The document summarizes a course on scientometrics and bibliometrics attended by Susan Veldsman, Louise van Heerden, and Ina Smith at Stellenbosch University from March 23-26, 2015. It covered definitions of bibliometrics and scientometrics, the history and structure of bibliometrics, limitations of the journal impact factor, comparing bibliometric data sources like Web of Science and Scopus, using bibliometrics to map and evaluate science, and the relationships between science, innovation, and society. Speakers included Professors Robert Tijssen and Johann Mouton who discussed how bibliometrics can be applied in research evaluation, mapping fields, and measuring the impact and collaboration in

1. CREST/Stellenbosch Course on
Scientometrics and Bibliometrics
Attended by Susan Veldsman, Louise van Heerden, Ina Smith
Stellenbosch University, 23-26 March 2015
Feedback to ASSAf Staff on 7 May 2015

2. Presenters
Prof Robert Tijssen
Visiting professor at SU
From the Centre for Science and Technology Studies
(CWTS) Leiden University, Netherlands
Prof Johann Mouton
Professor in and Director of the Centre for Research on
Evaluation, Science and Technology at Stellenbosch
University and the African Doctoral Academy.
Programme Director of five post-graduate programmes
in Monitoring and Evaluation Studies and Science and
Technology Studies.

7. Day 1 : STS Module on Bibliometrics
• Definitions (webometrics, netometrics, bibliometrics, scientometrics,
informetrics, altmetrics)
• History
• Structure & elements of Bibliometrics
• Journal Impact Factor
• Limitations of the Impact Factor
• Resistance to the Impact Factor
• Six rules of Evaluative Bibliometrics

8. Bibliometrics
Bibliometrics is statistical analysis of written publications, such as
books or articles. Bibliometric methods are frequently used in the field
of library and information science, including scientometrics. For
instance, bibliometrics are used to provide quantitative analysis of
academic literature.

9. Structure & elements of Bibliometrics
• Building blocks:
• Data sources (WoS, Scopus, Google Scholar)
• Units and measures (publications, (co-)authors, references and citations)
• Publication activity and authorship (subject matter, author’s age, author’s
social status, observation period)
• Citations and co-citations
• Factors influencing citation (impact) behaviour (subject matter and within a
subject, the “level of abstraction”; paper’s age; paper’s “social status”;
document type; observation period (”citation window”))

10. Scopus
24,169
Web of Science
12,491
Scopus
7,410 (+78%)
WoS
4,188
Scopus
6,740 (+97%)
WoS
3,415
Scopus
4,436 (+50%)
WoS
2,954
Scopus
7,684 (+90%)
WoS
4,016
Physical Sciences Health Sciences Life Sciences Social Sciences
~12K titles
3,300 publishers
Updated weekly
~24K titles
>5,000 publishers
Updated daily
Source: Web of Science Real Facts, Web of Science title list and Scopus’ own data (April 2014)
Data sources compared

11. 0
20
40
60
80
100
120
Number of South African
journals covered
WoS Scopus
0
2,000
4,000
6,000
8,000
10,000
12,000
14,000
16,000
18,000
2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
Number of South African articles
published per year
Comparison for SA

12. Journal Impact Factor
• Measure to reflect the number of citations an item received
• Eugene Garfield - founder of the Institute for Scientific Information
• Calculated yearly starting from 1975 for those journals that are
indexed in the Journal Citation Reports

13. Bibliometrics applied
• University rankings
• Scientific fields
• Research productivity
• Collaboration and citation impact
• Active human capital base
• Journal publication trends
• Measuring demographics of research

14. Day 2: Bibliometrics and statistics of African
science
• African countries do not publish in Scopus journals
• Scopus focuses on social journals
• We need far more info than what is available through Scopus &
Thomson Reuters Web of Science (WoS)

15. Bibliometric mapping of science
• Visualisation mapping tool e.g. VOS Viewer (www.VOSviewer.com)
• E.g. overlap between journals

16. Day 3 : Scientometric evaluation of science
• Individual researchers & research groups (h-index)
• Organisations
• CWTS Monitor bibliographic analysis tool
• OA and Altmetrics; Open data

17. Day 4 : Science and Innovation
• Knowledge an asset
• Developing countries and economies – related to science and
innovation
• Reports on Innovation for Africa
• Univ. conduct research and companies innovate
• Collaboration between univ. and industry required
• Patents: Not all inventions will lead to innovations; not all innovations
are patented.
• Patents filed with WIPO

18. Day 4 : Science and Society
• Involve society – citizen scientists
• All research impacts on society in the end
• Societal responsibility to share
• Solar Turtle Project
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12RWuWnrSQk
“The Solar Turtle is one of three great examples of innovation that
will help create a more sustainable future for all.”
• New research leads to innovation leads to new jobs