Abstract
Indicators in a research Institute ought to be readable at several decision levels, and particularly with different break-downs of the publication set chosen as reference. Citation transactions between journals have been widely used to structure scientific subfields in ISI databases. We tried a seed-free structuration of SCI/CMCI journals (a) to test convergence of pure citation-built specialties (roughly 150) on SCI/CMCI journals with existing classifications at the subfield level (b) to explore the interest and the limits of this approach for upper levels of aggregation (roughly 30 fields). A few limits of journal-level classification are addressed. At the subfield level, the convergence is large with some discrepancies worth noticing. At the subdiscipline level, the method is not sufficient to achieve a satisfactory 30-level delineation, but gives a good basis for informed expert validation.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
Gomez I., Bordons M., Fernandez M.T., Mendez A., Coping with the problem of subject classification diversity,Scientometrics, 35, 2 (1996) 223–237.
Tijssen R., Van Leeuwen T.N., On generalising scientometric journal mapping beyond ISI's journal and citation databases,Scientometrics, 33, 1 (1995) 93–116.
Grupp H., Hinze S., International orientation, efficiency of and regard for research in East and West Germany: a bibliometric investigation of aspects of technology genesis in the united Germany,Scientometrics, 29, 1 (1994) 83–113.
Coward R.H., Science and technology indicators in a policy context,Proceedings of the Joint EC-Leiden Conference on Science and Technology Indicators, Leiden, 23–25 oct 1991,A.F.J. Van Raan, R.E. De Bruin, H.F. Moed, A.J. Nederhof, R.W.J. Tijssen (Eds), DSWO Press, Leiden University (1992) 234–241.
Katz J.S., Hicks D., The classification of journals: a new approach,Proceedings of the Fifth Biennal Conference of the International Society for Scientometrics and Informetrics, River Forest (Chicago), June 7–10 1995, Learned Information Inc., Medford, New Jersey, 245–254.
Bourke P., Butler L., Institutions and the map of science; matching university departments and fields of research,Research Policy, 26, 6 (1998) 711–718.
Glänzel W., Schubert A., Czerwon H.J., Improving ISI's subject classification system. A paper-by-paper assignment of papers in multidisciplinary and general journals based on reference analysis,Book of Abstracts of the Fifth international Conference on Science and Technology Indicators, Hinxton, Cambridge June 4–6 1998, SPRU-CWTS, 16.
Narin F., Carpenter M., Berlt N.C., Interrelationships of scientific journals,Journal of the American Society for Information Science, 23 (1972) 323–331.
Carpenter M.P., Narin F. Clustering of scientific journals,Journal of the American Society for Information Science, 24 (1973) 425–436.
Doreian P., Fararo T.J., Structural equivalence in a journal network,Journal of the American Society for Information Science, 36, 1 (1985) 28–37.
Todorov R., Glänzel W., Journal citation measures: a concise review,Journal of Information Science, 4 (1988) 47–56.
Tijssen R., De Leeuw, J., Van Raan, A.F.J., Quasi-correspondence analysis on square biblometric transaction matrices,Scientometrics, 11 (1987) 347–361.
Burton M.P., The use of citations matrices to group journals,Scientometrics, 33, 2 (1995) 257–262.
Leydesdorff L., Cozzens S.E., The delineation of specialties in terms of journals using the dynamic journal set of the Science Citation Index,Scientometrics, 26, 1, (1993) 135–156.
Luukonen T., Why has Latour's theory of citation been ignored by the bibliometric community? Discussion of sociological interpretations of citation analysis,Scientometrics, 38, 1, (1997) 27–37.
Van Raan A.F.J., Fractal dimension of co-citations,Nature, 347 (1990) 626.
Hartigan, J.A.,Clustering Algorithms, John Wiley, New York, 1975.
Leydesdorff L., The development of frames of references,Scientometrics, 9, 3–4, (1987) 103–125.
Zitt M., Bassecoulard E., Reassessment of co-citation methods for science indicators: effect of methods improving recall rates,Scientometrics, 37, 1 (1996) 333–351.
Murugesan P., Moravcsik M.J., Variation of the nature of citation measures with journal and scientific specialties,Journal of the American Society for Information Science, 29 (1978) 141–155.
Pudovkin A.I., Fuseler E.A., Indices of journal citation relatedness and citation relationships among aquatic biology journals,Scientometrics, 32, 3 (1995) 227–236.
Reinert M., Classification descendante hiérarchique: un algorithme pour le traitement des tableaux logiques de grande dimension, data analysis and Informatics, 4, Diday et al. Eds., North-Holland (1986) 23–28.
Small H., Update on science mapping: Creating large document spaces,Scientometrics, 38, 2 (1997) 275–293.
Zitt M., Texeira N., Science macro-indicators: some aspects of OST experience,Scientometrics, 35, 2 (1996) 209–222.
Irvine J., Martin B.R., Isard P.A.,Investing the Future: An International Comparison of Government Support for Academic and Related Research, Edward Elgar Publishing, Aldershot (1990) 251–265.
De Solla Price D.J., The analysis of scientometric matrices for policy implications,Scientometrics, 3, 1 (1981) 47–54.
Noma E., An improved method for analyzing square scientometrics transaction matrices,Scientometrics, 4, 4 (1982) 297–316.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Bassecoulard, E., Zitt, M. Indicators in a research institute: A multi-level classification of scientific journals. Scientometrics 44, 323–345 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02458483
Received:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02458483