Contents of Scientometrics Vol:78, No:1, 2009 (January)

[Eugene Garfield]

Scientometrics, Vol. 78, No. 1 (2009)

(Individual articles + abstracts and full citations 
follow after contents listing)

CONTENTS

Jerome K. Vanclay
Bias in the journal impact factor	3

T. Buranathiti, N. Premkamolnetr, T. Markpin, P. Ratchatahirun, W. Yochai, 
N. Sombatsompop
Redistributed random sampling method for categorizing materials research 
publications 
from SCI database: Metallurgy and polymer subfields	13

Loet Leydesdorff, Caroline Wagner
Is the United States losing ground in science? A global perspective on the 
world 
science system 	23

Annamária Inzelt, András Schubert, Mihály Schubert
Incremental citation impact due to international co-authorship in Hungarian 
higher education institutions	37

Jonathan M. Levitt, Mike Thelwall
The most highly cited Library and Information Science articles: 
Interdisciplinarity, 
first authors and citation patterns 	45

Christian Sternitzke
Technological specialization and patenting strategies in East Asia – 
Insights 
from the electronics industry	69

E. R. Prakasan, V. L. Kalyane, Vijai Kumar
Sustained impact of publications of C.V. Raman 	77

Marek Szydłowski, Adam Krawiec 
Growth cycles of knowledge 	99

Christian Sternitzke, Isumo Bergmann
Similarity measures for document mapping: A comparative study on the level
of an individual scientist 	113

Anastassios Pouris 
Fluorine research in South Africa and four benchmarking countries:
Comparative mapping and assessment	131

John Rigby
Comparing the scientific quality achieved by funding instruments for single 
grant 
holders and for collaborative networks within a research system: Some 
observations 	145

Wolfgang Glänzel, Bart Thijs, András Schubert, Koenraad Debackere
Subfield-specific normalized relative indicators and a new generation of 
relational 
charts: Methodological foundations illustrated on the assessment of 
institutional 
research performance 	165
 
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E-mail: E-mail: JVanclay at scu.edu.au

TITLE :  Bias in the journal impact factor

AUTHOR :   JEROME K. VANCLAY
Southern Cross University, P.O. Box 157, Lismore, NSW 2480, Australia

ABSTRACT : The ISI journal impact factor (JIF) is based on a sample that 
may represent half the whole-of life citations to some journals, but a 
small fraction (<10%) of the citations accruing to other journals. This 
disproportionate sampling means that the JIF provides a misleading 
indication of the true impact of journals, biased in favour of journals 
that have a rapid rather than a prolonged impact. Many journals exhibit a 
consistent pattern of citation accrual from year to year, so it may be 
possible to adjust the JIF to provide a more reliable indication of a 
journal’s impact.

JOURNAL : Scientometrics, Vol. 78, No. 1 (2009) 3–12
DOI: 10.1007/s11192-008-1778-4


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E-MAIL :  narongrit.som at kmutt.ac.th 

TITLE : Redistributed random sampling method for categorizing materials 
research publications from SCI database: Metallurgy and polymer subfields

AUTHOR : T. BURANATHITI,a N. PREMKAMOLNETR,b T. MARKPIN,a P. RATCHATAHIRUN,a
W. YOCHAI,c N. SOMBATSOMPOPa

a Polymer Processing and Flow (P-PROF) Group, School of Energy, Environment 
and Materials, King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi (KMUTT), 
Thungkru, Bangmod, Bangkok 10140, Thailand
b Policy Innovation (PI) Centre, King Mongkut’s University of Technology 
Thonburi (KMUTT), Thungkru, Bangmod, Bangkok 10140, Thailand
c Thai-Journal Citation Index (TCI) Centre, KMUTT Library, King Mongkut’s 
University of Technology Thonburi (KMUTT), Thungkru, Bangmod, Bangkok, 
10140, Thailand

ABSTRACT :    This article introduced two sampling methods, including 
Directly Random Sampling (DRS) and Redistributed Random Sampling (RRS) 
methods for categorization of a large number of research articles retrieved 
from metallurgy and polymer subfields from the Science Citation Index (SCI) 
database. The accuracy of the proposed sampling methods was considered in 
association by comparing with reference results previously obtained by 
Fully Retrieving Sampling (FRS) method, which involved analyzing the 
contents and categories of all articles from the database. The results 
suggested that RRS and DRS methods were appropriate, efficient and 
reasonably accurate for categorization of relatively large volume of 
research articles. RRS method was highly recommended, especially when the 
contents of sample articles was unevenly distributed. By DRS and RRS 
methods, only about 6.3% of total articles were required for obtaining 
similar results as those given by FRS method. The percentage Expected Worst 
Errors (EWE) from DRS and RRS methods were observed to range from 1.0 to 
5.5%. The EWE value could be reduced by increasing the sample size.

Journal : Scientometrics, Vol. 78, No. 1 (2009) 13–21
DOI: 10.1007/s11192-008-1764-x
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E-mail: loet at leydesdorff.net; http://www.leydesdorff.net
TITLE : Is the United States losing ground in science? A global perspective 
on the world science system

AUTHOR : LOET LEYDESDORFF,a CAROLINE WAGNERb,c

a Amsterdam School of Communications Research (ASCoR), University of 
Amsterdam Kloveniersburgwal 48, 1012 CX Amsterdam, The Netherlands
b SRI International, Arlington, VA, USA
c George Washington University, Washington, DC, USA

JOURNAL : Scientometrics, Vol. 78, No. 1 (2009) 23–36
DOI: 10.1007/s11192-008-1830-4

ABSTRACT : 
Based on the Science Citation Index-Expanded web-version, the USA is still 
by far the strongest nation in terms of scientific performance. Its 
relative decline in percentage share of publications is largely due to the 
emergence of China and other Asian nations. In 2006, China has become the 
second largest nation in terms of the number of publications within this 
database. In terms of citations, the competitive advantage of the 
American “domestic market” is diminished, while the European Union (EU) is 
profiting more from the enlargement of the database over time than the USA. 
However, the USA is still outperforming all other countries in terms of 
highly cited papers and citation/publication ratios, and it is more 
successful than the EU in coordinating its research efforts in strategic 
priority areas like nanotechnology. In this field, the People’s Republic of 
China (PRC) has become second largest nation in both numbers of papers 
published and citations behind the USA.

Address for correspondence:
LOET LEYDESDORFF
E-mail: loet at leydesdorff.net; http://www.leydesdorff.net

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E-mail: annamaria.inzelt at t-online.hu
TITLE : Incremental citation impact due to international co-authorship in 
Hungarian higher education institutions

AUTHOR : ANNAMÁRIA INZELT,a ANDRÁS SCHUBERT,b MIHÁLY SCHUBERTc

a IKU Innovation Research Center, Pénzügykutató Zrt., Felhévizi út 24, H–
1023 Budapest, Hungary
b Institute of Research Policy Studies/ISSRU, Hungarian Academy of 
Sciences, Budapest, Hungary
c ELTE Radnóti Miklós School, Budapest, Hungary

JOURNAL :  Scientometrics, Vol. 78, No. 1 (2009) 37–43
DOI: 10.1007/s11192-007-1957-8

ABSTRACT : 
International co-authorship is generally thought and often found to have 
positive effects on the citation rate of scientific publications. We study 
the effect quantitatively in the example of four major and four medium 
Hungarian universities. The conclusions may be generalized to other 
countries of similar international status.

Address for correspondence:
ANNAMÁRIA INZELT
E-mail: annamaria.inzelt at t-online.hu

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E-mail: j.m.levitt at wlv.ac.uk
TITLE :  The most highly cited Library and Information Science articles: 
Interdisciplinarity, first authors and citation patterns

AUTHOR :  JONATHAN M. LEVITT, MIKE THELWALL

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

JOURNAL : Scientometrics, Vol. 78, No. 1 (2009) 45–67
DOI: 10.1007/s11192-007-1927-1 

ABSTRACT :
Highly cited articles are interesting because of the potential association 
between high citation counts and high quality research. This study 
investigates the 82 most highly cited Information Science and Library 
Science’ (IS&LS) articles (the top 0.1%) in the Web of Science from the 
perspectives of disciplinarity, annual citation patterns, and first author 
citation profiles. First, the relative frequency of these 82 articles was 
much lower for articles solely in IS&LS than for those in IS&LS and at 
least one other subject, suggesting that that the promotion of 
interdisciplinary research in IS&LS may be conducive to improving research 
quality. Second, two thirds of the first authors had an h-index in IS&LS of 
less than eight, show that much significant research is produced by 
researchers without a high overall IS&LS research productivity. Third, 
there is a moderate correlation (0.46) between citation ranking and the 
number of years between peak year and year of publication. This indicates 
that high quality ideas and methods in IS&LS often are deployed many years 
after being published. 

Address for correspondence:
JONATHAN M. LEVITT
E-mail: j.m.levitt at wlv.ac.uk

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E-mail: cs at sternitzke.com
TITLE  :  Technological specialization and patenting strategies in East 
Asia – Insights from the electronics industry

AUTHOR :  CHRISTIAN STERNITZKEa,b
a Technische Universität Ilmenau, PATON – Patentzentrum Thüringen, Ilmenau, 
Germany
b Universität Bremen, Institut für Projektmanagement und Innovation (IPMI), 
Bremen, Germany

Address for correspondence:
CHRISTIAN STERNITZKE
E-mail: cs at sternitzke.com

ABSTRACT : We elicit filing strategies for patent families in China and 
Japan in two prominent technology fields: telecommunications and 
audiovisual technology. For the two destination countries we find 
substantial heterogeneity in filing strategies among applications from 
different countries. This heterogeneity cannot be explained with activities 
in technological subfields.

JOURNAL : Scientometrics, Vol. 78, No. 1 (2009) 69–76
DOI: 10.1007/s11192-007-1988-1
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E-mail: prak at barc.gov.in
TITLE : Sustained impact of publications of C.V. Raman

AUTHOR : E. R. PRAKASAN, V. L. KALYANE, VIJAI KUMAR

Scientific Information Resource Division, Knowledge Management Group, 
Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Trombay, Mumbai, India Address for 
correspondence:
E. R. PRAKASAN
E-mail: prak at barc.gov.in

JOURNAL : Scientometrics, Vol. 78, No. 1 (2009) 77–97
DOI: 10.1007/s11192-008-1937-7

ABSTRACT : 
C.V. Raman is being acknowledged by worldwide physics community for his 
classic works. The present study has made an effort to analyze how much 
impact in number of citation receiving for his publications. Of course, 
there was a lack of tools for such a study some years back. The study has 
limited to the database Science Citation Index for the period 1982–2005. 
The noteworthy results are: One third of his research papers have been 
cited at least once; The research papers published during 1918–1940 could 
make remarkable impact; Three of his papers have shown an upward growth in 
number of citations receiving; The total citations to papers of age 46 and 
54 as on the year 1982 accounted for more than 50 per cent of the total 
citations received; Research works in the ‘Acoustics’ area have been cited 
more than any other area of his works; Eponymal citations are to be 
explored and analysed to understand the real impact of his works.

Address for correspondence:
E. R. PRAKASAN
E-mail: prak at barc.gov.in

JOURNAL : Scientometrics, Vol. 78, No. 1 (2009) 77–97
DOI: 10.1007/s11192-008-1937-7


E-mail: uoszydlo at cyf-kr.edu.pl
TITLE : Growth cycles of knowledge

AUTHOR : MAREK SZYDŁOWSKI,a,b,d ADAM KRAWIECc,d

a Astronomical Observatory, Jagiellonian University, Orla 171, 30-244 
Kraków, Poland
b Department of Theoretical Physics, Catholic University of Lublin, Al. 
Racławickie 14, 20-950 Lublin, Poland
c Institute of Economics and Management, Jagiellonian University, 
Gronostajowa 3, 30-387 Kraków, Poland
d Mark Kac Complex Systems Research Centre, Jagiellonian University, 
Reymonta 4, 31-059 Kraków, Poland

Address for correspondence:
MAREK SZYDŁOWSKI
E-mail: uoszydlo at cyf-kr.edu.pl

JOURNAL : Scientometrics, Vol. 78, No. 1 (2009) 99–11
DOI: 10.1007/s11192-007-1958-7

ABSTRACT : 
We have developed a way of describing the increase with time of the number 
of papers in a scientific field and apply it to a data base of about 2000 
papers on symbolic logic published between 1666 and 1934. We find (a) a 
general exponential increase in the cumulative total number of papers, (b) 
oscillations around this due to the appearance of new ideas in the field 
and the time required for their full incorporation, and (c) exogenously 
caused fluctuations due to wars and other non-scientific events.

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E-mail: cs at sternitzke.com
TITLE : Similarity measures for document mapping: A comparative study on 
the level of an individual scientist

AUTHOR : CHRISTIAN STERNITZKE,a,b ISUMO BERGMANNb

a Technische Universität Ilmenau, PATON – Landespatentzentrum Thüringen, PF 
100 565, D-98684 Ilmenau, Germany
b Universität Bremen, Institut für Projektmanagement und Innovation (IPMI), 
Bremen, Germany

Address for correspondence:
CHRISTIAN STERNITZKE
E-mail: cs at sternitzke.com

JOURNAL : Scientometrics, Vol. 78, No. 1 (2009) 113-130	
DOI: 10.1007/s11192-007-1961-z

ABSTRACT : 
This paper investigates the utility of the Inclusion Index, the Jaccard 
Index and the Cosine Index for calculating similarities of documents, as 
used for mapping science and technology. It is shown that, provided that 
the same content is searched across various documents, the Inclusion Index 
generally delivers more exact results, in particular when computing the 
degree of similarity based on citation data. In addition, various 
methodologies such as co-word analysis, Subject–Action–Object (SAO) 
structures, bibliographic coupling, co-citation analysis, and selfcitation 
links are compared. We find that the two former ones tend to describe 
rather semantic similarities that differ from knowledge flows as expressed 
by the citation-based methodologies.


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E-mail: Anastassios.pouris at up.ac.za
TITLE : Fluorine research in South Africa and four benchmarking countries: 
Comparative mapping and assessment 

AUTHOR : ANASTASSIOS POURIS

Institute for Technological Innovation, Engineering Building I, University 
of Pretoria Pretoria 0002, South Africa
Address for correspondence:
ANASTASSIOS POURIS
E-mail: Anastassios.pouris at up.ac.za

JOURNAL : Scientometrics, Vol. 78, No. 1 (2009) 131–143
DOI: 10.1007/s11192-007-1904-8

ABSTRACT : 
Fluorine research has been identified as a priority area in South Africa 
and the South African Nuclear Energy Corporation (NECSA) is embarking in an 
effort to expand its hydrogen fluoride and aluminium trifluoride production 
capacity. On the eve of those efforts this article reports the findings of 
an effort to map and assess fluorine research in South Africa in comparison 
to four other countries i.e. Malaysia, Australia, Germany and Italy. The 
results of the assessment are aimed at guiding future directions for 
fluorine research in the country, at identifying centres of expertise 
nationally where new research chairs could be established, at identifying 
international centres of expertise to be utilised for collaboration and of 
course for inter-temporal benchmarking of fluorine research in South 
Africa. South Africa is identified to be producing a small number of 
fluorine research publications in comparison to other countries like 
Germany and Italy which produce orders of magnitude larger number of 
publications and in comparison to country’s total research effort. 
Furthermore the relevant research effort appears to be dispersed 
geographically and in disciplinary terms. Relevant recommendations are 
provided with particular emphasis on the pluralistic science policy 
approach followed in the country.


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E-mail: John.Rigby at manchester.ac.uk
TITLE : Comparing the scientific quality achieved by funding instruments 
for single grant holders and for collaborative networks within a research 
system:
Some observations

AUTHOR : JOHN RIGBY

PREST, University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester, UK
Address for correspondence:
JOHN RIGBY
E-mail: John.Rigby at manchester.ac.uk

JOURNAL : Scientometrics, Vol. 78, No. 1 (2009) 145–164
DOI: 10.1007/s11192-007-1970-y

ABSTRACT : 
Increasingly, funding of academic research is carried out through the 
support of collaboration, rather than through single awards to a sole grant 
holder. The practice is well supported by evidence that larger, network-
based research achieves high quality while leading to a number of capacity 
building benefits for the research system, although with significant 
transaction costs. However, the question of what kind of funding schemes 
should be made available to researchers is not a simple dichotomy between 
single grant-holder projects and networks. A key question is how to achieve 
a balance in each subject field between different forms of funding 
instrument employed while ensuring different forms of funding retain a 
reputation for generating research of high scientific quality. This paper 
reports the results of a systematic comparison of the scientific quality of 
1010 scientific papers from the ISI database produced under two contrasting 
forms of funding instrument for a single year in the Austrian science 
system. Comparison of the arcsinh transformed citation counts of papers 
from the two main forms of funding for basic science at the level of main 
scientific field shows there is no statistically significant difference in 
the quality achieved by the two forms of funding. This may suggest that 
funders and research performers have succeeded in ensuring that different 
research instruments nevertheless achieve very similar levels of scientific 
excellence.


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E-mail: wolfgang.glanzel at econ.kuleuven.ac.be
TITLE : Subfield-specific normalized relative indicators
and a new generation of relational charts:
Methodological foundations illustrated on the
assessment of institutional research performance

AUTHOR : WOLFGANG GLÄNZEL,a,b BART THIJS,a ANDRÁS SCHUBERT,b KOENRAAD 
DEBACKEREa

a Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Steunpunt O&O Indicatoren, Dept. MSI, 
Leuven, Belgium
b Institute for Research Policy Studies, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, 
Budapest, Hungary
Address for correspondence:
WOLFGANG GLÄNZEL
E-mail: wolfgang.glanzel at econ.kuleuven.ac.be


JOURNAL : Scientometrics, Vol. 78, No. 1 (2009) 165–188
DOI: 10.1007/s11192-008-2109-5

ABSTRACT : 
A common problem in comparative bibliometric studies at the meso and micro 
level is the differentiation and specialisation of research profiles of the 
objects of analysis at lower levels of aggregation. Already the 
institutional level requires the application of more sophisticated 
techniques than customary in evaluation of national research performance. 
In this study institutional profile clusters are used to examine which 
level of the hierarchical subject classification should preferably be used 
to build subject-normalised citation indicators. It is shown that a set of 
properly normalised indicators can serve as a basis of comparative 
assessment within and even among different clusters, provided that their 
profiles still overlap and such comparison is thus meaningful. On the basis 
of 24 selected European universities, a new version of relational charts is 
presented for the comparative assessment of citation impact.

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