Presentation given to Fedlink/SLA Md workshop on bibliometrics and research assessment.

1. We Can Do It!
Bibliometrics as a Library Service
in Special Libraries
Bibliometrics and Research Assessment:
A Workshop for Librarians
and Information Professionals
May 21, 2015
Christina K. Pikas
Librarian
Christina.Pikas@jhuapl.edu

2. Ease of access to citation data and a
(natural?) desire to reduce complex
evaluations to numbers has led to
“unreflected use of ready-made indicators
offered by the owners of bibliometric
databases”
Librarians are ideally situated in our
institutions to provide bibliometric
support in a sensible and reliable way

3. Agenda
Why and How Librarians
Examples from APL
(about APL)
Questions Answered
Tools Used
Development Areas and What’s Next

4. Why and How Librarians

5. Domain knowledge
To be successful librarians we know a bit
about:
Scholarly communication
Information retrieval in our areas
Organization of information
Our organization’s research output (what
types, where it goes, etc)

6. Data
We license the databases
We know how to do good searches
We know how to manage citations
coming from searches

7. But probably need to add…
The specifics of which calculations to
use for what
And the experts do not agree!
Tool knowledge
How to go from a database to a network or
count
How to clean up database results
Visualizing the results

8. Ethics
What to measure and how
How to represent results so that they
are clear about what they tell you
See also
Leiden Manifesto
(http://www.leidenmanifesto.org/ )
DORA (http://am.ascb.org/dora/)

9. Examples from APL

10. APL in Brief
Laboratory Statistics:
• Employees: ~5,400 staff
• Revenues: ~$1.3B
 Technically skilled
and operationally
oriented
 Objective and
independent
 DoD
 NASA
 Critical contributions
to critical challenges
 DHS
 IC
 Division of Johns
Hopkins University
 University Affiliated
Research Center

11. Critical Contributions to Critical Challenges
We are committed to public
service and strive for
excellence in all we do
Our goal is to strengthen the nation
through transformative innovation
and trusted technical leadership
in national security and space
We collaborate across
the University in
areas of national
importance

12. The Johns Hopkins University
Provost
President
of the University
JHU/APL LLC
Board of Managers
University
Board of Trustees
Dean of Nitze
School of
Advanced Int’l
Studies
Dean of the
Medical
Faculty
Dean of Krieger
School of Arts
and Sciences
Dean of
Peabody
Institute
Dean of Carey
School of
Business
Dean of School
of Nursing
Director of
Applied
Physics
Laboratory
Dean of
Bloomberg
School of
Public Health
Dean of Whiting
School of
Engineering
Dean of School
of Education
Dean of
Libraries &
Museums

13. Staff Demographics
Technical Professionals
Degree Field
46% Engineering
25% Math, computer science
23% Physics, chemistry, other
6% None
Technical Professionals
Degree Level
19% Doctorate
53% Master
22% Bachelor
6% None
Supporting
Staff
19%
Technical
Professionals
72%
Administrative
Professionals
9%

14. Sample Questions
In <research area>, do University
Affiliated Research Centers collaborate
more internationally than government
labs?
Define the research area (reference
interview! Discussion with local domain
expert)
Search domain databases (Inspec &
Compendex)
Co-authorship networks
Keyword – Country and Institution graphs
Check with domain experts

15. (no)

16. Spain
Australia
Switzerland
Germany
Singapore
Czech Republic
South Africa
speaker recognition
speech processing
feature extraction
Gaussian processes
speech recognition
hidden Markov models
cepstral analysis
support vector machines
natural languages
maximum likelihood estimation
biometrics (access control
neural nets
face recognition
speech codingspeech synthesis
error statistics
learning (artificial intelligence
pattern classification
statistical analysis
probability
acoustic signal processing
signal classification
pattern clustering
Gaussian distribution
Bayes methods
regression analysis
sensor fusion
audio signal processing
audio databases
emotion recognition
spectral analysis
microphone arrays
genetic algorithms
multilayer perceptrons
speech enhancement
filtering theory
audio-visual systems
optimisation
hearing
speech-based user interfaces
parameter estimation
data compression
correlation methods
fuzzy set theory
human computer interaction
speech intelligibility
authorisation
linear predictive coding
backpropagation
array signal processing
natural language processing
belief networks
gesture recognition
statistical distributions
interactive systems
microphones
time-frequency analysis
linguistics
Markov processes
fingerprint identification
Internet telephony
computational complexity
pattern matching
transforms
interpolation
language translation
discrete cosine transforms
Internet
music decision making
security of data
signal processing
decoding
information retrieval
user interfaces
iterative methods
visual databases
minimisation
feedforward neural nets
mobile robots
radial basis function networks
speech recognition equipment
text analysis
client-server systems
training
dynamic programming
multimedia databases
natural language interfaces
blind source separation
reliability
sequences
telecommunication security
tracking
virtual reality
Viterbi decoding
error analysis
estimation theory
field programmable gate arrays
multimedia communication
neurophysiology
fuzzy neural nets
database management systems
handwriting recognition
audio recording
decision theory
signal sampling
telephony
IP networks
watermarking
AWGN
message authentication
Monte Carlo methods
OFDM modulation
frequency-domain analysis
fuzzy logic
polynomials
audio acoustics
data mining
self-organising feature maps
delay estimation
image matching
adaptive systems
image recognition
very large databases
image coding
amplitude modulation
entropy
evolutionary computation
expert systems
gender issueshearing aids
source separation
sparse matrices
image fusion
time-of-arrival estimation
information theory
cognition
least mean squares methods
query formulation
medical computing
acoustic correlation
approximation theory
fast Fourier transforms
architectural acoustics
fractals
nonlinear distortion
particle filtering (numerical methods
interleaved codes
adaptive estimation
data visualisation
calibration
heuristic programming
deconvolution
classification
target tracking
hyperbolic equations
reliability theory
convergence
game theory
function approximation
benchmark testing
frequency division multiple access
quadrature amplitude modulation
Java
full-text databases
Jacobian matrices
government
graph theory
waveform generators
distance learning
frame based representation
noise measurement
police
linear programming
home computing
delays
online front-ends
resource allocation
logic design
waveform analysis
stress effects
knowledge based systems
dictation

17. Given these records (unicode csv file of
unknown origin), what can we say about
the country’s published research in <this
large area>?
Who are the primary researchers?
What are the primary institutions?
How much collaboration is there among
institutions and internationally?
What methods are associated with
<terms>?
What are the trends over time?

18. Collaboration at APL:
What is the level of collaboration among
departments?
Has <intervention> changed collaboration?

19. Tools Used
Sci2
VantagePoint*
UCInet/NetDraw*
iGraph in R
Pajek
Inspire**
Note: NodeXL is also very good, but I am unable to install it at
work. YMMV. I have also used Sitkis, BibExcel, CiteSpace… and
maybe others!
* Licensed ($)
** Only available to government or for government contract work, I think

20. Takeaways
Librarians can and should leverage their
information science, subject, and
organization knowledge to support
bibliometric activities
There are many interesting and
important questions to answer
Additional training, self study, and
experimentation might be required (start
now!)

21. Christina K. Pikas, BS, MLS
Christina.Pikas@jhuapl.edu
http://christinaslisrant.scientopia.org/
http://www.slideshare.net/cpikas
@cpikas