Bibliometrics

Definition and History of Bibliometrics - Bibliometrics is the use of statistical methods to analyze books, articles, and other publications. - It is closely associated with scientometrics, which focuses on scientific metrics and indicators. - The term 'bibliometrics' was first used by Paul Otlet in 1934. - Alan Pritchard defined bibliometrics as the application of mathematics and statistical methods to books and other media of communication. - Bibliometrics is a replacement for the term 'statistical bibliography'. - Bibliometric studies first appeared in the late 19th century. - The Science Citation Index and citation network analysis laid the foundation for bibliometrics in the early 1960s. - The development of computing tools after World War II contributed to the growth of bibliometrics. - The emergence of the web and open science movement transformed the definition and purpose of bibliometrics. - The Leiden Manifesto for Research Metrics in 2015 sparked a debate on the use and transparency of metrics. Citation Analysis and Tools - Citation analysis is a commonly used bibliometric method. - It involves constructing a citation graph, which represents the citations shared by documents. - Many research fields use citation analysis to explore the impact of their field, researchers, or specific papers. - Bibliometrics tools have been integrated into descriptive linguistics, the development of thesauri, and evaluation of reader usage. - Popular web search engines, like Google, have been influenced by bibliometrics methods and concepts. Relationship with Scientometrics - Bibliometrics and scientometrics overlap as they use similar data sources and methods. - Scientometrics focuses on non-bibliographic indicators of scientific activity. - Citation data has become the leading standard for quantitative scientific evaluation. - The development of the web expanded bibliometrics to non-scientific production. - Terms like infometrics, webometrics, and cybermetrics have been introduced but not widely adopted. Early Experiments and Development - Bibliometric analysis appeared in the late 19th and early 20th century. - Early studies focused on scientific metadata and the expansion of scientific output. - Citation indexes were first applied to case law in the 1860s. - The emergence of social sciences inspired research on the science of science. - Early bibliometrics and scientometrics work expressed normative views on the performance of researchers and institutions. Development of Bibliometrics and Concentration of Research - The field of bibliometrics emerged alongside the development of the Science Citation Index. - Institutions in the mid-twentieth century played a significant role in motivating and facilitating research measurement. - Influential figures in the field include John Desmond Bernal, Paul Otlet, and Robert K. Merton. - Derek John de Solla Price, a follower of Bernal, made major contributions to bibliometrics through his publications. - Price and Garfield recognized the structural inequality in science production, where a minority of researchers have a significant impact on subsequent research. - Only a small percentage of papers receive a substantial number of citations. - Price referred to the existence of an 'invisible college' of elite scientists. - Eugene Garfield formulated a law of concentration in scientific publishing. - The core literature for all scientific disciplines is limited to a group of no more than 1000 journals. - The Impact Factor was devised by Garfield and Irving Sher in the 1960s. - It is a simple ratio between the total count of citations received by a journal in the past year and its productivity in the past two years. - The Impact Factor was used to select core journals featured in Current Contents and the Science Citation Index. - Bibliometrics became a research field and a testing ground for quantitative policy evaluation. - Garfield supported fundamental research in science history and sociology of science.