van Eck, NJ; Waltman, L; Dekker, R; van den Berg, J. 2010. A Comparison of Two Techniques for Bibliometric Mapping: Multidimensional Scaling and VOS. JASIST. 61 (12): 2405-2416

[Eugene Garfield]

van Eck, NJ; Waltman, L; Dekker, R; van den Berg, J. 2010. A Comparison of 
Two Techniques for Bibliometric Mapping: Multidimensional Scaling and VOS. 
JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR INFORMATION SCIENCE AND 
TECHNOLOGY 61 (12): 2405-2416..

Author Full Name(s): van Eck, Nees Jan; Waltman, Ludo; Dekker, Rommert; van 
den Berg, Jan
Language: English
Document Type: Article

KeyWords Plus: AUTHOR COCITATION ANALYSIS; COMPUTATIONAL 
INTELLIGENCE FIELD; INFORMATION-SCIENCE; PATHFINDER NETWORKS; 
SIMILARITY MEASURES; COOCCURRENCE DATA; MAPS; REPRESENTATIONS; 
COLLABORATION; VISUALIZATION

Abstract: VOS is a new mapping technique that can serve as an alternative to 
the well-known technique of multidimensional scaling (MDS). We present an 
extensive comparison between the use of MDS and the use of VOS for 
constructing bibliometric maps. In our theoretical analysis, we show the 
mathematical relation between the two techniques. In our empirical analysis, 
we use the techniques for constructing maps of authors, journals, and 
keywords. Two commonly used approaches to bibliometric mapping, both based 
on MDS, turn out to produce maps that suffer from artifacts. Maps constructed 
using VOS turn out not to have this problem. We conclude that in general maps 
constructed using VOS provide a more satisfactory representation of a dataset 
than maps constructed using well-known MDS approaches.

Addresses: [van Eck, Nees Jan; Waltman, Ludo] Leiden Univ, Ctr Sci & Technol 
Studies, NL-2300 RA Leiden, Netherlands; [van Eck, Nees Jan; Waltman, Ludo; 
Dekker, Rommert] Erasmus Univ, Erasmus Sch Econ, Inst Econometr, NL-3000 
DR Rotterdam, Netherlands; [van den Berg, Jan] Delft Univ Technol, Fac 
Technol Policy & Management, Sect ICT, NL-2600 AA Delft, Netherlands

Reprint Address: van Eck, NJ, Leiden Univ, Ctr Sci & Technol Studies, NL-2300 
RA Leiden, Netherlands.

E-mail Address: ecknjpvan at cwts.leidenuniv.nl; waltmanlr at cwts.leidenuniv.nl; 
rdekker at ese.eur.nl; j.vandenberg at tudelft.nl
ISSN: 1532-2882
DOI: 10.1002/asi.21421
fulltext: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/asi.21421/abstract