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- Author or Editor: T. Ojasoo x
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Abstract
Multivariate statistical analysis of the citation profiles of urology and related journals (i.e. the relative extent to which each journal cites itself and other journals within a set) has highlighted hidden correlations. We reveal the existence of a ‘transatlantic’ rift in citation practice and of a confined discipline-oriented world which interfaces weakly with many other disciplines. We also interpret the results of our analyses in terms of basic and clinical research and examine whether there is a time-related selectivity in citation. Taken together, our results call for a serious appraisal of present-day research trends and of their evaluation. The open question is how to create a terrain that will foster original, possibly interdisciplinary, research in developed nations whilst maintaining cultural individuality.
Abstract
This study is a follow-up to a published correspondence Factor Analysis (CFA) of a dataset of over 6 million bibliometric entries. In the previous paper, CFA was used to show how the 48 most prolific countries stand in relation to each with regard to their publication interests in 17 specific disciplinary areas and one multidisciplinary field over the period 1981–1992. In this paper, we illustrate how the publication profiles of these 48 countries evolved over time during this period. We have (i) shown how analysis of the dataset highlights cutting edge versus ancient disciplines; (ii) identified the countries whose publication patterns underwent the most marked changes (e.g. the Asian dragons who chose to focus on engineering, materials sciences, computer sciences and molecular biology), and (iii) revealed the widespread attraction exerted by the publication pattern of the USA. There is, without doubt, an overall shift toward an Americanstyle pattern that may be a true reflection of research interests worldwide but that may also be explained by the hegemony of those who hold the reins of international publication.
Abstract
In order to be able to develop indicators that can measure the scientific and technological productivity of a nation, it is helpful to have at one's command a prior purely descriptive global overview of how various nations stand with respect to each other with regard to world science, i.e., to dispose of a framework for the elaboration of future quantitative studies.ISI has recently made available a highly comprehensive multidisciplinary database (over 6 million bibliometric entries from 1981 to 1992) that is founded on top-echelon journals and that can form the basis of such a framework. We have in the present study defined a publication pattern per nation that reflects its interest and potential in 18 disciplines and compared the publication patterns of 48 nations by descriptive multivariate analysis, i.e., by measuring the distance between nations in the n-dimensional system. Proximity is a sign of similarity, distance of diversity. Three multivariate methods of distance measurement were used: a hierarchical classification, the distance of each nation from the centre of gravity of the system calculated by 
2-metrics (typicality of behaviour), a bi-plot of the
2-distances of 46 countries with respect to two reference countries that highlights clusters of nations with similar behaviour.The resultant plots are open to interpretation by experts. We conclude that three factors, geographical proximity, culture, and economic development are the principal determinants of the publication patterns of nations.
Abstract
Co-authorship analyses are both difficult to perform and interpret. We have devised a new way of calculating and representing hierarchical author networks that depict relationships among authors in a more exhaustive and less equivocal manner than most available automatic analyses. Any structure, however complex, can be broken down into independent subclusters of authors that can be represented as individual interconnected networks. We illustrate our approach by analysing the authors of publications giving the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) as an affiliation in 1994 (from the ISI 1994 CD-ROM). The networks can be interpreted by referring to the official EMBL staff list (Annual Report 1993) and, in terms of research topics, by consulting the article titles and abstracts. In this respect, correspondence analyses of the author-publication matrices—that are the counterparts of the author-author matrices—prove extremely useful in structuring the thematic information. In fact, both methods—the hierarchical author networks and the correspondence analysis biplots—mutually enrich each other and provide a global picture of the inherent structure and interests of the EMBL as given by their 1994 publications.
