Scientometrics 62(3) March 2005 - Interesting papers
Eugene Garfield
garfield at CODEX.CIS.UPENN.EDU
Tue Apr 26 17:01:44 EDT 2005
The following papers of interest appeared in the March 2005 issue of
Scientometrics.
Tibor Braun : e-mail: braun at mail.iif.hu
TITLE: The counting of core journal gatekeepers as science
indicators really counts. The scientific scope of action and
strength of
nations (Article, English)
AUTHOR: Braun, T; Diospatonyi, I
SOURCE: SCIENTOMETRICS 62 (3). MAR 2005. p.297-319 SPRINGER,
DORDRECHT
AUTHOR ADDRESS: T Braun, Hungarian Acad Sci, Inst Res Policy Studies,
ISSRU, POB 123, H-1443 Budapest, Hungary
(IDS: 909RE 00001) ISSN: 0138-9130
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Leo Egghe : e-mail : leo.egghe at luc.ac.be
TITLE: A characterization of the law of Lotka in terms of
sampling (Article, English)
AUTHOR: Egghe, L
SOURCE: SCIENTOMETRICS 62 (3). MAR 2005. p.321-328 SPRINGER,
DORDRECHT
ABSTRACT: An incomplete bibliography (or, more generally, an
incomplete Information Production Process (IPP)) can be considered as a
sample from a complete one. Sampling can be done in the sources or in the
items. The simplest sampling technique is the systematic one where every
k(th) source or k(th) item is taken (alternatively: deleted) (k is an
element of N).
In this paper we give a definition of systematic sampling in items and
sources in the framework of an IPP in which we have continuous variables.
We prove the theorem that in such IPPs we have a Lotkaian size-frequency
function (i.e. a decreasing power function) if and only if systematic
sampling in sources is the same as systematic sampling in items. In this
proof we use the well-known characterization of power functions as scale-
free functions.
AUTHOR ADDRESS: L Egghe, Limburgs Univ Ctr, Univ Campus, B-3590 Diepenbeek,
Belgium
(IDS: 909RE 00002) ISSN: 0138-9130
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Jesus Basulto Santos : e-mal : basulto at us.es
TITLE: Modelling citation age data with right censoring
(Article, English)
AUTHOR: Santos, JB; Irizo, FJO
SOURCE: SCIENTOMETRICS 62 (3). MAR 2005. p.329-342 SPRINGER,
DORDRECHT
ABSTRACT: in order to model the variable T (the age of citations
received by scientific works) with data elaborated by the Institute of
Scientific Information, we have used some of the instruments already
developed in the survival models to this type of retrospective analyses
in the presence of censored data. This analysis is used because, usually,
the citations of ages greater than or equal to 10 years appear added
together. For a set of journals related to the field of Applied
Economics, we have explored which models fit better among those commonly
used. Two different approaches to assess the goodness-of-fit for each
selected model have been suggested: an analysis through graphical methods
and a formal analysis to estimate the parameters of each model by the
method of maximum likelihood estimation with data censored to the right.
AUTHOR ADDRESS: JB Santos, Univ Sevilla, Fac Ciencias Econ & Empresariales,
Dpto Econ Aplicada 1, Avad Ramon & Cajal 1, Seville 41018,
Spain
IDS: 909RE 00003) ISSN: 0138-9130
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Jennifer Keiser : e-mail : jennifer.keiser at unibas.ch
TITLE: Trends in the core literature on tropical medicine: A
bibliometric analysis from 1952-2002 (Article, English)
AUTHOR: Keiser, J; Utzinger, J
SOURCE: SCIENTOMETRICS 62 (3). MAR 2005. p.351-365 SPRINGER,
DORDRECHT
ABSTRACT: The medical specialty of "tropical medicine" only dates
back a little more than 100 years and, in the meantime, has gone through
several quite distinctive eras. The aim of our study was to investigate
trends that occurred in the leading literature on tropical medicine over
the past 50 years. We analysed 2,802 original articles published in 1952,
1962, 1972, 1982, 1992 and 2002 in five of the high impact factor
journals, namely (i) Acta Tropica, (ii) American Journal of Tropical
Medicine and Hygiene, (iii) Annals of Tropical Medicine and Parasitology,
(iv) Leprosy Review, and (v) Transactions of the Royal Society of
Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. Authors' country affiliations were
categorized according to the human development index 2003 (HDI), with
stratification into low, medium and high HDI. We observed the following
trends: First, there was a strong increase in the number of articles
published from 250 in 1952 to 726 in 2002. Second, over the same time
span, the median number of authors per article increased from I (four
journals) or 2 (American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene) to 2.5
(Leprosy Review) up to 6 (Acta Tropica and American Journal of Tropical
Medicine and Hygiene). Third, research collaborations between countries
of different HDI ranks increased concomitantly - in 2002, 19.4-43.7% of
all manuscripts comprised authors from different HDI countries -
indicating that tropical medicine has become a global endeavour. However,
in four of the five journals investigated, the overall percentage of
researchers affiliated with low HDI countries decreased over the past 50
years and only a slight positive trend can be observed over the last
decade. Concluding, current roadblocks should be identified and
programmes designed and implemented to enhance equity of publishing in
tropical medicine. This in cum might be an important step forward to
substantially reduce the current burden of tropical diseases, so that
social and economic development in the tropics and subtropics can be
advanced and poverty alleviated.
AUTHOR ADDRESS: J Keiser, Swiss Trop Inst, Dept Epidemiol & Publ Hlth,
CH-4002 Basel, Switzerland
(IDS: 909RE 00005) ISSN: 0138-9130
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Mikhail Simkin - e-mail: simkin at ee.ucla.edu
TITLE: Stochastic modeling of citation slips (Article, English)
AUTHOR: Simkin, MV; Roychowdhury, VP
SOURCE: SCIENTOMETRICS 62 (3). MAR 2005. p.367-384 SPRINGER,
DORDRECHT
SEARCH TERM(S): GARFIELD E rauth; PRICE DJD rauth; J INF SCI rwork;
CITATION item_title; CITATION* item_title
KEYWORDS+: ORTEGA HYPOTHESIS; NETWORKS; SCIENCE
ABSTRACT: We present empirical data on frequency and pattern of
misprints in citations to twelve high-profile papers. We find that the
distribution of misprints, ranked by frequency of their repetition,
follows Zipfs law. We propose a stochastic model of citation process,
which explains these findings, and leads to the conclusion that about 70-
90% of scientific citations are copied from the lists of references used
in other papers.
AUTHOR ADDRESS: MV Simkin, Univ Calif Los Angeles, Dept Elect Engn, Los
Angeles, CA 90095 USA
(IDS: 909RE 00006) ISSN: 0138-9130
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TITLE: Visualizing the intellectual structure in urban studies:
A journal co-citation analysis (1992-2002) (Article, English)
AUTHOR: Liu, Z
SOURCE: SCIENTOMETRICS 62 (3). MAR 2005. p.385-402 SPRINGER,
DORDRECHT
ABSTRACT: This paper studied the intellectual structure of urban
studies through a co-citation analysis of its thirty-eight representative
journals from 1992 to 2002. Relevant journal co-citation data were
retrieved from Social SciSearch, and were subjected to cluster analysis,
multidimensional scaling, and factor analysis. A cluster-enhanced two-
dimensional map was created, showing a noticeable subject variation along
the horizontal axis depicting four clusters of journals differentiated
into mainstream urban studies, regional science and urban economics,
transportation, and real estate finance. The cluster of the mainstream
urban studies journals revealed a higher degree of interdisciplinarity
than other clusters. The four-factor solution, though not a perfect match
for the cluster solution, demonstrated the interrelationships among the
overlapping journals loaded high on different factors. The results also
showed a strong negative correlation between the coordinates of the
horizontal axis and the mean journal correlation coefficients reflecting
the subject variation, and a less revealing positive correlation between
the coordinates of the vertical axis and the mean journal correlation
coefficients.
AUTHOR ADDRESS: Z Liu, Texas A&M Univ, Sterling C Evans Lib, College Stn,
TX 77843 USA
(IDS: 909RE 00007) ISSN: 0138-9130
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TITLE: The peripheral terrorism literature: Bringing it closer
to the core (Article, English)
AUTHOR: Gordon, A
SOURCE: SCIENTOMETRICS 62 (3). MAR 2005. p.403-414 SPRINGER,
DORDRECHT
ABSTRACT: Core/periphery scientific communication is important for
information transfer in terrorism literature. The mutual awareness
between disciplinary journals contributors in the mainstream and those in
the margins of the field enhances their social interaction. The usual
case is that the mainstream of a discipline is visible through such
indexes as the Web of Science (SCI) and the Journal Citation Report (JCR)
the second of which assigns an impact factor to the most cited journals.
In terrorism subject area, however, the reverse situation exists; only
the peripheral journals in this field are indexed in JCR. From a
scientific communication perspective, then, the core journals of
terrorism writings are relatively invisible.
This study attempts to identify the core and the periphery of journals
dealing with terrorism, and suggests a way to bring them closer together.
The assumption is that the quality and quantity of work in this field
will increase as the distance between these two poles decreases.
AUTHOR ADDRESS: A Gordon, POB 7571, IL-31074 Haifa, Israel
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