Coping with methods for delineating emerging fields: Nanoscience and nanotechnology as a case study

Teresa Muñoz-Écija, Benjamín Vargas-Quesada and Zaida Chinchilla Rodríguez

Journal of Informetrics, 2019, vol. 13, issue 4

Abstract: Proper field delineation plays an important role in scientometric studies, although it is a tough task. Based on an emerging and interdisciplinary field nanoscience and nanotechnology– this paper highlights the problem of field delineation. First we review the related literature. Then, three different approaches to delineate a field of knowledge were applied at three different levels of aggregation: subject category, publication level, and journal level. Expert opinion interviews served to assess the data, and precision and recall of each approach were calculated for comparison. Our findings confirm that field delineation is a complicated issue at both the quantitative and the qualitative level, even when experts validate results.

Keywords: Field delineation; Science classification; Research topics; Bibliometrics; Scientometrics (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:infome:v:13:y:2019:i:4:s1751157718305030

DOI: 10.1016/j.joi.2019.100976

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