Category Archives: Network analysis

Research on Shelf-Life Extension Technologies for Food Sustainability: An Assessment of Scientific Activities and Networks (FULL-TEXT)

Network analysis, Research Examples, Research profiling, Strategic planning

A clearer understanding of research streams and players involved in efforts to address the sustainability of global food and agricultural systems is needed to clarify the current state of scientific knowledge and form collaborations to pursue future research directions. This study presents new insights into this issue through a scientometric process involving a case study of technologies for extending fruit shelf-life. The text mining software was utilized to analyze 3,131 Web of Science-indexed articles published between 2000 and 2020 as a means to glean the conceptual structure of current knowledge and conduct a social network analysis to explore scientific and publication activity. The findings were mapped onto a strategic diagram of research productivity and collaboration between players at the national, organizational, and individual levels. This research’s main findings highlight that research on shelf-life technology is in continuous development, and academic institutions from China, Spain, and the U.S. are the core national players in this field. The results provide insights for further investigation to strengthen co-research and technological development programs in other fields. Researchers who are exploring networking opportunities can use the model and process presented as a guideline for identifying emerging and future research trends and formulating strategies.

For FULL-TEXT see https://doi.org/10.1155/2022/7120662

Author(s): Jakkrit Thavorn ,Veera Muangsi, Chupun Gowanit, Nongnuj Muangsin
Organization(s): Chulalongkorn University
Source: The Scientific World Journal
Year: 2022

Social life cycle assessment: mapping scientific knowledge

Network analysis, Research Examples, Research profiling

Social life cycle assessment (sLCA) is a methodology to support decision making on social impacts, positive and negative, actual or potential, related to product life cycles [1,2]. Being a relatively new tool, the indicators are not yet homogenized and the method does not have a standard to be followed nor a code of practice [3] [4]. Therefore, describing the state-of-the-art scientific research into sLCA is necessary to clarify the current situation and to determine future development goals [5]. The aim of this paper is, to describe the scientific trends related to sLCA through a bibliometric and a network analysis. This will enable us to identify the main collaborations and help to standardize the sLCA methodology.

Methodology: The research process consists of four steps. 1, define the search query. 2, retrieve data. 461 articles from the Scopus database and 348 from the WOS database were obtained and exported. 3, clean up the refined database. Using Vantage Point (VP) text mining software, the obtained data were cleaned up, applying fuzzy logic algorithms to clean up the data fields. 4, generate the sLCA scientific profile and the network analysis. This scientific profile will define the publication trends and academic performance, and the network analysis will allow us to determine the main collaboration relationships.

Conclusions: sLCA, as a methodology for measuring the social impacts of companies, is gaining prominence. More and more is being published on sLCA, especially since 2018. The countries doing the most research on the subject are European, with Germany leading by far, followed by Italy. Nonetheless, the United States, Canada, China and Brazil are also among the top researchers. In terms of scientific collaborations, the same countries appear as the main collaborators, although the United States ranks first as an intermediary country. The institutions that contribute the most scientific production on sLCA are mainly European universities of technology. These universities have a closed pat- tern of scientific collaboration on sLCA, i.e. they form research clusters that collaborate little with other clusters. The same is true for the main authors; research is also carried out in closed clusters. In addition, the European Union is the main economic driver of this research topic. Finally, the most frequently used keywords in the publications are those related to life cycle, assessment and sustainability.

https://cioxxv.pressbooks.com/chapter/social-life-cycle-assessment-mapping-scientific-knowledge-78/

Author(s): Naiara Pikatza Gorrotxategi, Izaskun Alvarez-Meaza, Rosa María Río-Belver, Enara Zarrabeitia Bilbao
Organization(s): University of the Basque Country.
Source: Proceedings of the 15th International Conference on Industrial Engineering and Industrial Management and XXV Congreso de Ingeniería de Organización
Year: 2022

Detecting trends in sustainability publications: research development and dynamics in “Green and sustainable science and technology” category

Network analysis, Research Examples, Research Type

Although the sustainability movement began to take shape in the early nineteen seventies, it was not until 1987 with the publication of the Brundtland Report that it acquired institutional recognition. The academic community’s engagement with the movement came a few years later in the form of sustainability science, which developed and consolidated in keeping with the dynamics of any new scientific discipline. This review analyses its development based on the papers listed in the web of science (WoS) category ‘Green and sustainable science and technology’. The bibliometric methodology used included social network and multivariate analysis focusing on journal, discipline and subject inter-relationships to map and analyse developments in this new field. The main findings identified four clusters of journals with different patterns of development: sustainability, renewable energies, green chemistry and green ecology. Mainstream and emerging subjects were determined on the grounds of co-word analysis.

https://www.inderscienceonline.com/doi/abs/10.1504/IJISD.2021.118375

Author(s): Andrés Pandiella-Dominique, Núria Bautista-Puig and Daniela De Filippo
Organization(s): University Carlos III of Madrid
Source: International Journal of Innovation and Sustainable Development
Year: 2021

A postcolonial feminist exploration of the scholarship on women and educational leadership with a bibliometric approach

Network analysis, Research Examples, Research profiling, Research Type

This study applied a bibliometric approach to a dataset of publications on women and educational leadership to critically explore the nature of research in the field and the utility of the bibliometric method in its mapping. The analysis was conducted on bibliographic records of 823 papers on women and educational leadership published from 1975 to 2020, which had been retrieved from the Web of Science. The results are presented in the form of lists of most impactful papers; most productive research centres/organizations and countries; similar lists of contributing disciplines and publication venues; as well as maps visualizing collaborative activity. A postcolonial feminist perspective used in interpretation of the results reveals that, on the one hand, the approach makes it possible to uncover the persistent coloniality and linguistic hegemony in the field, whereas, on the other hand, bibliometric metrification may contribute to Western epistemic violence and valorisation of scholarship in masculinist terms.

https://doi.org/10.1177%2F17411432211003885

Author(s): Aliya Kuzhabekova
Organization(s): Nazarbayev University
Source: Educational Management Administration and Leadership
Year: 2021

Scientific collaboration analysis of Brazilian postgraduate programs in information science (full-text Spanish)

Network analysis, Research Examples, Research profiling

Due to the growing interest in metric studies on the scientific collaboration of national postgraduate studies, together with the theoretical and applied bases of Information Science supported by metric studies of information, it became relevant to identify how scientific collaborations occur in postgraduate programs in Information Science. The research method included the use of bibliometrics and social network analysis as an information analysis technique. The sample involved 519 articles from 421 permanent professors working in 27 Postgraduate Programs (PP), from 2013 to 2018. The results achieved included the elaboration of a set of indicators that denote scientific collaboration activities; In short, interpersonal relations networks are relevant to the internationalization of the Information Science area, and internationalization is fundamental for the development of programs. It was concluded that the results achieved can contribute to the improvement of the PPG and the National Postgraduate System, by maximizing the understanding of collaboration in Information Science.

FULL-TEXT in Spanish https://doi.org/10.47909/awari.85

Author(s): Thais da Silva Justino, Roniberto Morato do Amara, Leandro Innocentini Lopes de Faria, Aline Grasiele Cardoso de Brito
Organization(s): Universidade Federal de São Carlos
Source: AWRI
Year: 2021

Scientific mapping of stem cells associated with Chagas disease : A bibliometric analysis

Network analysis, Research Examples, S&T lit

The objective is to map the scientific publications of research involving stem cells associated with Chagas disease. We used bibliometric and social network analysis techniques to analyze scientific data collected in the Web of Science. Most of the articles were published in 2014 and 2015. The organizations and authors with the largest number of publications and research collaborations are located in america, specifically in Brazil and the United States, which are responsible for 62% of all publications. FIOCRUZ, UFRJ, and Hospital São Rafael together account for approximately 55% of the studies related to stem cells associated with Chagas disease. Most of the studies focus on developing new strategies for treating Chagas disease using stem cells. This suggests that the research agenda in this area is still under development, highlighting the importance of continuing to pursue existing research avenues and expanding the range of strategies for the treatment of the disease.

https://doi.org/10.1080/09737766.2021.1977094

Author(s): Jânio Rodrigo de Jesus Santos, Carlos Augusto Francisco de Jesus, Cláudio Damasceno Pinto
Organization(s): Fundação Oswaldo Cruz-Fiocruz
Source: Journal of Scientometrics and Information Management
Year: 2021

Green scheduling to achieve green manufacturing: Pursuing a research agenda by mapping science (Full-Text)

Gephi, Network analysis, Research Examples, Research profiling, VantagePoint

The strengthening of measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions meant that manufacturing scheduling had to acquire a green approach. The need to reduce energy consumption becomes necessary for companies to achieve sustainable development. Therefore, a new challenge for the scientific community was foreseen, researching new algorithms or knowledge hubs to achieve green scheduling. Green scheduling may be considered one of the principles of green manufacturing, aimed at minimizing environmental damage and energy waste. A review of the literature shows that there are no research works that analyze the scientific development carried out in “green scheduling” through methodologies based on bibliometric analysis, thus the need and the novelty of this research. Based on a dataset formed by 420 scientific documents published from 2006 to 2020 a bibliometric and network analysis is carried out to find the scientific trends, the main relationships according to collaborations and intermediaries, and the research hubs that help to establish the research agenda. The results show that “green scheduling” is a growing research area in the scientific community and in recent years the number of new research topics has experienced considerable growth. This research is developed in Asia, Europe and America, but China stands out as the most productive, collaborative, intermediary, influential and active country at present, through its organizations which are mainly universities, such as Huanzhong University of Science and Technology and Tongji University. However, research development related to green scheduling is carried out in a collaborative environment between institutions located in different countries, allowing countries that are not scientific powerhouses to develop research in the area. The network analysis makes it possible to define the research framework through the clustering of the dataset’s research keywords, highlighting that the main areas of research focus on the development of new methods through algorithms aimed at improving energy efficiency in production environments, in areas of computational development such as cloud computing, and in transportation. The most cited research papers, considered the main drivers of knowledge, are published in high-quality research journals, and are mainly developments in scheduling algorithms for different work environments with a green approach. Research findings can provide the academic community with relevant information about green scheduling to make appropriate decisions and become a research agenda for future research.

For FULL-TEXT https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techsoc.2021.101758

Author(s): Izaskun Alvarez-Meaza, Enara Zarrabeitia-Bilbao, Rosa-María Rio-Belver, Gaizka Garechana-Anacabe
Organization(s): University of the Basque Country
Source: Technology in Society
Year: 2021

Exploring New Approaches to Understanding Innovation Ecosystems

Biz lit, Network analysis, Research Examples, Research Type

A firm’s connections into its ecosystem influences its ability to innovate. Much research on innovation ecosystems has examined high technology firms and locations and has used interview, survey, or science and technology data methods. Our study focuses on a resource-based ecosystem—agri-food in a medium-sized region—and explores a novel method using media sources to identify ecosystem links. We use this method to capture the innovation ecosystem around two plant-based protein firms and a conventional food processor in Winnipeg, Canada. We extract organisational actors from the full text of business and news articles, link co-occurring actors in social networks, and use modularity partitioning to detect communities in these networks. Our results show that the focal agri-food firms vary in their ecosystem associations, with little duplication in the actor organisations across the different firms’ networks. The plant-based protein firm networks had a greater innovation orientation than was noticeable in the established food producer’s network, particularly with industry and civic association intermediaries, government, and other agricultural companies. Insights from using the method and implications of the findings are discussed.

https://doi.org/10.1080/09537325.2021.1972965

Author(s): Jan Youtie, Robert Ward, Philip Shapira, R. Sandra Schillo, E. Louise Earl
Organization(s): Georgia Institute of Technology, University of Ottawa
Source: Technology Analysis & Strategic Management
Year: 2021

Networking Universities and Hospitals: A Case Study of Research and Commercialization in the Taiwanese Herbal Medicine Sector

Network analysis, Research Examples

This paper provides an empirical account of the case of Taiwan in her innovative efforts in the herbal medicine sector through scientific and technological development. This study aims to propose a network analysis approach, which is typically found in innovation studies, to illustrate the sociological dimensions of actor network theory. The sector is of interest from a social studies of science perspective due to the collision between traditional knowledge philosophies, which are well accepted in East Asian communities, and scientific regulatory standards, that have raised issues regarding the legitimacy and safety of the products. This study considers the actor network linkages between universities, government and industry which act as indicators of knowledge diffusion and collaboration. Relevant records were captured using a heuristic search string and was used to visualize: (i) the number of researchers (agglomeration denoted by the size of bubbles), (ii) organizational linkages through co-authorship (connectedness indicated by the presence of lines between organizations), and (iii) position of the organization (centrality in relation to other organizations). The case presented in this study takes a snapshot of how an advanced economy such as Taiwan, has developed a productive innovation system for herbal medicine. The development of the actor network has evolved mainly from productive working relationships in a close-knit community of researchers that mainly interact through the research organizations in Taipei.

DOI: 10.1080/18752160.2021.1926618

Author(s): Hon-Ngen Fung (Kenneth), Consilz Tan
Organization(s): UOW Malaysia KDU University College, Xiamen University Malaysia
Source: East Asian Science, Technology and Society: An International Journal
Year: 2021

Health Research Networks Based on National CV Platforms in Brazil and Uruguay (FULL-TEXT)

Network analysis, Research Examples

Collaborations are an essential part of the research process. In the health area, these involve a great diversity of actors in various scientific and health subsystems. The study of collaborations has been developed mostly from the analysis of co-authorship in articles indexed in international platforms. However, these sources present some limitations to capture the production of knowledge in Latin American countries. This paper seeks to diversify the sources of information and the units of analysis for the study of collaborations in health research, by exploring data from two original and little-used sources of information in national and public Curriculum Vitae (CV) platforms: LattesCv (Brazil) and CVUy (Uruguay). Based on a wide sample of research projects extracted from CVs, networks for knowledge production are analyzed at micro (researchers) and meso (institutions) levels in each country. This preliminary analysis allows us not only to generate evidence on the nature and evolution of health research networks, but also to evaluate the advantages and limitations of CVs as a new source for the study of collaborative networks.

For FULL-TEXT https://www.jscires.org/article/420

Author(s): Cecilia Tomassini, Claudia Cohanoff, Sofia Robaina, Jesús P Mena-Chalco
Organization(s): Universidad de la República, Universidade Federal do ABC
Source: Journal of Scientometric Research
Year: 2021