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Exploring the bibliometric and semantic nature of negative results

Author

Listed:
  • Christian Gumpenberger

    (University of Vienna)

  • Juan Gorraiz

    (University of Vienna)

  • Martin Wieland

    (University of Vienna)

  • Ivana Roche

    (INIST–CNRS Institut de l’Information Scientifique et Technique)

  • Edgar Schiebel

    (AIT Austrian Institute of Technology GmbH, Tech Gate Vienna)

  • Dominique Besagni

    (INIST–CNRS Institut de l’Information Scientifique et Technique)

  • Claire François

    (INIST–CNRS Institut de l’Information Scientifique et Technique)

Abstract

Negative results are not popular to disseminate. However, their publication would help to save resources and foster scientific communication. This study analysed the bibliometric and semantic nature of negative results publications. The Journal of Negative Results in Biomedicine (JNRBM) was used as a role model. Its complete articles from 2002–2009 were extracted from SCOPUS and supplemented by related records. Complementary negative results records were retrieved from Web of Science in “Biochemistry” and “Telecommunications”. Applied bibliometrics comprised of co-author and co-affiliation analysis and a citation impact profile. Bibliometrics showed that authorship is widely spread. A specific community for the publication of negative results in devoted literature is non-existent. Neither co-author nor co-affiliation analysis indicated strong interconnectivities. JNRBM articles are cited by a broad spectrum of journals rather than by specific titles. Devoted negative results journals like JNRBM have a rather low impact measured by the number of received citations. On the other hand, only one-third of the publications remain uncited, corroborating their importance for the scientific community. The semantic analysis relies on negative expressions manually identified in JNRBM article titles and abstracts and extracted to syntactic patterns. By using a Natural Language Processing tool these patterns are then employed to detect their occurrences in the multidisciplinary bibliographical database PASCAL. The translation of manually identified negation patterns to syntactic patterns and their application to multidisciplinary bibliographic databases (PASCAL, Web of Science) proved to be a successful method to retrieve even hidden negative results. There is proof that negative results are not only restricted to the biomedical domain. Interestingly a high percentage of the so far identified negative results papers were funded and therefore needed to be published. Thus policies that explicitly encourage or even mandate the publication of negative results could probably bring about a shift in the current scientific communication behaviour.

Suggested Citation

  • Christian Gumpenberger & Juan Gorraiz & Martin Wieland & Ivana Roche & Edgar Schiebel & Dominique Besagni & Claire François, 2013. "Exploring the bibliometric and semantic nature of negative results," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 95(1), pages 277-297, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:scient:v:95:y:2013:i:1:d:10.1007_s11192-012-0829-z
    DOI: 10.1007/s11192-012-0829-z
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Daniele Fanelli, 2010. "Do Pressures to Publish Increase Scientists' Bias? An Empirical Support from US States Data," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 5(4), pages 1-7, April.
    2. Nitin Gupta & Mark Stopfer, 2011. "Negative results need airing too," Nature, Nature, vol. 470(7332), pages 39-39, February.
    3. Daniele Fanelli, 2009. "How Many Scientists Fabricate and Falsify Research? A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Survey Data," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 4(5), pages 1-11, May.
    4. González-Pereira, Borja & Guerrero-Bote, Vicente P. & Moya-Anegón, Félix, 2010. "A new approach to the metric of journals’ scientific prestige: The SJR indicator," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 4(3), pages 379-391.
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    Cited by:

    1. Russell Smyth & Vinod Mishra, 2014. "Academic inbreeding and research productivity and impact in Australian law schools," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 98(1), pages 583-618, January.

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