Aida Méndez

LOCAL, DOMESTIC "AND INTERNATIONAL SCIENTIFIC COLLABORATION IN BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH

Collaboration practices and partners vary greatly per scientific area and discipline and influence the scientific performance. Bibliometric indicators are used to analyse international, domestic and local collaboration in publications of Spanish authors in three Biomedical subfields: Neurosciences, Gastroenterology and Cardiovascular System as covered by theSCI database. Team size, visibility and basic-applied level of research were analysed according to collaboration scope. International collaboration was linked to higher visibility documents. Cluster analysis of the most productive authors and centres provides a description, of collaboration habits and actors in the three subfields. A positive correlation was found between productivity and international and domestic collaboration at the author level.

International co-authorship patterns in physics and its subfields, 1981–1985

Is their a move to a new network strucutre of the world scientific research system in physics? Which are the positions of the differrent countries in such a network? Are the links stronger among central, powerful countries, fortifying even more their own research or are the links connecting strong with weak favouring a more homogeneous evolution of the system as a whole? Which are the predominant key factors creating the network structure: sociopolitical, geographic, or budgetery? These are some questions this study will try to approach from a scientometric point of view

Coping with the problem of subject classification diversity

The delimitation of a research field in bibliometric studies presents the problem of the diversity of subject classifications used in the sources of input and output data. Classification of documents according to thematic codes or keywords is the most accurate method, mainly used in specialised bibliographic or patent databases. Classification of journals in disciplines presents lower specificity, and some shortcomings as the change over time of both journals and disciplines and the increasing interdisciplinarity of research. Differences in the criteria in which input and output data classifications are based obliges to aggregate data in order to match them. Standardization of subject classifications emerges as an important point in bibliometric studies in order to allow international comparisons, although flexibility is needed to meet the needs of local studies.

THE SPANISH SCIENTIFIC PRODUCTIVITY THROUGH EIGHT INTERNATIONAL DATABASES

The publications by the Spanish scientists recorded in eight international databases in the years 1978 and 1983 are retrieved. Science indicators able to give a perception of the scientific productivity, the institutions involved, the habits of publishing in foreign or domestic journals and co-authorship are presented. The changes observed in these indicators in the two analysed years are examined and the trend in the evolution of the Spanish science is shown. The time delay in recording items by the databases and coverage of the Spanish journals are also studied.

Six years of Spanish scientific activity in physics and engineering through INSPEC and COMPENDEX

This study is an analysis of six years of Spanish bibliography retrieved from INSPEC and COMPENDEX. The quantitative evolution of the scientific activity by years and Institutions, the recent tendencies to publish in foreign journals, as well as to have the papers signed by more authors are followed. The most frequently used journals are ranked according to their impact factor and subject. Some hypothesis are formulated and tested, trying to find a relationship between the growth of the Spanish scientific activity and its quality.

The application of scientometric indicators to the Spanish Scientific Research Council

The assessment of the research performance of the Spanish Scientific Research Council using scientometric indicators was done. Number of scientists and budget involved in research projects were used as input measures while articles published in foreign journals, patent applications and citations received provided output figures. The time period studied was 1984–1987. Target of the analysis were wide research areas and the research Institutes included in them. The obtained results point out that very often costs, productivity and impact do not go in the same direction. Most likely, other activities no measurable by scientometric indicators may have played an important role in some Institutes. Besides, the presence of highly cited articles at Institutes with low productivity scores indicates not correspondence of quantity with impact. It is suggested that the research group level would be a more reliable unit for analysis than the aggregated level of Institute or research area.

Some indicators for assessing research performance without citations

The study aims at designing a set of indicators which, integrated altogether, should be albe to inform on the kind of research published in journal articles and its proximity to their specific forefornts. The set of indicators is composed of two subsets, one including information of the authors, “research performers indicators”, and other embodying information of the references used, “source indicators”. The source indicators are compared with the references pattern of specific paradigmatic journals used as standard framework of the research field. Three case studies dealing with the Spanish research on Immunology, Neurosciences and Pharmacognosy will be presented. The application of the indicators gave the following results: Spanish Immunology published in foreign journals was basic in its scope while the one published in domestric journals dealt with applied and clinical Medicine. Neuroscience publsiedh in foreign journals by financed Hospitals appertained to the forefront and presented a broad scope, Neuroscience Published in foreign journals by non-financed Hospitals was applied research and Neuroscience published by Universities, also in foreign journals, represented basic research done in a closed system. The case of Spanish Pharmacognosy is more difficult to interpret as three subject fields are involved (Pharmacology, Chemistry and Botany). The indicators did not clearly differentiate between the research published in domestic and foreign journals, although it seems that Spanish scientists are more interested in the pharmacological and botanical aspect of the natural products than in their chemical structure.

Collaborative research in Spain in the field of pharmacy and pharmacology

Collaborative research in Spain in the field of pharmacology is studied. Co-authored papers in periodicals were one of the indicators used to quantify collaborative research results. Through Spanish publications of pharmacologists, collaborations between different institutions in the same city are mostly detected. Through foreign papers quite different networks were found, both amongst Spanish cities and with institutions in other countries. In case of Spanish pharmaceutical industry questionnaires were used to determine their links with other institutions, mostly through research projects.

The Spanish transition to democracy seen through the Spanish database isoc

The study has tried to look at the political transition through the articles published by Spanish scientists in Spanish journals of Social Sciences and Humanities. A sample of 11000 article references from a selected set of 32 journals published from 1976 till 1985, has been the basis of the analysis. This time frame has been divided into two 5 year periods in order to detect any change in the topics published. The result of the analysis has been compared with the “events” as recorded by “El Pais” a very popular newspaper, during the same 10 year period and with a set of specific articles devoted to the Spanish political transition.

A comparison of citation classics in three fields of science

A sample of “Citation Classics” in three scientific fields was studied to uncover citing motivations. The classics were classified into basic research, methods and reviews. Number of citations received per classic, number of authors, and age of classic per category and scientific field were the parameters studied. Journals and countries accounting for the highest incidence of classics were examined. A striking parallelism was found in the parameters applied to the categories in the scientific fields studied. This parallelism suggests similar citing habits of scientists in the fields studied which should be reflected in the structures of science obtained through citation grounded bibliometric models.