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A general framework for describing diversity within systems and similarity between systems with applications in informetrics

Author

Listed:
  • Qiuju Zhou

    (Chinese Academy of Sciences)

  • Ronald Rousseau

    (KHBO (Association KU Leuven)
    University of Antwerp (UA)
    KU Leuven)

  • Liying Yang

    (Chinese Academy of Sciences)

  • Ting Yue

    (Chinese Academy of Sciences)

  • Guoliang Yang

    (Chinese Academy of Sciences)

Abstract

Building on the ideas of Stirling (J R Soc Interface, 4(15), 707–719, 2007) and Rafols and Meyer (Scientometrics, 82(2), 263–287, 2010), we borrow models of genetic distance based on gene diversity and propose a general conceptual framework to investigate the diversity within and among systems and the similarity between systems. This framework can be used to reveal the relationship of systems weighted by the similarity of the corresponding categories. Application of the framework to scientometrics is explored to evaluate the balance of national disciplinary structures, and the homogeneity of disciplinary structures between countries.

Suggested Citation

  • Qiuju Zhou & Ronald Rousseau & Liying Yang & Ting Yue & Guoliang Yang, 2012. "A general framework for describing diversity within systems and similarity between systems with applications in informetrics," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 93(3), pages 787-812, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:scient:v:93:y:2012:i:3:d:10.1007_s11192-012-0767-9
    DOI: 10.1007/s11192-012-0767-9
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    Cited by:

    1. Lin Zhang & Ronald Rousseau & Wolfgang Glänzel, 2016. "Diversity of references as an indicator of the interdisciplinarity of journals: Taking similarity between subject fields into account," Journal of the Association for Information Science & Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 67(5), pages 1257-1265, May.
    2. Bongioanni, Irene & Daraio, Cinzia & Ruocco, Giancarlo, 2014. "A quantitative measure to compare the disciplinary profiles of research systems and their evolution over time," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 8(3), pages 710-727.
    3. Ronald Rousseau, 2018. "The repeat rate: from Hirschman to Stirling," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 116(1), pages 645-653, July.
    4. Harzing, Anne-Wil & Giroud, Axèle, 2014. "The competitive advantage of nations: An application to academia," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 8(1), pages 29-42.
    5. Rousseau, Ronald & Guns, Raf & Rahman, A.I.M. Jakaria & Engels, Tim C.E., 2017. "Measuring cognitive distance between publication portfolios," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 11(2), pages 583-594.
    6. Michael Calver & Kate Bryant & Grant Wardell-Johnson, 2018. "Quantifying the internationality and multidisciplinarity of authors and journals using ecological statistics," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 115(2), pages 731-748, May.
    7. Ning Li, 2017. "Evolutionary patterns of national disciplinary profiles in research: 1996–2015," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 111(1), pages 493-520, April.
    8. Zhang, Lin & Sun, Mengting & Peng, Yujie & Zhao, Wenjing & Chen, Lixin & Huang, Ying, 2022. "How public investment fuels innovation: Clues from government-subsidized USPTO patents," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 16(3).
    9. Loet Leydesdorff, 2015. "Can technology life-cycles be indicated by diversity in patent classifications? The crucial role of variety," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 105(3), pages 1441-1451, December.
    10. Xuefeng Wang & Zhinan Wang & Ying Huang & Yun Chen & Yi Zhang & Huichao Ren & Rongrong Li & Jinhui Pang, 2017. "Measuring interdisciplinarity of a research system: detecting distinction between publication categories and citation categories," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 111(3), pages 2023-2039, June.
    11. Wong, Chan-Yuan & Wang, Lili, 2015. "Trajectories of science and technology and their co-evolution in BRICS: Insights from publication and patent analysis," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 9(1), pages 90-101.
    12. Loet Leydesdorff, 2018. "Diversity and interdisciplinarity: how can one distinguish and recombine disparity, variety, and balance?," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 116(3), pages 2113-2121, September.
    13. Sergey Shashnov & Maxim Kotsemir, 2018. "Research landscape of the BRICS countries: current trends in research output, thematic structures of publications, and the relative influence of partners," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 117(2), pages 1115-1155, November.
    14. Li, Xin & Tang, Xuli, 2021. "Characterizing interdisciplinarity in drug research: A translational science perspective," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 15(4).
    15. Kim, Hyeyoung & Park, Hyelin & Song, Min, 2022. "Developing a topic-driven method for interdisciplinarity analysis," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 16(2).
    16. Dag W. Aksnes & Thed N. Leeuwen & Gunnar Sivertsen, 2014. "The effect of booming countries on changes in the relative specialization index (RSI) on country level," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 101(2), pages 1391-1401, November.
    17. Rahman, A.I.M. Jakaria & Guns, Raf & Rousseau, Ronald & Engels, Tim C.E., 2015. "Is the expertise of evaluation panels congruent with the research interests of the research groups: A quantitative approach based on barycenters," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 9(4), pages 704-721.
    18. Irene Bongioanni & Cinzia Daraio & Giancarlo Ruocco, 2013. "A Quantitative Measure to Compare the Disciplinary Profiles of Research Systems and Their Evolution Over Time," DIAG Technical Reports 2013-010, Department of Computer, Control and Management Engineering, Universita' degli Studi di Roma "La Sapienza".
    19. Yury Dranev & Maxim Kotsemir & Boris Syomin, 2018. "Diversity of research publications: relation to agricultural productivity and possible implications for STI policy," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 116(3), pages 1565-1587, September.
    20. Gangan Prathap, 2019. "Balance: a thermodynamic perspective," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 119(1), pages 247-255, April.
    21. Sander Zwanenburg & Maryam Nakhoda & Peter Whigham, 2022. "Toward greater consistency and validity in measuring interdisciplinarity: a systematic and conceptual evaluation," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 127(12), pages 7769-7788, December.
    22. Elias Sanz-Casado & Carlos García-Zorita & Ronald Rousseau, 2016. "Using h-cores to study the most-cited articles of the twenty-first century," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 108(1), pages 243-261, July.
    23. Andrea Zielinski, 2022. "Impact of model settings on the text-based Rao diversity index," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 127(12), pages 7751-7768, December.

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