Coping with methods for delineating emerging fields: Nanoscience and nanotechnology as a case study |
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Authors: | Teresa Muñoz-Écija Benjamín Vargas-Quesada Zaida Chinchilla Rodríguez |
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Institution: | 1. Department of Information and Communication, Faculty of Communication and Documentation, University of Granada, Campus de Cartuja s/n, 18071 Granada, Spain;2. SCImago Research Group, Granada, Spain;3. CSIC, Institute of Public Goods and Policies (IPP), Albasanz 26-28, 28037 Madrid, Spain |
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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. |
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Keywords: | Corresponding author Field delineation Science classification Research topics Bibliometrics Scientometrics |
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