Abstract
As the first part of a two-phase study, 240 documents highly cited in a self-created Chinese database and inScience Citation Index for the period of 1987–89 were examined to delineate the formal structure of communication in superconductivity research. Noteworthy similarities, e.g., analogous cited cores, identical publication sources, and comparable intellectual structures of cocitation data, were found in formal communication between Chinese and non-Chinese scientists. However, differences were also located in citedness, timeliness, and direction of communication.
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Notes and references
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TBA.
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The temporal scope was chosen based on the fact that the majority of the literature related to the discovery of high-Tc superconductors got published in that period.
The problem of the citation database arises whenever a citation study is planned for a developing country.Moravcsik (1985, p. 3) reports that only about half of the scientific output of the Third World which meets international standards of excellence is included inScience Citation Index (SCI). In analyzing the latest update of the Science Literature Indicators Database, compiled for NSF by CHI Research,Irvine andMartin (1989) found that in 1984 seven countries, Canada, France, FRG, Japan, UK, USA, and USSR, produced over 75% of the scientific publications, while the input from the rest of the world, which include developing countries, only accounts for less than 25%. As for the national shares of citations to all previous research, more than 82% went to the seven countries, and less than 18% went to other nations. SCI's coverage of Chinese literature is minimal partially because of the ideographic basis of the Chinese language.
The four key journals, identified by specialists in China, are: (1)Acta Physica Sinica, Beijing, Chinese Society of Physics, Monthly. (2)Chinese Journal of Low Temperature Physics, Hefei, Anhui, China University of Science & Technology, Quarterly. (3)Cryogenics & Superconductivity, Hefei, Anhui, Editorial Board of Cryogenics & Superconductivity, Quarterly. (4)Science Bulletin, Beijing, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Semi-monthly.
It is available from the present writer upon request.
There are 923 citing documents in the Chinese database, while the non-Chinese citation database contains 14655 citing entries. The latter is almost 16 times larger than the former in size.
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Dr.Ke Zhang kindly offered help in labeling the clusters.
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Chu, H. Communication between Chinese and non-Chinese scientists in the discovery of high-Tc superconductor: I. The formal perspective. Scientometrics 25, 229–252 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02028084
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02028084