Article
iMetrics: the development of the discipline with many names
Different research traditions have developed over time to study the quantitative aspects of information and knowledge production, such as scientometrics, bibliometrics, librametrics, informetrics, cybermetrics, webometrics, or altmetrics. These information metrics, or iMetrics, as they were labeled by Milojević and Leydesdorff in Scientometrics 95(1):141–157, 2013, are unified by the usage of quantitative data analysis, applying various statistical methods and techniques and are often used to supplement and complement each other. Representing different research traditions, they jointly form a common research field, a “discipline with many names”. In this article, we look at the development of iMetrics field and its evolution over time using bibliometric network analysis and identify its common basis, formed by the most important publications, journals, scholars and topics. The dataset consists of articles from the Web of Science database (26,414 records with complete descriptions). Analyzing the citation network, we evaluate the field’s growth and identify the most cited works. Using the Search path count (SPC) approach, we extract the Main path, Key routes paths, and Link islands in the citation network. The results show that in the last forty years the number of published papers increased, and it doubles every 8 years; the number of single author papers dropped from 50 to 10 %, and the number of papers authored by 3 or more authors is increasing. We make the conclusions about the field’s development and its current state. We also present the main authors, journals and keywords from the field, which form its common basis.
The article examines the status system of the local academic community of St. Petersburg sociologists. The list of most cited authors was obtained from citation analysis of selected Russian sociological journals. The results suggest that the status system is divided in isolated segments with few citation exchanges between different segments. Each part of the sociological community produces its own list of influentials. With a few exceptions there are no authors central for the whole community. Even the embeddedness of various segments in the same local space does not stimulate circulation of attention between different parts of the community.
Proceedings of the International Society for Informetrics and Scientometrics Conference. Indexed in Web of Science and Scopus.
This article is an expanded version of the report submitted by the author on V scientific and practical conference dedicated to the memory of the first Dean of the Faculty of Sociology HSE Alexander O. Kryshtanovskiy "Sociological research methods in modern practice". The article is based on a study of the quantative data obtained in the course of one of the stages of the study "New social movements of youth" by Center of Youth Studies HSE - SaintPetersburg. At this stage, youth community mapping was conducted and analysis of the data using SNA tools was organised. The issue of this work is related to the specific application of network theory and network analysis methods in the process of discovering relations between various informal organisations on the example of youth communities.
Why researchers that use statistics always propose hypothesis about associations between variables and try to prove cause-effect relations between them? And, vice versa, why political linguist tend to use discourse analysis to disclose cognitive manipulation by power-holders through the imposition of certain beliefs, which define the social behavior?
In this paper we propose the mapping of existed methods in social sciences, of methodological approaches which stand behind these methods and allow formulating research question, and of philosophical foundations or ontologies which explain what social reality is. Social research is driven not only by chosen methods, but also by approaches and ontology shared by researcher.
This article analyzes the effects of publication language on the international scientific visibility of Russia using the Web of Science (WoS). Like other developing and transition countries, it is subject to a growing pressure to “internationalize” its scientific activities, which primarily means a shift to English as a language of scientific communication. But to what extent does the transition to English improve the impact of research? The case of Russia is of interest in this respect as the existence of many combinations of national journals and languages of publications (namely, Russian and English, including translated journals) provide a kind of natural I experiment to test the effects of language and publisher's country on the international visibility of research through citations as well as on the referencing practices of authors. Our analysis points to the conclusion that the production of original English-language papers in foreign journals is a more efficient strategy of internationalization than the mere translation of domestic journals. If the objective of a country is to maximize the international visibility of its scientific work, then the efforts should go into the promotion of publication in reputed English-language journals to profit from the added effect provided by the Matthew effect of these venues.
In the current context of the globalization of science, excellence is most often associated with internationalization and assessed through high-impact “international” (English-language) publications. Taking Russian economic science as a case study, this paper argues that the strategies of internationalization of national disciplinary fields are primarily determined by the parameters of the global economics itself. My analysis of the Russian publications in economics covered by Web of Science demonstrates that the very repertoire of international publication strategies of Russian authors is determined by the transnational system of communication in economics. Economics papers from peripheral nations are essentially assigned to regional or “area studies” periodicals, which do not belong to the core of the discipline. Publication in top economics journals requires a specific “international” competency usually obtained through doctoral training at Anglo-American or equivalent PhD programs and generally implies a delocalization of research objects and questions.
The CCIS series is devoted to the publication of proceedings of computer science conferences. Its aim is to efficiently disseminate original research results in informatics in printed and electronic form. While the focus is on publication of peer-reviewed full papers presenting mature work, inclusion of reviewed short papers reporting on work in progress is welcome, too. Besides globally relevant meetings with internationally representative program committees guaranteeing a strict peer-reviewing and paper selection process, conferences run by societies or of high regional or national relevance are also considered for publication.
Several approaches to the concept of fatherhood present in Western sociological tradition are analyzed and compared: biological determinism, social constructivism and biosocial theory. The problematics of fatherhood and men’s parental practices is marginalized in modern Russian social research devoted to family and this fact makes the traditional inequality in family relations, when the father’s role is considered secondary compared to that of mother, even stronger. However, in Western critical men’s studies several stages can be outlined: the development of “sex roles” paradigm (biological determinism), the emergence of the hegemonic masculinity concept, inter-disciplinary stage (biosocial theory). According to the approach of biological determinism, the role of a father is that of the patriarch, he continues the family line and serves as a model for his ascendants. Social constructivism looks into man’s functions in the family from the point of view of masculine pressure and establishing hegemony over a woman and children. Biosocial theory aims to unite the biological determinacy of fatherhood with social, cultural and personal context. It is shown that these approaches are directly connected with the level of the society development, marriage and family perceptions, the level of egality of gender order.