Bibliometrics Contribution to the Metatheoretical and Domain Analysis Studies

Along with the growth of scientific production, the bibliometric studies have become essential, providing relevant information about any domain while identifying, highlighting and viewing the scientific knowledge constructed within a theme, subject or knowledge area. This article approaches the bibliometric studies under the light of metatheory and domain analysis within the knowledge organization in information science. domain analysis and metatheory are considered significant contribution to bibliometric studies when emphasizing the need for epistemological, sociological and historical analyzes, as well as other qualitative approaches, encouraging researchers to reflect on the whole composition of the research object, by means of different methodological, theoretical and epistemological approaches. This study aims at contributing to the discourse of the theoretical aspects of bibliometric studies by presenting considerations concerning Hjorland's domain analysis, as well as Ritzer's metatheoretical approach, featuring discussions on major theories of a study field, since these approaches together provide a more complete qualitative view upon an area, here, represented by the bibliometric studies.

Caracterização dos pesquisadores em tratamento temático da informação: um estudo da produção científica por meio da análise de domínio

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Aportes bibliométricos à produção científica nos principais periódicos da área de Ciência da Informação no Brasil, no período de 2006-2010

Pós-graduação em Ciência da Informação - FFC

Produção científica docente em tratamento temático da informação no Brasil: uma abordagem métrica como subsídio para a análise do domínio

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Estudos de Análise de Cocitação de Autores: uma abordagem teórico-metodológica para a compreensão de um domínio

This piece of research aims at analyzing the absolute and relative co-citation indicators, especially Salton’s Cosine and comparing the contribution of these indicators to the understanding of a domain, applying them to the universe of "Metric Studies" at the BRAPCI base. It also aims at presenting the co-citation network generated from the absolute frequencies and highlighting the groupings of co-cited authors, depending on the relative values, integrating and explaining the information from the two indexes. The domain analysis, by means of its 11 approaches, including “Bibliometric Studies”, focuses on the science characterization and evaluation, in that it allows us to identify and to analyze the conditions under which the scientific knowledge is constructed and socialized. In these studies, the contribution of citation and co-citation analysis is highlighted. Of the total of 147 articles retrieved at BRAPCI base, the authors cited in at least 11 articles, in a total of 38 researchers, were selected. The 38 x 38 symmetric matrix with the absolute frequencies of co-citation and the matrix with the relative values of Salton’s Cosine were generated. The co-citation network with absolute frequency values were constructed, through Ucinet software. Cluster analysis of data with relative values wer performed, using the SPSS software. Significant differences between the absolute and relative indexes, with some high absolute values of co-citation were observed; when considered in relation to the presence of each author, their significance is decreased. As to the generated network, seven groups were determined, in which only one is established for close themes and comes from co-citations in the original sense of the term. Five groups present closeness in absolute and relative indicators. It can be concluded about the importance of the studies of authors' co-citation analysis, which associate the two indexes, absolute and relative, in order to visualize and understand the underlying structures of a scientific domain.

Visibilidade dos pesquisadores no GT7 da ANCIB: um estudo de cocitações

This research aims at analyzing the researchers with major insertion and impact within the GT7 ENANCIB community, through an analysis study of citation and co-citation from 2003 to 2010. We propose to highlight the researchers cited in a greater number of papers, as well as the number of citations received. Also, to describe the co-citation network intending to analyze the interlocution network built by the writers towards the cited ones and calculate the indicators of density and centrality of the network. As for the theoretical-methodological basis, we used the Domain Analysis (D.A.), seen as the reflexion of a discourse community. Among the 11 approaches about D.A, the bibliometric studies stand out. Data from the 124 researches presented in the period of this study showed 1446 cited researches for a total of 2307 citations. From the total number of cited researchers in a greater number of papers, 33 were considered authors of major impact and visibility, being cited in at least 8 papers, thus getting at least 8 citations. The software Ucinet was used to map and visualize the net of interlocution established by the citing papers. As for the results, we could notice that, from the total of 33 researchers, 23 are Brazilian, 20 take part in Post-Graduation Programs and 11 are granted CNPq scholarships of productivity. Furthermore, we highlighted the most cited themes and analyzed the relationship involving the number of citations according to the number of papers in which the researcher was cited and the number of researches cited from each researcher. Regarding the network structure, we could observe that the authors form a single component, indicating that the group of researchers co-cited reveals proximity and theoretical, conceptual and methodological articulations. We concluded that the citing community adopts ordinary theoretical schools; moreover, we might characterize the core of the known researchers as a foundation for the knowledge of the GT7 theme.

Produção e comunicação da informação em ct&i gt7 da ancib: análise bibliométrica no período 2003/2009

The aim of the present research is to analyse Ancib’s scientific production in the workgroup GT7 named Production and Communication of Information in ST&I, between the years of 2003 and 2009, through bibliometric indicators, from which it is possible to indicate what is more important or significant within a scientific field or context, so as to therefore analyse trends, existing relations or processes. The bibliometric studies are an approach method for the analysis of science behaviour in a given field. More specifically, by means of production and connection indicators, it aims at revealing and portraying the most productive authors, the kind of authorship present in this group, the most recurrent themes, most productive institutions, and the collaborative network determined by the institutional coauthorships and their indicators, so as to map and visualize the main researchers and institutions of the present GT, within the period of time in question. The research procedure derived from studying the 94 research project results presented in the period, where the paper reference, summary and corresponding key words can be found. Analysis concerning the most productive authors, most recurrent themes, kinds of authorship and most productive institutions have been carried out from the variables under review. The collaborative network between the institutions was built using the Pajek software, and, with the help of the Ucinet software, indicators of degree centrality, betweeness centrality, and closeness centrality have been reached, besides the calculation of density. The results point to 11 researchers and 9 institutions as the most productive ones. The collaborative institutional network was shown to be fragile, presenting low density, and in general the participating institutions have presented low centrality indexes. As a conclusion, it has been observed that the themes focus, in general, on bibliometric analysis and their indicators, using regional and national data as their universe.

Studies of Author Cocitation Analysis: A Bibliometric Approach for Domain Analysis

Author Cocitation Analysis (ACA) can be defined as the analysis of a group of actors, writers or researchers structurally organized in a (social and cognitive) network of a particular scientific community. The greater the number of researchers selected, the greater the amplitude and the domain boundary under consideration; the more restricted the number of researchers chosen as representative and appropriate, the less extensive the domain. From the perspective of the first axis of Tennis (2003), the selection of authors involves setting parameters on the extent of the domain, i.e., its total scope and amplitude. Thus, from the point of view of Tennis’s (2003) approach to Domain Analysis, the selection of authors for Author Cocitation Analysis is associated with the designations and boundaries of the domain, as well as to their goals (Tennis, 2003). Still, the selection of authors through the most cited authors in the literature, reflects the core elements of a domain and constitute the most specific foundation of a domain, aligning to the Degrees of Specialization characterized by Tennis (2003). It is concluded that the Author Cocitation Analysis (ACA) is a relevant procedure to the analysis of the underlying structure of a scientific knowledge domain, which meets the theories and concepts of Domain Analysis researchers, in that it allows characterizing the science, identifying, analyzing and assessing the conditions under which scientific knowledge is constructed and socialized.