Combining concept maps and bibliometric maps: First explorations

Summary

Bibliometric maps of science are a well-established research subject. But their adoption as a science policy support tool is lacking. We think this is because the user does not immediately comprehend a map and (as a result) is not enticed into using it. To help this comprehension, we propose the use of “qualitative maps”: an umbrella term for diverse tools such as concept maps and mental maps. We developed a tool that interfaces between a qualitative map and a bibliometric map which lets the user create a correspondence between the distinct vocabularies of the maps. We also conducted two user studies: the first explored the combined use of bibliometric and qualitative maps and the second the preferred format of the map and the word-usage in the description of its elements.