Hui-Zhen Fu

Mapping of drinking water research: A bibliometric analysis of research output during 1992–2011

A bibliometric analysis based on the Science Citation Index Expanded from the Web of Science was carried out to provide insights into research activities and tendencies of the global drinking water from 1992 to 2011. Study emphases included performance of publication covering annual outputs, mainstream journals, Web of Science categories, leading countries, institutions, research tendencies and hotspots. The results indicated that annual output of the related scientific articles increased steadily. Water Research, Environmental Science & Technology, and Journal American Water Works Association were the three most common journals in drinking water research. The USA took a leading position out of 168 countries/territories, followed by Japan and Germany. A summary of the most frequently used keywords obtained from words in paper title analysis, author keyword analysis and KeyWords Plus analysis provided the clues to discover the current research emphases. The mainstream research related to drinking water was water treatment methods and the related contaminants. Disinfection process and consequent disinfection by-products attracted much attention. Ozonation and chlorination in disinfection, and adsorption were common techniques and are getting popular. Commonly researched drinking water contaminants concerned arsenic, nitrate, fluoride, lead, and cadmium, and pharmaceuticals emerged as the frequently studied contaminants in recent years. Disease caused by contaminants strongly promoted the development of related research.

Characteristics of research in China assessed with Essential Science Indicators

To provide an overview of the characteristics of research in China, a bibliometric evaluation of highly cited papers with high-level representation was conducted during the period from 1999 to 2009 based on the Essential Science Indicators (ESI) database. A comprehensive assessment covered overall performance, journals, subject categories, internationally collaborative countries, national inter-institutionally collaborative institutions, and most-cited papers in 22 scientific fields. China saw a strong growth in scientific publications in the last decade, to some extent due to increasing research and development expenditure. China has been more active in ESI fields of chemistry and physics, but more excellent in materials science, engineering and mathematics. Most publications were concerned with the common Science Citation Index subject categories of multidisciplinary chemistry, multidisciplinary materials and science, and physical chemistry. About one half China’s ESC papers were internationally collaborative and the eight major industrialized countries (the USA, Germany, the UK, Japan, France, Canada, Russia, and Italy) played a prominent role in scientific collaboration with China, especially the USA. The Chinese Academy of Sciences took the leading position of institutions with many branches. The “985 Project” stimulated the most productive institutions for academic research with a huge funding injection and the universities in Hong Kong showed good scientific performance. The citation impact of internationally collaborative papers differed among fields and international collaborations made positive contributions to academic research in China.

Independent research of China in Science Citation Index Expanded during 1980-2011

Abstract The study explores the characteristics of Chinas independent research articles published from 1980 to 2011, based on the database of Science Citation Index Expanded. The publication outputs of seven major industrialized countries including Canada, France, Japan, Germany, Italy, the UK, and the USA were compared with China. Annual production, field performance, research emphases and trends, top articles, as well as main institutional and individual contributors by its top cited articles were analyzed. Some newly developed indicators related to words in title, author keywords, KeyWords Plus, first author, corresponding author, and Y-index were employed to provide in-depth information on topic and author contributions. Results showed that China has been closing the gap with the USA with the greatest growth, and has stood the second since 2006. Most top cited articles were published in 2000s, made up approximately seven tenths of total articles. Pronounced activities were found in chemistry and physics related categories. The core categories included multidisciplinary chemistry, physical chemistry, multidisciplinary materials science, and applied physics. Moreover, Chinas performance of nanotechnology and science, especially carbon nanotubes, nanoparticles, nanowires, and nanostructures showed dramatic growth. Six top articles with at least 1000 citations were examined, and were observed to concern medicine, nanotube, and adsorption. In addition, main contributing institutions and authors were also revealed and evaluated. Chinese Academy of Sciences played a dominant role, and Tsinghua University, Peking University and five universities in Hong Kong showed good scientific performance.

China's research in chemical engineering journals in Science Citation Index Expanded: a bibliometric analysis

This study was designed to evaluate China’s scientific output of chemical engineering in Science Citation Index Expanded in the Web of Science from 1992 to 2011. The document type, language, trend and collaboration patterns were analyzed, as well as the output of different journals. Distributions of article titles and abstracts, author keywords, KeyWords Plus of different periods, and the most cited articles were studied to figure out the research focuses and trends. Chinese Journal of Catalysis, Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research, and Chinese Journal of Chemical Engineering published most of Chinese articles in the area of chemical engineering. The Chemical Engineering Department of Tsinghua University, Zhejiang University, Tianjin University, and East China University of Science and Technology were the top four institutions that published most articles in China. This study showed that adsorption, photocatalysis and synthesis have been the hot points of research in the past two decades, while ionic liquid tends to be the new area of special interest in future. Pseudo-second order model for sorption processes is getting more and more popular with great influence since its publication. In addition, the ratio of institutional independent articles: nationally collaborative articles: internationally collaborative articles has been developed to compare different institutions’ publication characteristics.

Model of Municipal Solid Waste Source Separation Activity: A Case Study of Beijing

ABSTRACT One major challenge faced by Beijing is dealing with the enormous amount of municipal solid waste (MSW) generated, which contains a high percentage of food waste. Source separation is considered an effective means of reducing waste and enhancing recycling. However, few studies have focused on quantification of the mechanism of source separation activity. Therefore, this study was conducted to establish a mathematical model of source separation activity (MSSA) that correlates the source separation ratio with the following parameters: separation facilities, awareness, separation transportation, participation atmosphere, environmental profit, sense of honor, and economic profit. The MSSA consisted of two equations, one related to the behavior generation stage and one related to the behavior stability stage. The source separation ratios of the residential community, office building, and primary and middle school were calculated using the MSSA. Data for analysis were obtained from a 1-yr investigation and a questionnaire conducted at 128 MSW clusters around Beijing. The results revealed that office buildings had an initial separation ratio of 80% and a stable separation ratio of 65.86%, whereas residential communities and primary and middle schools did not have a stable separation ratio. The MSSA curve took on two shapes. In addition, internal motivations and the separation transportation ratio were found to be key parameters of the MSSA. This model can be utilized for other cities and countries. IMPLICATIONS This paper provides a method for calculation of the waste source separation ratio in different clusters using a mathematical model. Further detailed analysis of the waste separation status in other cities and countries can be conducted using this approach.

The top-cited wetland articles in science citation index expanded: characteristics and hotspots

The characteristics of wetland research were investigated by a bibliometric analysis of the top-cited wetland-related articles since 1899 based on the Science Citation Index Expanded database. The analyzed aspects included the distribution of journals, and publications by country, institution, and author, with five indicators including total articles, and independent, collaborative, first-author, and corresponding-author articles. Results showed that 188 articles on wetlands have been cited at least 100 times since their publication year to 2011. The most productive stage was 1991–2000, accounting for approximately seven-tenths of the top-cited articles. The US was the leading country, followed distantly by 25 other countries/territories. The US also held primacy in terms of productive institutions. The US Geological Survey ranked first according to the five indicators. The 188 top-cited articles had 637 authors, among whom W.J. Mitsch published the most first-author and corresponding-author articles. Furthermore, substance circulation (especially of carbon), wetland organisms and vegetation, and modeling methodology were the main focuses of wetland research in the past few years. In 2011, wetland organisms and vegetation were the hottest research topics. These results were coincident with a previous study on total publications, and revealed more-specific characteristics and hotspots of wetland research.

Estimating municipal solid waste generation by different activities and various resident groups in five provinces of China.

The quantities and composition of municipal solid waste (MSW) are important factors in the planning and management of MSW. Daily human activities were classified into three groups: maintenance activities (meeting the basic needs of food, housing and personal care, MA); subsistence activities (providing the financial support requirements, SA); and leisure activities (social and recreational pursuits, LA). A model, based on the interrelationships of expenditure on consumer goods, time distribution, daily activities, residents groups, and waste generation, was employed to estimate MSW generation by different activities and resident groups in five provinces (Zhejiang, Guangdong, Hebei, Henan and Sichuan) of China. These five provinces were chosen for this study and the distribution patterns of MSW generated by different activities and resident groups were revealed. The results show that waste generation in SA and LA fluctuated slightly from 2003 to 2008. For general waste generation in the five provinces, MA accounts for more than 70% of total MSW, SA approximately 10%, and LA between 10% and 16% by urban residents in 2008. Females produced more daily MSW than males in MA. Males produced more daily MSW than females in SA and LA. The wastes produced at weekends in MA and LA were far greater than on weekdays, but less than on weekdays for SA wastes. Furthermore, one of the model parameters (the waste generation per unit of consumer expenditure) is inversely proportional to per-capita disposable income of urban residents. A significant correlation between gross domestic product (GDP) and waste generation by SA was observed with a high coefficient of determination.

A bibliometric analysis of the Journal of Membrane Science (1976-2010)

Purpose – This study aims to examine publication characteristics and development of a science journal Journal of Membrane Science (JMS) with 35 years’ history by bibliometric indicators. Design/methodology/approach – A bibliometric approach was used to identify its document types, impact factor, publication outputs, most cited articles and large contributing countries/territories and institutions. The main indicators included impact factor, CPP (citations per publication), TC2010 (number of citations from one paper’s publication to the end of 2010), C2010 (number of citations in the year of 2010), number of total articles, “single country articles” and “single institution articles”, “internationally collaborative articles” and “inter-institutionally collaborative articles”, “first author articles” and “corresponding author articles”. The annual citations of most cited articles were displayed in a table list. Findings – The two-year citation window used by impact factor is not fair for a journal which had its peak annual citations in the third or more years. JMS would get a better citation performance if impact factor can be calculated for three or four years. Impact factor is affected by the size of its subject categories. JMS showed higher impact factor rankings in both chemical engineering and polymer science category in the early twenty-first century. Furthermore, the G8 (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the UK and the USA) contributed more than a half of the total, with higher CPP. National University of Singapore, University of Twente and Chinese Academy of Sciences were the main contributing institutions. The citation life cycles revealed the impact history of most cited articles. Originality/value – A bibliometric analysis has been carried out to analyze the characteristics of a journal with 35 years’ history. Some improved indicators including TC2010, C2010, TP, SP, CP, FP and RP have been used for the evaluation. This study provides an evidence from JMS to discuss the feasibility and limitations of impact factor.

Comparison of independent research of China's top universities using bibliometric indicators

The institutionally independent publications of Tsinghua University and Peking University were compared by two main indicators namely peak-year citations per publication and h-index, based on the data extracted from the Science Citation Index Expanded, Web of Science from 1974 to 2011. Analyzed aspects covered total publication outputs, annual production, impact, authorships, Web of Science categories, journals, and most cited articles. Results shows that the two universities were in the same scale based on the peak-year citations per publication, the h-index, and top cited articles with no less than 100 citations. Publication of the top three most productive Web of Science categories differed between these two universities. Tsinghua University published more articles in applied science and engineering fields, while Peking University had more basic science articles. In addition, article life was applied to compare the impact of the most cited articles and single author articles of the two universities.

Top cited articles in thermodynamic research

The 5,320 top cited articles published between 1902 and 2010 in thermodynamic field were identified and characterized using Science Citation Index Expanded. The analyzed aspects covered characteristics of languages, publication years, Web of Science categories, journals, countries/territories, institutions, and authors. These articles were cited a mean number of 210, ranging from 110 to 399 times, with most of the articles in the 1990s and 2000s. Journal of the American Chemical Society was the most productive journal, followed by Journal of Chemical Physics, and Physical Review Letters in 686 journals. Three topmost categories of the 130 Web of Science categories were multidisciplinary chemistry, biochemistry and molecular biology, and physical chemistry. The top cited articles originated from 1,936 institutions of 63 countries. Eight industrial countries: the USA, the UK, Germany, France, Canada, Japan, Italy, and Russia, took the lead with an overwhelming majority (87%), especially about three fifths for the USA. University of California, Harvard University, and Massachusetts Institution of Technology all from the USA led all the institutions. K.S. Pitzer, P.J. Flory (Nobel laureate), and P.A. Kollman advanced the development of thermodynamic field. Moreover, the most influential articles in the history and in the latest year with their citation life cycles were examined to provide some hints for research focuses and trends. Wigner function has been attractive and will probably continue to be popular in the thermodynamic field. Some emerging concerning related to frequency scale factors, OPLS all-atom force field, entanglement between two or more quantum objects, and some softwares including VAMP, NMRPipe, GRASP2, AutoDock, DMol3, and Maxent are likely to receive more attention in the near future.