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Can the methods of science be directed toward science itself? How did it happen that scientists, scientific documents, and their bibliographic links came to be regarded as mathematical variables in abstract models of scientific communication? What is the role of quantitative analyses of scientific and technical documentation in current science policy and management? Bibliometrics and Citation Analysis: From the Science Citation Index to Cybermetrics answers these questions through a comprehensive overview of theories, techniques, concepts, and applications in the interdisciplinary and steadily growing field of bibliometrics.


Since citation indexes came into the limelight during the mid-1960s, citation networks have become increasingly important for many different research fields. The book begins by investigating the empirical, philosophical, and mathematical foundations of bibliometrics, including its beginnings with the Science Citation Index, the theoretical framework behind it, and its mathematical underpinnings. It then examines the application of bibliometrics and citation analysis in the sciences and science studies, especially the sociology of science and science policy. Finally it provides a view of the future of bibliometrics, exploring in detail the ongoing extension of bibliometric methods to the structure and dynamics of the World Wide Web.

This book gives newcomers to the field of bibliometrics an accessible entry point to an entire research tradition otherwise scattered through a vast amount of journal literature. At the same time, it brings to the forefront the cross-disciplinary linkages between the various fields (sociology, philosophy, mathematics, politics) that intersect at the crossroads of citation analysis. Because of its discursive and interdisciplinary approach, the book is useful to those in every area of scholarship involved in the quantitative analysis of information exchanges, but also to science historians and general readers who simply wish to familiarize them

Tabla de contenidos provista por Syndetics

• Preface(p. vii)
• Bibliographic Notice(p. ix)
• Introduction(p. xi)
• 1 Biblio/Sciento/Infor-metrics: Terminological Issues and Early Historical Developments(p. 1)
• 2 The Empirical Foundations of Bibliometrics: The Science Citation Index(p. 23)
• 3 The Philosophical Foundations of Bibliometrics: Bernal, Merton, Price, Garfield, and Small(p. 49)
• 4 The Mathematical Foundations of Bibliometrics(p. 75)
• 5 Maps and Paradigms: Bibliographic Citations at the Service of the History and Sociology of Science(p. 141)
• 6 Impact Factor and the Evaluation of Scientists: Bibliographic Citations at the Service of Science Policy and Management(p. 181)
• 7 On the Shoulders of Dwarfs: Citation as Rhetorical Device and the Criticisms to the Normative Model(p. 243)
• 8 Measuring Scientific Communication in the Twentieth Century: From Bibliometrics to Cybermetrics(p. 285)
• Conclusions(p. 335)
• Selected Bibliography(p. 339)
• Index(p. 395)
• About the Author(p. 417)

Notas de autor provistas por Syndetics

Nicola De Bellis is a medical librarian at the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia in Italy.