Analysis of citation networks as a new tool for scientific research
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Introduction Since the publication of the first scientific paper in Philosophical Transactions in 1665,1 scientific publications have become the primary form of scientific communication and a crucial part of scientific work. The first edition of Philosophical Transactions begins with an introduction extolling the virtues of the new publishing endeavor, stating,2 “Whereas there is nothing more necessary for promoting the improvement of Philosophical Matters, than the communications to such, as apply their studies and endeavors that way, such things are discovered or put in practice by others; it is therefore fit to employ the Press.” Even 350 years ago, it was evident that by reading and analyzing the work of others, one is exposed to new ideas and facts, thus transcending the expertise of a single person. By writing and publishing, we communicate with our peers and contribute to the archived repository of human knowledge. Unsurprisingly, publications and their impact are often used as a fundamental measure of the scientific impact made by a person or organization. The progress of human civilization has led to the rapid growth of the scientific sphere, with concurrent exponential growth in the number of publications. Presently, the volume of scientific publications doubles every nine years;3 around
1.5 million articles were published in 2009.4 The repositories of scientific publications such as the Web of Science contain information on 90 million items dating back to 1900. This exponential growth in published research should be contrasted to the linearly (at best) increasing capability of the individual researcher to read and process the contained information. One of the consequences of this growing disparity between the publication volume and cognitive capabilities is the structuring of science in progressively narrower domains, roughly corresponding to fully connected segments of scientific knowledge and social networks (cliques). Within such communities, it is possible to be fully aware of active research groups and current and emergent trends. However, interactions and the exchange of ideas among such groups are limited and become progressively more difficult once they are further apart in the knowledge space. This tendency is further highlighted by the emerging tendency (in the case of experimental investigations) for the development of dedicated instrumental facilities. These have been successful in making advanced scientific tools such as x-ray and neutron scattering/scanning and electron microscopy available to a broad scientific community. They necessitate rapid learning on the part of both facility scientists and users to establish optimal experiments
R.K. Vasudevan, Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences and Institute for Functional Imaging of Materials, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, USA; [email protected] M. Ziatdinov, Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences and Institute for Functional Imaging of Materials, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, USA; [email protected] C. Chen, Department of Information Science, College of Com
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