Comparative analysis of Dimensions and Scopus bibliographic data sources: an approach to university research productivity

<p>This paper shows a significant comparison of two primary bibliographic data sources at the document level of Scopus and Dimensions. The emphasis is on the differences in their document coverage by institution level of aggregation. The main objective is to assess whether Dimensions offers at the institutional level good new possibilities for bibliometric analysis as at the global level. The results of a comparative study of the citation count profiles of articles published by faculty members of Prince of Songkla University (PSU) in Dimensions and Scopus from the year the databases first included PSU-authored papers (1970 and 1978, respectively) through the end of June 2020. Descriptive statistics and correlation analysis of 19,846 articles indexed in Dimensions and 13,577 indexed in Scopus. The main finding was that the number of citations received by Dimensions was highly correlated with citation counts in Scopus. Spearman’s correlation between citation counts in Dimensions and Scopus was a high and mighty relationship. The findings mainly affect Dimensions’ possibilities as instruments for carrying out bibliometric analysis of university members’ research productivity. University researchers can use Dimensions to retrieve information, and the design policies can be used to evaluate research using <br />scientific databases.</p>

Interpretable Aspect-Aware Capsule Network for Peer Review Based Citation Count Prediction

Citation count prediction is an important task for estimating the future impact of research papers. Most of the existing works utilize the information extracted from the paper itself. In this article, we focus on how to utilize another kind of useful data signal (i.e., peer review text) to improve both the performance and interpretability of the prediction models. Specially, we propose a novel aspect-aware capsule network for citation count prediction based on review text. It contains two major capsule layers, namely the feature capsule layer and the aspect capsule layer, with two different routing approaches, respectively. Feature capsules encode the local semantics from review sentences as the input of aspect capsule layer, whereas aspect capsules aim to capture high-level semantic features that will be served as final representations for prediction. Besides the predictive capacity, we also enhance the model interpretability with two strategies. First, we use the topic distribution of the review text to guide the learning of aspect capsules so that each aspect capsule can represent a specific aspect in the review. Then, we use the learned aspect capsules to generate readable text for explaining the predicted citation count. Extensive experiments on two real-world datasets have demonstrated the effectiveness of the proposed model in both performance and interpretability.

Sri Lankan Footprint in Global Aquatic Science Research: A Scientometric Analysis

The present study summarizes the research productivity and international collaboration in aquatic studies conducted by Sri Lankan scholars during 2000-2019. The study was based on the SCOPUS® database. R programming language, package bibliometrix and Vosviewer software were employed in the analysis. Results of the present study indicate that increasing growth trend in the annual number of publications. A significant correlation (p<0.05) between the number of articles and per capita GDP (Gross Domestic Production) was also observed. Senior authors dominated in terms of the article count, citation count, h index, and other author productivity indices. Journal of the National Science Foundation of Sri Lanka had the highest article count (n=33). Aquatic studies in Sri Lanka were more locally funded. Sri Lanka had strong research collaborations with Japan, South Korea and Australia. During 2000-2019, the transition of aquatic studies from lacustrine field studies to molecular lab-based studies were observed. The findings of the present study may provide a comprehensive understanding on the current context and future directions of aquatic studies in Sri Lanka.

Flood Risk-Related Research Trends in Latin America and the Caribbean

Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), like many other regions in the world, are areas that are prone to hydrometeorological disasters, which threaten livelihoods and cause economic losses. To derive LAC’s status in the field of flood risk-related research, we conducted a bibliometric analysis of the region’s publication record using the Web of Science journal database (WoS). After analysing a total of 1887 references according to inclusion-exclusion criteria, 302 articles published in the last 20 years were selected. The research articles published in the period 2000–2020 revealed that Mexico, Brazil, and certain South American countries such as Chile, Peru, and Argentina are more productive in flood risk research. Scientific research is increasing, and most of the available studies focus on lowland areas. The frequently-used keywords are generic, and there is often verbatim copying from the title of the article, which shows the poor coherence between the title, abstract, and keywords. This limited diversification of keywords is of little use in bibliometric studies, reducing their visibility and negatively impacting the citation count level. LAC flood studies are mainly related to hydrometeorological assessments, flood risk analyses, geomorphological and ecosystem studies, flood vulnerability and resilience approaches, and statistical and geographic information science evaluations. This systematic review reveals that although flood risk research has been important in the last two decades, future research linked with future climatic scenarios is key to the development of realistic solutions to disaster risks.

What gives a stroke publication impact? Assessing traditional and alternative metrics of scientific impact for papers published in the journal Stroke

Background: The ‘impact’ of a scientific paper is a measure of influence in its field. In recent years, traditional, citation-based measures of impact have been complemented by Altmetrics, which quantify outputs including social media footprint. As authors and research institutions seek to increase their visibility both within and beyond the academic community, it is important to identify and compare the determinants of traditional and alternative metrics. We explored this using Stroke – a leading journal in its field. Methods: We described the impact of original research papers published in Stroke (2015-2016) using citation count and Altmetric Attention Score (Altmetrics). Using these two metrics as our outcomes, we assessed univariable and multivariable associations with 21 plausibly relevant publication features. We set the significance threshold at p<0.01. Results: Across 911 papers published in Stroke, there was an average citation count of 21.60 (±17.40) and Altmetric score of 17.99 (±47.37). The two impact measures were weakly correlated (r=0.15, p<0.001). Citations were independently associated with five publication features at a significance level of p<0.01: Time Since Publication (beta=0.87), Number of Authors (beta=0.22), Publication Type (beta=6.76), Number of Previous Publications (beta=0.01) and Editorial (beta=9.45). For Altmetrics, we observed a trend for independent associations with: Time Since Publication (beta=-0.25, p=0.02), Number of References (beta=0.32, p=0.02) and Country of Affiliation (beta=8.59, p=0.01). Our models explained 21% and 3% of variance in citations and Altmetrics, respectively. Conclusion: Papers published in Stroke have impact. Certain aspects of content and format may contribute to impact, but these differ for traditional measures and Altmetrics, and explain only a very modest proportion of variance in the latter. Citation counts and Altmetrics seem to represent different constructs and, therefore, should be used in conjunction to allow a more comprehensive assessment of publication impact.

Knowledge Diffusion and the Dynamics of Citation Accrual

<p>The diffusion of knowledge through society proceeds like an invisible ripple that moves between agents through multiple information channels. However, some types of knowledge are recorded, systematised and digitised for the benefit of everyone. Patents and academic articles are examples of such codified knowledge. These documents also contain a common element that is utilised for linking new and established knowledge: citations. This thesis harnesses citations in patents and scientific articles as proxies for signifying the existence of knowledge flows between cited and citing documents, focusing primarily on the dynamics of citation accumulation and the mechanisms governing these dynamics. For this purpose, it is helpful to think of patents and their citations as nodes and links, respectively, in a network where new nodes join the network and distribute their citations among existing nodes. This mode of thinking leads directly to the question: How does the citation network grow? This thesis addresses that question both empirically and theoretically. Two mechanisms that can explain much of the observed citation dynamics are preferential attachment and node ageing. The former mechanism reflects the tendency for successful nodes (by citation count) to become even more successful, while the latter captures the propensity for knowledge to become obsolete over time. The independence of these phenomena is nontrivial, but has generally been assumed. We put this assumption to the test for both patent and scientific-article citation networks and found it to be generally true if precautions are taken to account for important context surrounding the meaning of citations. Achieving a clear separation of these mechanisms is found to be very useful both mathematically and empirically, as they can now be studied independently. Patents are particularly sophisticated documents, with various components holding specific legal meanings. Associating certain properties of these components with popularity in the form of citation accrual creates a rare opportunity to build a framework that can identify ex-ante node fitnesses and examine their effect on the growth of a citation network. We find that a significant portion of the preferential-attachment process observed in the patent-citation network can be attributed to basic properties of patents determined by their time of grant. Besides suggesting novel approaches towards estimating patent quality, the results of our work also provide a platform for gaining a deeper understanding of the various mechanisms that underpin the success-breeds-success dynamics ubiquitously observed in complex systems.</p>

Knowledge Diffusion and the Dynamics of Citation Accrual

<p>The diffusion of knowledge through society proceeds like an invisible ripple that moves between agents through multiple information channels. However, some types of knowledge are recorded, systematised and digitised for the benefit of everyone. Patents and academic articles are examples of such codified knowledge. These documents also contain a common element that is utilised for linking new and established knowledge: citations. This thesis harnesses citations in patents and scientific articles as proxies for signifying the existence of knowledge flows between cited and citing documents, focusing primarily on the dynamics of citation accumulation and the mechanisms governing these dynamics. For this purpose, it is helpful to think of patents and their citations as nodes and links, respectively, in a network where new nodes join the network and distribute their citations among existing nodes. This mode of thinking leads directly to the question: How does the citation network grow? This thesis addresses that question both empirically and theoretically. Two mechanisms that can explain much of the observed citation dynamics are preferential attachment and node ageing. The former mechanism reflects the tendency for successful nodes (by citation count) to become even more successful, while the latter captures the propensity for knowledge to become obsolete over time. The independence of these phenomena is nontrivial, but has generally been assumed. We put this assumption to the test for both patent and scientific-article citation networks and found it to be generally true if precautions are taken to account for important context surrounding the meaning of citations. Achieving a clear separation of these mechanisms is found to be very useful both mathematically and empirically, as they can now be studied independently. Patents are particularly sophisticated documents, with various components holding specific legal meanings. Associating certain properties of these components with popularity in the form of citation accrual creates a rare opportunity to build a framework that can identify ex-ante node fitnesses and examine their effect on the growth of a citation network. We find that a significant portion of the preferential-attachment process observed in the patent-citation network can be attributed to basic properties of patents determined by their time of grant. Besides suggesting novel approaches towards estimating patent quality, the results of our work also provide a platform for gaining a deeper understanding of the various mechanisms that underpin the success-breeds-success dynamics ubiquitously observed in complex systems.</p>

Bibliometric study of ‘overviews of systematic reviews’ of health interventions: evaluation of prevalence, citation and impact factor

Background: Overviews synthesising the results of multiple systematic reviews help inform evidence-based clinical practice. In this first of two companion papers, we evaluate the bibliometrics of overviews, including their prevalence and factors affecting citation rates and JIF (JIF).Methods: We searched MEDLINE, Epistemonikos and Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (CDSR). We included overviews that: (a) synthesised reviews, (b) conducted a systematic search, (c) had a methods section, and (d) examined a healthcare intervention. Multivariable regression was conducted to determine the association between citation density, JIF and 6 predictor variables. Results: We found 1218 overviews published from 2000 to 2020; the majority (73%) were published in the most recent 5-year period. We extracted a selection of these overviews (n=541; 44%) dated from 2000 to 2018. The 541 overviews were published in 307 journals; CDSR (8%), PLOS ONE (3%) and Sao Paulo Medical Journal (2%) were the most prevalent. The majority (70%) were published in journals with impact factors between 0.05 and 3.97. We found a mean citation count of 10 overviews per year, published in journals with a mean JIF of 4.4. In multivariable analysis, overviews with a high number of citations and JIFs had more authors, larger sample sizes, were open access and reported the funding source. Conclusions: An 8-fold increase in the number of overviews was found between 2009 and 2020. We identified 332 overviews published in 2020, which is equivalent to 1 overview published per day. Overviews perform above average for the journals in which they publish.

Bibliometric and visualized analysis of the top 100 most-cited articles on anterior cervical surgery

Anterior cervical surgery (ACS) owes its development to various pioneering individuals whose revolutionary works form key advances and guide current medical decisions. This bibliometric study aimed to identify, analyse and visualize the main features of the most-cited papers in ACS. The citation count for the top 100 most-cited articles ranged from 148 to 1,197, and citations per year ranged from 3.1 to 89.8. The articles were published from 1958 to 2016, with the 2000s being the most active decade. There was an inverse correlation between the average citations per year since publication and article age. The oldest as well as most-cited two articles were both published in 1958 by Smith and Robinson, and Cloward, respectively. In their studies, the authors individually described the technique of anterior cervical discectomy with fusion (ACDF). The most popular keywords were: ‘fusion’ (22), ‘spine’ (20), ‘cervical spine’ (16), ‘complications’ (15), ‘arthrodesis’ (13), ‘interbody fusion’ (13), ‘bone morphogenetic protein’ (13), and ‘radiculopathy’ (12). ACDF was the most frequent surgical procedure (80%), while cervical disc arthroplasty is of gradual greater impact. The surgical techniques of ACDF have remained unaltered for over 60 years. More attempts are needed to promote its development. Cite this article: EFORT Open Rev 2021;6:1203-1213. DOI: 10.1302/2058-5241.6.210074