Category Archives: Science mapping

Visualization of knowledge integration in a Japanese cutting edge research institution: A multi level bibliometric perspective

The complexity of the problems facing society, such as health care, mobility, or environment, call for solutions cutting across different disciplines. This lies at the heart of interdisciplinary research. Interdisciplinarity has been strongly promoted worldwide over the recent years. For the case of Japan, a prominent example is the WPI (World Premier International Research Center) initiative. The integration of unrelated or distant bodies of knowledge – also regarded as knowledge integration, fusion, confluence, or convergence – is an essential factor for interdisciplinary research. This study aims at quantitatively and visually capturing knowledge integration in a cutting edge WPI research institution in Japan. By combining different existing approaches into one integrated framework, fuller, more holistic, insights into the knowledge integration efforts can be gained. Three levels of analysis are proposed: macro, meso, and micro; each of them targeting knowledge integration at different granularities. For each of these levels, different bibliometric based and visualization approaches are used: global research maps, science overlays, and research landscapes, respectively. The results of these analyses will not only provide key insights into the way knowledge integration efforts can be assessed in cutting edge research institutions, but also they are expected to serve as a spearheading efforts for the conduction of further `technology intelligence’ studies.

http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/articleDetails.jsp?arnumber=7273021

Author(s): A. A. Robinson
Organization: Kyoto University
Source: 2015 Portland International Conference on Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET)
Year: 2015

Strategic Intelligence on Emerging Technologies: Scientometric Overlay Mapping

This paper examines the use of scientometric overlay mapping as a tool of ’strategic intelligence’ to aid the governance of emerging technologies. We develop an integrative synthesis of different overlay mapping techniques and associated perspectives on technological emergence across the geographical, social, and cognitive spaces. To do so, we longitudinally analyse (with publication and patent data) three case-studies of emerging technologies in the medical domain. These are: RNA interference (RNAi), Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) testing technologies for cervical cancer, and Thiopurine Methyltransferase (TPMT) genetic testing. Given the flexibility (i.e. adaptability to different sources of data) and granularity (i.e. applicability across multiple levels of data aggregation) of overlay mapping techniques, we argue that these techniques can favour the integration and comparison of results from different contexts and cases, thus potentially functioning as platform for a ’distributed’ strategic intelligence for analysts and decision-makers.

Available from: http://www.researchgate.net/publication/235982047_Strategic_Intelligence_on_Emerging_Technologies_Scientometric_Overlay_Mapping

Author(s): Daniele Rotolo, Ismael Rafols, Michael M. Hopkins, Loet Leydesdorff
Organization(s): University of Sussex, Universitat Politècnica de València
Source: Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology
Year: 2015

Graphene Research and Enterprise: Mapping Innovation and Business Growth in a Strategic Emerging Technology

This paper presents the results of research to develop new data sources and methods that can be combined with existing information for real-time intelligence to understand and map enterprise development and commercialisation in a rapidly emerging and growing new technology. As a demonstration case, the study examines enterprise development and commercialisation strategies in graphene, focusing on a set of 65 graphenebased small and medium-sized enterprises located in 16 different countries. We draw on available secondary sources and bibliometric methods to profile developments in graphene. We then use computerised data mining methods and analytical techniques, including cluster and regression modelling, to identify patterns from publicly available online information on enterprise web sites. We identify groups of graphene small and medium-sized enterprises differentiated by how they became involved with graphene, the materials they target, whether they make equipment, and their orientation towards science and intellectual property. In general, access to finance and the firms’ location are significant factors that are associated with graphene product introductions. We also find that patents and scientific publications are not statistically significant predictors of product development in our sample of graphene SMEs. We show that the UK has a cohort of graphene-oriented SMEs that is signalling plans to develop intermediate graphene products that should have higher value in the marketplace. Our findings suggest that UK policy needs to ensure attention to the introduction and scale-up of downstream intermediate and final graphene products and associated financial, intermediary, and market identification support.

Author(s): Philip Shapira, Abdullah Gök, and Fatemeh Salehi Yazdi
Organization(s): Manchester Institute of Innovation Research, University of Manchester
Source: Nesta Working Paper Series
http://www.nesta.org.uk/publications/graphene-research-and-enterprise-mapping-innovation-and-business-growth-strategic-emerging-technology
Year: 2015

An overview of animal science research 1945–2011 through science mapping analysis

The conceptual structure of the field of Animal Science (AS) research is examined by means of a longitudinal science mapping analysis. The whole of the AS research field is analysed, revealing its conceptual evolution. To this end, an automatic approach to detecting and visualizing hidden themes or topics and their evolution across a consecutive span of years was applied to AS publications of the JCR category ‘Agriculture, Dairy & Animal Science’ during the period 19452011. This automatic approach was based on a coword analysis and combines performance analysis and science mapping. To observe the conceptual evolution of AS, six consecutive periods were defined: 19451969, 19701979, 19801989, 19901999, 20002005 and 20062011. Research in AS was identified as having focused on ten main thematic areas: ANIMAL-FEEDING, SMALL-RUMINANTS, ANIMAL-REPRODUCTION, DAIRY-PRODUCTION, MEAT-QUALITY, SWINE-PRODUCTION, GENETICS-AND-ANIMAL-BREEDING, POULTRY, ANIMAL-WELFARE and GROWTH-FACTORS-AND-FATTY-ACIDS. The results show how genomic studies gain in weight and integrate with other thematic areas. The whole of AS research has become oriented towards an overall framework in which animal welfare, sustainable management and human health play a major role. All this would affect the future structure and management of livestock farming.

Author(s): A. Rodriguez-Ledesma, M.J. Cobo, C. Lopez-Pujalte and E. Herrera-Viedma
Organization(s): University of Extremadura, University of Cádiz, and University of Granada
Source: Journal of Animal Breeding and Genetics
Year: 2014

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jbg.12124/abstract

Biological Diversity in the Patent System

Biological diversity in the patent system is an enduring focus of controversy but empirical analysis of the presence of biodiversity in the patent system has been limited. To address this problem we text mined 11 million patent documents for 6 million Latin species names from the Global Names Index (GNI) established by the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) and Encyclopedia of Life (EOL). Continue reading Biological Diversity in the Patent System

Synthetic Biology: Mapping the Scientific Landscape

This article uses data from Thomson Reuters Web of Science to map and analyse the scientific landscape for synthetic biology. The article draws on recent advances in data visualisation and analytics with the aim of informing upcoming international policy debates on the governance of synthetic biology by the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice (SBSTTA) of the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity. Continue reading Synthetic Biology: Mapping the Scientific Landscape

An Informetric Profile of Water Resources Management Literatures

The main purpose of this paper is to evaluate the global performance and to assess the current trends in research of water resource management. The methods of informetric analysis were used to survey water resource management related articles in the Science Citation Index (SCI) and Social Science Citation Index (SSCI) during the past decades. Continue reading An Informetric Profile of Water Resources Management Literatures

Facilitating social and natural science cross-disciplinarity: Assessing the human and social dynamics program

Research that integrates the social and natural sciences is vital to address many societal challenges, yet is difficult to arrange, conduct, and disseminate. This article analyses the cross-disciplinary character of the research supported by a unique US National Science Foundation program on Human and Social Dynamics (HSD). Continue reading Facilitating social and natural science cross-disciplinarity: Assessing the human and social dynamics program

Visualizing Cross-disciplinarity: Assessing the US National Science Foundation Human & Social Dynamics Program

We report on a project to assess the interdisciplinary and research networking implications of a bold US National Science Foundation program that crosses disciplinary boundaries. Continue reading Visualizing Cross-disciplinarity: Assessing the US National Science Foundation Human & Social Dynamics Program