Quantifying the internationality and multidisciplinarity of authors and journals using ecological statistics

Authors or journals often claim internationality or multidisciplinarity based on assertion or qualitative evidence, while scientometric studies employ sophisticated analyses or software beyond the resources of occasional users to assess these concepts. This paper demonstrates how statistics used to...

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Main Authors: Calver, M., Bryant, K., Wardell-Johnson, Grant
Format: Journal Article
Published: Springer 2018
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/68085
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author Calver, M.
Bryant, K.
Wardell-Johnson, Grant
author_facet Calver, M.
Bryant, K.
Wardell-Johnson, Grant
author_sort Calver, M.
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description Authors or journals often claim internationality or multidisciplinarity based on assertion or qualitative evidence, while scientometric studies employ sophisticated analyses or software beyond the resources of occasional users to assess these concepts. This paper demonstrates how statistics used to describe ecological communities can be applied to bibliometric data to quantify internationality or multidisciplinarity for individuals and journals, enabling tests of statistical significance using graphical user interface freeware accessible to even occasional users. Margalef Richness, diversity and evenness or equitability can be calculated to indicate whether papers or citations come predominantly from a small group of countries or disciplines, or are more widely distributed. Tests of statistical significance for differences in Margalef richness, diversity or evenness between authors or journals enable testing of diverse hypotheses including, for example: differences in internationality or multidisciplinarity between authors or between journals; or changes over time in these variables for authors or journals (perhaps in response to career changes or changes in editorial policy). Quantifying internationality and multidisciplinarity in an accessible way for many potential users, with the possibility of statistical hypothesis testing, is a significant advance over assertion and qualitative description on the one hand or conceptually and practically complex analysis on the other.
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-680852018-11-30T02:58:39Z Quantifying the internationality and multidisciplinarity of authors and journals using ecological statistics Calver, M. Bryant, K. Wardell-Johnson, Grant Authors or journals often claim internationality or multidisciplinarity based on assertion or qualitative evidence, while scientometric studies employ sophisticated analyses or software beyond the resources of occasional users to assess these concepts. This paper demonstrates how statistics used to describe ecological communities can be applied to bibliometric data to quantify internationality or multidisciplinarity for individuals and journals, enabling tests of statistical significance using graphical user interface freeware accessible to even occasional users. Margalef Richness, diversity and evenness or equitability can be calculated to indicate whether papers or citations come predominantly from a small group of countries or disciplines, or are more widely distributed. Tests of statistical significance for differences in Margalef richness, diversity or evenness between authors or journals enable testing of diverse hypotheses including, for example: differences in internationality or multidisciplinarity between authors or between journals; or changes over time in these variables for authors or journals (perhaps in response to career changes or changes in editorial policy). Quantifying internationality and multidisciplinarity in an accessible way for many potential users, with the possibility of statistical hypothesis testing, is a significant advance over assertion and qualitative description on the one hand or conceptually and practically complex analysis on the other. 2018 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/68085 10.1007/s11192-018-2692-z Springer restricted
spellingShingle Calver, M.
Bryant, K.
Wardell-Johnson, Grant
Quantifying the internationality and multidisciplinarity of authors and journals using ecological statistics
title Quantifying the internationality and multidisciplinarity of authors and journals using ecological statistics
title_full Quantifying the internationality and multidisciplinarity of authors and journals using ecological statistics
title_fullStr Quantifying the internationality and multidisciplinarity of authors and journals using ecological statistics
title_full_unstemmed Quantifying the internationality and multidisciplinarity of authors and journals using ecological statistics
title_short Quantifying the internationality and multidisciplinarity of authors and journals using ecological statistics
title_sort quantifying the internationality and multidisciplinarity of authors and journals using ecological statistics
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/68085