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Detecting seminal research contributions to the development and use of the global positioning system by reference publication year spectroscopy

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  • Jordan A. Comins

    (Virginia Tech Applied Research Corporation)

  • Thomas W. Hussey

    (Virginia Tech Applied Research Corporation)

Abstract

The global positioning system (GPS) represents one of the most compelling success stories of technology transfer from defense laboratories and academia to the private sector. In this short report, we applied a quantitative analysis to identify landmark research contributions to GPS. This technique, reference publication year spectroscopy (RPYS), yielded key insights into early works that allowed for both the development and widespread use of GPS. In addition, using this approach to identify individual contributions of scientific excellence offers an opportunity to credit not only the research investigators, but also their corresponding affiliations and funding sources. Indeed, the findings from our analysis suggest that RPYS might serve as a powerful tool to substantiate the contribution of funding agencies, universities and institutes to research fields. We stress, however, that this method should not stand-alone for such purposes, but should be wedded with the knowledge and experience of subject matter experts.

Suggested Citation

  • Jordan A. Comins & Thomas W. Hussey, 2015. "Detecting seminal research contributions to the development and use of the global positioning system by reference publication year spectroscopy," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 104(2), pages 575-580, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:scient:v:104:y:2015:i:2:d:10.1007_s11192-015-1598-2
    DOI: 10.1007/s11192-015-1598-2
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    2. Werner Marx & Lutz Bornmann & Andreas Barth & Loet Leydesdorff, 2014. "Detecting the historical roots of research fields by reference publication year spectroscopy (RPYS)," Journal of the Association for Information Science & Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 65(4), pages 751-764, April.
    3. Comins, Jordan A. & Hussey, Thomas W., 2015. "Compressing multiple scales of impact detection by Reference Publication Year Spectroscopy," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 9(3), pages 449-454.
    4. Leydesdorff, Loet & Bornmann, Lutz & Marx, Werner & Milojević, Staša, 2014. "Referenced Publication Years Spectroscopy applied to iMetrics: Scientometrics, Journal of Informetrics, and a relevant subset of JASIST," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 8(1), pages 162-174.
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Comins, Jordan A. & Carmack, Stephanie A. & Leydesdorff, Loet, 2018. "Patent citation spectroscopy (PCS): Online retrieval of landmark patents based on an algorithmic approach," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 12(4), pages 1223-1231.
    2. Andreas Thor & Lutz Bornmann & Werner Marx & Rüdiger Mutz, 2018. "Identifying single influential publications in a research field: new analysis opportunities of the CRExplorer," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 116(1), pages 591-608, July.
    3. Bakthavachalam Elango & Lutz Bornmann & Govindaraju Kannan, 2016. "Detecting the historical roots of tribology research: a bibliometric analysis," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 107(1), pages 305-313, April.
    4. Thor, Andreas & Marx, Werner & Leydesdorff, Loet & Bornmann, Lutz, 2016. "Introducing CitedReferencesExplorer (CRExplorer): A program for reference publication year spectroscopy with cited references standardization," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 10(2), pages 503-515.
    5. Xin Li & Qiang Yao & Xuli Tang & Qian Li & Mengjia Wu, 2020. "How to investigate the historical roots and evolution of research fields in China? A case study on iMetrics using RootCite," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 125(2), pages 1253-1274, November.
    6. Xue Wang & Xuemei Yang & Jian Du & Xuwen Wang & Jiao Li & Xiaoli Tang, 2021. "A deep learning approach for identifying biomedical breakthrough discoveries using context analysis," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 126(7), pages 5531-5549, July.
    7. McLevey, John & McIlroy-Young, Reid, 2017. "Introducing metaknowledge: Software for computational research in information science, network analysis, and science of science," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 11(1), pages 176-197.

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