Disciplinary and linguistic considerations for academic Web linking: An exploratory hyperlink mediated study with Mainland China and Taiwan

Mike Thelwall; Rong Tang

doi:10.1023/a:1025487826207

Scientometrics

Volume/Issue:: Volume 58: Issue 1

Disciplinary and linguistic considerations for academic Web linking: An exploratory hyperlink mediated study with Mainland China and Taiwan

Authors:

Mike Thelwall

Mike Thelwall University of Wolverhampton School of Computing and Information Technology Wulfruna Street Wolverhampton WV1 1SB UK Wulfruna Street Wolverhampton WV1 1SB UK

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and

Rong Tang

Rong Tang Catholic University of America School of Library and Information Science Washington, DC ( USA Washington, DC ( USA

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Pages:: 155–181

Online Publication Date:: 13 Aug 2006

Publication Date:: 01 Sep 2003

Article Category:: Research Article

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1023/a:1025487826207

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Abstract

The Web has become an important means of academic information exchange and can be used to give new insights into patterns of informal scholarly communication. This study develops new methods to examine patterns of university Web linking, focusing on Mainland China and Taiwan, and including language considerations. Multiple exploratory investigations into Web links were conducted between universities in these two places. Firstly, inlinks were counted to each university Web site from its national peers using four alternative Web document models. The results were shown to correlate significantly with research productivity in Taiwan but not in the Mainland, although in the latter case less reliable institutional data could have been the cause. For Taiwan, this is the first evidence of a scholarly association with academic linking for a non-English speaking region. It was then ascertained that the same link counts associated more strongly with scientific than social scientific research productivity in Taiwan. This confirms the general assumption of greater Web use by the hard sciences. We then investigated Taiwan-Mainland university cross-links, and found that although English is extensively used on the Web, there was no evidence that it was the language of preference for informal scholarly communication between the two areas.

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Scientometrics

Print ISSN:: 0138-9130

Online ISSN:: 1588-2861

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Scientometrics
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