CREST/Stellenbosch Course on Scientometrics and Bibliometrics

Attended by Susan Veldsman, Louise van Heerden, Ina Smith

Stellenbosch University, 23-26 March 2015

Feedback to ASSAf Staff on 7 May 2015

Presenters

Prof Robert TijssenVisiting professor at SUFrom the Centre for Science and Technology Studies (CWTS) Leiden University, Netherlands

Prof Johann MoutonProfessor in and Director of the Centre for Research on Evaluation, Science and Technology at Stellenbosch University and the African Doctoral Academy. Programme Director of five post-graduate programmes in Monitoring and Evaluation Studies and Science and Technology Studies.

Day 1 : STS Module on Bibliometrics

• Definitions (webometrics, netometrics, bibliometrics, scientometrics, informetrics, altmetrics)

• History

• Structure & elements of Bibliometrics

• Journal Impact Factor

• Limitations of the Impact Factor

• Resistance to the Impact Factor

• Six rules of Evaluative Bibliometrics

Bibliometrics

Bibliometrics is statistical analysis of written publications, such as books or articles. Bibliometric methods are frequently used in the field of library and information science, including scientometrics. For instance, bibliometrics are used to provide quantitative analysis of academic literature.

Structure & elements of Bibliometrics

• Building blocks:• Data sources (WoS, Scopus, Google Scholar)

• Units and measures (publications, (co-)authors, references and citations)

• Publication activity and authorship (subject matter, author’s age, author’s social status, observation period)

• Citations and co-citations

• Factors influencing citation (impact) behaviour (subject matter and within a subject, the “level of abstraction”; paper’s age; paper’s “social status”; document type; observation period (”citation window”))

Scopus24,169

Web of Science12,491

Scopus7,410 (+78%)

WoS4,188

Scopus6,740 (+97%)

WoS3,415

Scopus4,436 (+50%)

WoS2,954

Scopus7,684 (+90%)

WoS4,016

Physical Sciences Health Sciences Life Sciences Social Sciences

~12K titles

3,300 publishers

Updated weekly

~24K titles

>5,000 publishers

Updated daily

Source: Web of Science Real Facts, Web of Science title list and Scopus’ own data (April 2014)

Data sources compared

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

Number of South African journals covered

WoS Scopus

0

2,000

4,000

6,000

8,000

10,000

12,000

14,000

16,000

18,000

2009 2010 2011 2012 2013

Number of South African articles published per year

Comparison for SA

Journal Impact Factor

• Measure to reflect the number of citations an item received

• Eugene Garfield - founder of the Institute for Scientific Information

• Calculated yearly starting from 1975 for those journals that are indexed in the Journal Citation Reports

Bibliometrics applied

• University rankings

• Scientific fields

• Research productivity

• Collaboration and citation impact

• Active human capital base

• Journal publication trends

• Measuring demographics of research

Day 2: Bibliometrics and statistics of African science• African countries do not publish in Scopus journals

• Scopus focuses on social journals

• We need far more info than what is available through Scopus & Thomson Reuters Web of Science (WoS)

Bibliometric mapping of science

• Visualisation mapping tool e.g. VOS Viewer (www.VOSviewer.com)

• E.g. overlap between journals

Day 3 : Scientometric evaluation of science

• Individual researchers & research groups (h-index)

• Organisations

• CWTS Monitor bibliographic analysis tool

• OA and Altmetrics; Open data

Day 4 : Science and Innovation

• Knowledge an asset

• Developing countries and economies – related to science and innovation

• Reports on Innovation for Africa

• Univ. conduct research and companies innovate

• Collaboration between univ. and industry required

• Patents: Not all inventions will lead to innovations; not all innovations are patented.

• Patents filed with WIPO

Day 4 : Science and Society

• Involve society – citizen scientists

• All research impacts on society in the end

• Societal responsibility to share

• Solar Turtle Project http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12RWuWnrSQk

“The Solar Turtle is one of three great examples of innovation that will help create a more sustainable future for all.”

• New research leads to innovation leads to new jobs