ALBERT

Description:    Recent studies have suggested that a causal link exists between the reputation of the institution and the subsequent demand indicators. However, it is unclear how these effects vary across institutional characteristics or whether these effects persist when considering other factors that affects demand outcomes. On the other hand, student demand studies have almost always focused on the demand side of the equilibrium but not the supply side, although both demand and supply equations relate quantity to price. Although the supply is clearly a driver of demand, there are other variables that significantly influence the demand rates. Spanish public university system shows particular features not considered in the mentioned studies. This paper has two objectives. The first one is to modelize the demand for Masters Programs in the Spanish public university system. We propose a panel methodology to estimate the behavior of the demand of Masters Programs based on the data provided by the seventeen Spanish Autonomous Communities. Disaggregated analysis are presented for domestic demand and international demand. We conclude that the offer is a powerful attractor of demand for domestic and international students, and therefore actions of supply reduction should be carefully applied and always according to strategic university policy criteria. The second aim of the article is to analyze the Masters Programs in the Spanish public university system and to provide a benchmark of the current situation of supply (number of programs) and demand (enrollment) at regional level (Spanish Autonomous Communities) and in relation to European scenarios. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-18 DOI 10.1007/s11192-011-0593-5 Authors Mónica Benito, Statistics Department, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, C/Madrid 126, Getafe, 28903 Spain Rosario Romera, Statistics Department, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, C/Madrid 126, Getafe, 28903 Spain Journal Scientometrics Online ISSN 1588-2861 Print ISSN 0138-9130

Description:    There is an increasing need both to understand the translation of biomedical research into improved healthcare and to assess the range of wider impacts from health research such as improved health policies, health practices and healthcare. Conducting such assessments is complex and new methods are being sought. Our new approach involves several steps. First, we developed a qualitative citation analysis technique to apply to biomedical research in order to assess the contribution that individual papers made to further research. Second, using this method, we then proposed to trace the citations to the original research through a series of generations of citing papers. Third, we aimed eventually to assess the wider impacts of the various generations. This article describes our comprehensive literature search to inform the new technique. We searched various databases, specific bibliometrics journals and the bibliographies of key papers. After excluding irrelevant papers we reviewed those remaining for either general or specific details that could inform development of our new technique. Various characteristics of citations were identified that had been found to predict their importance to the citing paper including the citation’s location; number of citation occasions and whether the author(s) of the cited paper were named within the citing paper. We combined these objective characteristics with subjective approaches also identified from the literature search to develop a citation categorisation technique that would allow us to achieve the first of the steps above, i.e., being able routinely to assess the contribution that individual papers make to further research. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-10 DOI 10.1007/s11192-012-0642-8 Authors Teresa H. Jones, Health Economics Research Group, Brunel University, Uxbridge, Middlesex, UB8 3PH UK Claire Donovan, Health Economics Research Group, Brunel University, Uxbridge, Middlesex, UB8 3PH UK Steve Hanney, Health Economics Research Group, Brunel University, Uxbridge, Middlesex, UB8 3PH UK Journal Scientometrics Online ISSN 1588-2861 Print ISSN 0138-9130

Description:    Vanclay’s proposal (Vanclay ( 2012 ). Impact factor: outdated artefact or stepping-stone to journal certification? Scientometrics doi: 10.1007/s11192-011-0561-0 ) is discussed. We agree that a major overhaul is necessary: journal evaluation must be performed using instruments and not artefacts. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-5 DOI 10.1007/s11192-012-0649-1 Authors Ronald Rousseau, Faculty of Engineering Technology, KHBO (Association K.U.Leuven), Zeedijk 101, B-8400 Oostende, Belgium Journal Scientometrics Online ISSN 1588-2861 Print ISSN 0138-9130

Description:    The notion of core documents and their application is discussed in the context of scientometric networks. An interesting solution of the problem of the arbitrariness of thresholds emerges from the application of Hirsch-type indices to dense networks as are typically observed in local clustering. Examples from several disciplines in the sciences and social sciences illustrate how these core vertices can be determined using this approach, and visualise how core documents are applied to represent the internal structure of the complete network or of parts of it. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-11 DOI 10.1007/s11192-012-0639-3 Authors Wolfgang Glänzel, Centre for R&D Monitoring (ECOOM), K.U. Leuven, Leuven, Belgium Journal Scientometrics Online ISSN 1588-2861 Print ISSN 0138-9130

Description:    In an earlier exercise some demographic methods were reformulated for application in a scientometric context. Age-pyramids based on annual publication output and citation impact was supplemented by the change of the mean age of the publications in the h -core at any time. Although the method was introduced to shed some demographic–scientometric light on the career of individual researchers, the second component, i.e., the age dynamics of the h -core can however be applied to higher levels of aggregation as well. However, the found paradigmatic shapes and patterns do not only characterise individual careers and positions, but are also typical of life cycles and subject-specific peculiarities. In the present study, the proposed approach is used to visualise the careers of scientists active in different fields of the sciences and social sciences and notably the second component, the h -core dynamics, is extended to the analysis of scientific journals from the same fields. In addition to the dynamics of productivity and citation impact, the evolution of co-authorship patterns of the same scientists is studied to capture another facet of individual academic careers. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-14 DOI 10.1007/s11192-011-0590-8 Authors Lin Zhang, Centre for R&D Monitoring (ECOOM) and Department of MSI, K.U. Leuven, Leuven, Belgium Wolfgang Glänzel, Centre for R&D Monitoring (ECOOM) and Department of MSI, K.U. Leuven, Leuven, Belgium Journal Scientometrics Online ISSN 1588-2861 Print ISSN 0138-9130

Description:    Access to public knowledge is a prerequisite for the good functioning of developed economies. Universities strive and are also requested to contribute to this knowledge both locally and internationally. Traditional studies on the geography of knowledge flows have identified a localisation effect; however, these studies do not use the country as the unit of observation and hence do not explore national patterns. In this paper, we hypothesise that the localisation of university knowledge flows is directly related to share of firm expenditure on research and development. To test this hypothesis, we use references to universities in patent documents as indicators based on a data set of around 20,000 university references, for 37 countries in the period 1990–2007, resulting in panels of around 300–500 observations. We build indicators for the university knowledge flows both inside and outside the applicant country, which we explain as a function of some proxies for national size and research structure based on econometric estimations. We draw some conclusions as to the importance of national business scientific strength for fostering increased domestic university knowledge flows. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-21 DOI 10.1007/s11192-012-0629-5 Authors Joaquín M. Azagra-Caro, INGENIO (CSIC-UPV), Universitat Politècnica de València, Camino de Vera s/n, 46022 Valencia, Spain Journal Scientometrics Online ISSN 1588-2861 Print ISSN 0138-9130

Description:    This study describes the results of a preliminary bibliometric analysis of 611 research items, published between 1996 and 2011 by researchers affiliated with Creative Research Institution (CRIS) and the Center for Advanced Science and Technology (CAST), Hokkaido University (HU), retrieved from the Web of Science (WoS) database. CRIS has a primary mission to promote cutting-edge, world-class, trans-departmental research within HU, and it conducts fundamental, commercialization-related, cross-disciplinary research and nurtures young in-house/recruited researchers through targeted, innovative tenure-track programs in multiple disciplines. Its research output derives from 3- to 7-year-long time-bound projects funded strategically by HU, external grants [e.g., MEXT Super-COE HU Research and Business Park Project (FY2003-7)], industry-university collaboration with regional businesses, and endowments (e.g., Meiji Dairies). Analyses using co-words, bibliographic coupling, overlay map aided with visualization, etc., lead to the following inferences: (i) The published items comprise a dozen well-defined (inter-)disciplinary clusters, dominated by 3 macro-disciplines (biomedical science, 33%; chemistry, 21%; agricultural science, ca. 10%) that constitute 18 clusters used for mapping; (ii) research conducted by externally funded or endowed projects in the biomedical, physical and environmental science and technology fields (3 broad areas of aggregation derived from the Science Overlay Map) is interdisciplinary; and (iii) there is an apparently low visibility of publications from projects jointly executed with industries to an almost complete absence of output from CRIS in the fields of social sciences in the WoS database. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-11 DOI 10.1007/s11192-012-0655-3 Authors Pitambar Gautam, Creative Research Institution, Hokkaido University, N21, W10, Kita-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido 001-0021, Japan Ryuichi Yanagiya, Creative Research Institution, Hokkaido University, N21, W10, Kita-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido 001-0021, Japan Journal Scientometrics Online ISSN 1588-2861 Print ISSN 0138-9130

Description:    It is often said that successive generations of researchers face an increasing educational burden due to knowledge accumulation. On the other hand, technological advancement over time can improve the productivity of researchers and even change their cognitive processes. This paper presents a longitudinal study (2004–2011) of citation behavior in doctoral theses at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. It is found that the number of references cited has increased over the years. At the same time, there has been a decrease in the length of time in the doctoral program and a relative constancy in the culture of the department. This suggests that students are more productive in facing an increased knowledge burden, and indeed seem to encode prior literature as transactive memory to a greater extent, as evidenced by the greater use of older literature. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-9 DOI 10.1007/s11192-012-0654-4 Authors Lav R. Varshney, IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center, 19 Skyline Drive, Hawthorne, New York 10532, USA Journal Scientometrics Online ISSN 1588-2861 Print ISSN 0138-9130

Description:    In the present study we analyzed the Brazilian scientific production in the area of science education. The study was structured on: data by research groups registered in Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico; analysis of the post-graduate strictu sensu programs; analysis of theses and dissertations linked to post-graduate programs; and papers in international databases. Our research was conducted strictly via world wide web, from December 2009 to September 2010. It was found that both number of research groups, researchers, post-graduate programs, thesis, dissertations and papers presented a marked increase, especially in the last decade (from 2000 onwards). The major research centers were found to be located in public universities from Brazilian southeast and south regions. However, it was observed a tendency of decentralization, due to a recent investment in new public universities in the other Brazilian regions. So, this study sought to present an overview of the scientific production about science education and we expect that this information can help to expand the vision about the development of this research area in Brazil. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-14 DOI 10.1007/s11192-012-0645-5 Authors Renato X. Coutinho, Centro de Ciências Naturais e Exatas, Universidade Federal de Santa Maria—UFSM, Santa Maria, RS CEP 97105-900, Brazil Eliziane S. Dávila, Centro de Ciências Naturais e Exatas, Universidade Federal de Santa Maria—UFSM, Santa Maria, RS CEP 97105-900, Brazil Wendel M. dos Santos, Universidade Federal do Pampa—UNIPAMPA, Campus Uruguaiana BR-472 Km 7, Uruguaiana, RS CEP 97500-970, Brazil João B. T. Rocha, Centro de Ciências Naturais e Exatas, Universidade Federal de Santa Maria—UFSM, Santa Maria, RS CEP 97105-900, Brazil Diogo O. G. Souza, Departamento de Bioquímica, Instituto de Ciências Básicas da Saúde, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Rua Ramiro Barcelos 2600-Anexo, Porto Alegre, RS 90035-003, Brazil Vanderlei Folmer, Universidade Federal do Pampa—UNIPAMPA, Campus Uruguaiana BR-472 Km 7, Uruguaiana, RS CEP 97500-970, Brazil Robson L. Puntel, Universidade Federal do Pampa—UNIPAMPA, Campus Uruguaiana BR-472 Km 7, Uruguaiana, RS CEP 97500-970, Brazil Journal Scientometrics Online ISSN 1588-2861 Print ISSN 0138-9130

Description:    In this work the well known scientometric concepts of bibliographically coupled publications and co-cited references were applied to produce interactive maps of research fronts and knowledge bases of research fields. This article proposes a method and some standardization for the detection and visualization of research fronts and knowledge bases with two and three dimensional graphics inspired by geographical maps. Agglomerations of bibliographically coupled publications with a common knowledge base are identified and graphically represented by a density function of publications per area unit. The research fronts become visible if publications with similar vectors of common citations are associated and visualized as an ensemble in a three dimensional graphical representation as a mountain scenery measured with the help of a spatial density. Knowledge bases were calculated in the same way. Maps similar to the geographic representation of oceans and islands are used to visualize the two-dimensional spatial density function of references weighted by individual links. The proposed methodology is demonstrated by publications in the field of battery research. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-10 DOI 10.1007/s11192-012-0626-8 Authors Edgar Schiebel, AIT Austrian Institute of Technology GmbH, Technology Management, Donau City Straße, 1220 Vienna, Austria Journal Scientometrics Online ISSN 1588-2861 Print ISSN 0138-9130