Derek J. de Solla Price

The analysis of square matrices of scientometric transactions

A method is explained for analysing square matrices of statistics giving transactions between each member of a set of nations, papers, journals, etc. In general self-transactions are different in kind to other exchanges of money, citations, etc., and a special method is given to compute row and column coefficients without relying on the diagonal elements. It is shown that this method yields very satisfactory analyses for journal and national citation data, enabling the members of the set to be assigned measures of size, quality and self-interest and a fuzzy set of clustered members from which all data may be derived.A method is explained for analysing square matrices of statistics giving transactions between each member of a set of nations, papers, journals, etc. In general self-transactions are different in kind to other exchanges of money, citations, etc., and a special method is given to compute row and column coefficients without relying on the diagonal elements. It is shown that this method yields very satisfactory analyses for journal and national citation data, enabling the members of the set to be assigned measures of size, quality and self-interest and a fuzzy set of clustered members from which all data may be derived.

The Science of Science

Can we use scientific methods to analyze the structure of science itself? With the article by Derek J. de Solla Price that follows, the Bulletin presents the second of six articles based upon the “Monday Lectures,” a series of talks given at the University of Chicago in the spring of 1965 in the hope of initiating anew discussion on the nature of man, his place in the universe, and his biological, intellectual, and social potentialities. Dr. Price is professor of the history of science at Yale University and author of Science Since Babylon and Big Science, Little Science. The complete texts of the Monday Lectures are being published by the University of Chicago Press, under the title New Views of the Nature of Man.

The analysis of scientometric matrices for policy implications

A method is explained for analysing matrices of statistics where each element should be approximately proportional to some column coefficient and also to some row coefficient. Using U. S. patent data as an example it is shown that entries are usually proportional to country “size” and patent category “size”. Deviations from proportionality expectations when tabulated often suggest policy implications.A method is explained for analysing matrices of statistics where each element should be approximately proportional to some column coefficient and also to some row coefficient. Using U. S. patent data as an example it is shown that entries are usually proportional to country “size” and patent category “size”. Deviations from proportionality expectations when tabulated often suggest policy implications.

Notes Towards a Philosophy of the Science/Technology Interaction

For something usually taken for granted as a basis for practical politics and economics, the lack of critical scholarship on the interaction of science and technology is downright scandalous. All that seems clear is the inadequacy of the naive idea that somehow or other science can be ‘applied’ to make technology. In spite of a morass of case studies promoted as a legitimation of funding practices or to provide a social license for the support of basic scientists, no such concept as ‘application’ is of use to serious historians of science or of technology. Similarly, although there are voluminous statistics which disaggregate such entities as funding and manpower into categories of basic science, applied science, and development, there is no evidence that this division produces results of any theoretical value. On the contrary they appear to be nothing but a trivial artifact of the definitions used, rather than any illumination of the chain of action in which they are supposed to be linked.

The distribution of citations from nation to nation on a field by field basis — A computer calculation of the parameters

Following the methodology established byPrice, this paper analyzes the empirical evidence of citation matrices. Using the data cleaned and tabulated by Computer Horizons, Inc. from the Science Citation Index data banks, it is shown that the non-diagonal elements of the square citation matrices can be accounted for very satisfactorily by assigning each nation a characteristic output and input coefficient in each field measured; the ratio of these coefficients provides a measure of quality. Deviations from this simple model give measures of particular linkage strengths between nations showing some evidence of preferences and avoidances that exist for reason of language, social structure, etc. It is also shown that the diagonal data can be accounted for by the measurable phenomenon that each nation seems to publish partly for the international knowledge system and party for its own domestic purposes. Thus, three parameters and a cluster map can parsimoniously describe the citation data within the limits of random error.

Comments on “U. S. science in an international perspective”

International data show that the scientific development of the United States is neither better nor worse than expected for its size and industry. Its position is, however, deteriorating rapidly. The postwar expansion in federal funding of research seems to be a response to continued exponential growth rather than a cause. The science indicators volumes, all criticism notwithstanding, are rapidly provoking new understanding of these questions of scientific and technological change.International data show that the scientific development of the United States is neither better nor worse than expected for its size and industry. Its position is, however, deteriorating rapidly. The postwar expansion in federal funding of research seems to be a response to continued exponential growth rather than a cause. The science indicators volumes, all criticism notwithstanding, are rapidly provoking new understanding of these questions of scientific and technological change.

Science and Civilisation in China. Vol. 3: Mathematics and the Sciences of the Heavens and the Earth.@@@Heavenly Clockwork: The Great Astronomical Clocks of Medieval China.

List of illustrations List of tables List of abbreviations Acknowledgements Authors note 19. Mathematics 20. Astronomy 21. Meteorology 22. The Sciences of the Earth 23. Geography and cartography 24. Geology (and related sciences) 25. Seismology 26. Mineralogy Addenda Bibliographies General index.

Heavenly Clockwork, the Great Astronomical Clocks of Medieval China

A reissue with a new foreword and supplement, of a modern classic published in 1960. The invention of the mechanical clock was one of the most important turning points in the history of science and technology. This study revealed six centuries of mechanical clockwork preceding the first mechanical escapement clocks of the West of about AD 1300. Detailed and fully illustrated accounts of elaborate Chinese clocks are accompanied by a discussion of the social context of the Chinese inventions and an assessment of their possible transmission to medieval Europe. For this revised edition, Dr Joseph Needham has contributed a new foreword on recent research and perceptions. In a supplement John H. Combridge details a modern reconstruction of Su Sungs timekeeping device, which together with textual studies modifies our understanding of this important early technology.