiencing a fundamental shift, as it moves from a size-based hierarchy to a network-based system. Contemporary studies of city networks have tended to focus on economic interactions without paying sufficient attention to the issue of knowledge flow. Using data on co-authored papers obtained from China Academic Journal Network Publishing Database （CAJNPD） during 2014-2016, this study explores several features of the scientific collaboration network between Chinese mainland cities. The study concludes that： （1） the spatial organization of scientific cooperation amongst Chinese cities is shifting from a jurisdiction-based hierarchical system to a networked system; and （2） several highly intra-connected city regions were found to exist in the network of knowledge, and such regions had more average internal linkages （14.21） than external linkages （8.69）, and higher average internal linkage degrees （14.43） than external linkage degrees （10.43）; and （3） differences existed in terms of inter-region connectivity between the Western, Eastern, and Central China regional networks （the average INCD of the three regional networks were 109.65, 95.81, and 71.88）. We suggest that China should engage in the development of regional and subregional scientific centers to achieve the goal of building an innovative country. Whilst findings reveal a high degree of concentration in those networks - a characteristic which reflects the hierarchical nature of China＇s urban economic structure - the actual spatial distribution of city networks of knowledge flow was found to be different from that of city networks based on economic outputs or population.

Social Network Analysis of Coauthor Networks in Inclusive Finance in China

The proposal and innovation of inclusive finance provide a very valuable pathway to realize social equity and eliminate poverty,which has attracted extensive attention,especially from developing countries.Based on the papers on inclusive finance published in the Chinese journal database CNKI from 2014 to 2018,we constructed an undirected weighted coauthor network 2154 authors.By employing social network analysis,we found that the number of authors in the field of inclusive finance increased rapidly.Although the cooperation between them was still very low and the cooperation authors were relatively fixed,the scale of cooperation was rapidly expanding.Although no scholar could always be at the center position in the coauthor network,the knowledge transfer path was significantly reduced.Financial universities and some financial institutions were the most important promoters of inclusive finance.Knowledge discovery in this field was promoted alternately by several center authors and cooperation by many scholars 2014-2018.We believe these discoveries are of great significance to promote knowledge sharing and innovation in the academic community of inclusive finance.