Cross-boundary e-government systems: Determinants of performance

This study examines the performance of a cross-boundary e-government system. It draws from studies in the fields of e-government, collaborative public management, and information system success with a focus on inter-organizational information systems to develop a conceptual framework. This framework includes efficiency, effectiveness, and accountability as key performance measures; identifies technical, managerial, and inter-organizational factors for success; and develops hypotheses accordingly. Empirical investigation utilizes user-level data from an inter-organizational e-government system that provides integrated commerce and industry service. The results underscore the importance of management support, shared goals, and inter-agency trust in improving all three measures of performance. In addition, citizen-centric and innovative organizational culture enhances efficiency and accountability while administrative interdependence impacts effectiveness and accountability. The managerial and theoretical implications of these findings and future research opportunities are also explored.     

Authorship analysis of specialized vs diversified research output

The present work investigates the relations between amplitude and type of collaboration (intramural, extramural domestic or international) and output of specialized versus diversified research. By specialized or diversified research, we mean within or beyond the author’s dominant research topic. The field of observation is the scientific production over five years from about 23,500 academics. The analyses are conducted at the aggregate and disciplinary level. The results lead to the conclusion that in general, the output of diversified research is no more frequently the fruit of collaboration than is specialized research. At the level of the particular collaboration types, international collaborations weakly underlie the specialized kind of research output; on the contrary, extramural domestic and intramural collaborations are weakly associated with diversified research. While the weakness of association remains, exceptions are observed at the level of the individual disciplines.     

Ranking scientific articles based on bibliometric networks with a weighting scheme

As the volume of scientific articles has grown rapidly over the last decades, evaluating their impact becomes critical for tracing valuable and significant research output. Many studies have proposed various ranking methods to estimate the prestige of academic papers using bibliometric methods. However, the weight of the links in bibliometric networks has been rarely considered for article ranking in existing literature. Such incomplete investigation in bibliometric methods could lead to biased ranking results. Therefore, a novel scientific article ranking algorithm, W-Rank, is introduced in this study proposing a weighting scheme. The scheme assigns weight to the links of citation network and authorship network by measuring citation relevance and author contribution. Combining the weighted bibliometric networks and a propagation algorithm, W-Rank is able to obtain article ranking results that are more reasonable than existing PageRank-based methods. Experiments are conducted on both arXiv hep-th and Microsoft Academic Graph datasets to verify the W-Rank and compare it with three renowned article ranking algorithms. Experimental results prove that the proposed weighting scheme assists the W-Rank in obtaining ranking results of higher accuracy and, in certain perspectives, outperforming the other algorithms.     

From conventional governance to e-democracy: Tracing the evolution of e-governance research trends using network analysis tools

The adoption of e-governing practices has revolutionised the administrative machinery of governments worldwide by improving efficiency, transparency, and accountability. Researchers and administrators often aim to identify emerging research fronts and the timeline of the evolution to forecast and implement technology. In this work, we systematically investigate the trajectory of the global evolution and emerging research fronts as well as the prospects for e-governance using citation network analysis. The growth curve fitted to the number of articles published per year shows that the research activities are still in the ascendant phase. We visualise the global main path of the citation network and investigate the patterns to trace the knowledge diffusion path, major milestones, and emerging research fronts. The cluster analysis identifies the major topics of research as administration and information system management, e-governance framework design, efficiency or quality evaluation, and the application of social networks and open data leading to e-democracy. The adoption of open data and social networking for user interactions with government that leads to participatory governance are the emerging research trends. We also identify research that can have a future impact based on network parameters. The results contribute to the literature by setting the focus of future research, and assisting administrators in selecting suitable models and methodologies, and manufacturers with the development of required technical devices suitable for the upcoming phase of symbiosis.     

Coping with methods for delineating emerging fields: Nanoscience and nanotechnology as a case study

Proper field delineation plays an important role in scientometric studies, although it is a tough task. Based on an emerging and interdisciplinary field nanoscience and nanotechnology– this paper highlights the problem of field delineation. First we review the related literature. Then, three different approaches to delineate a field of knowledge were applied at three different levels of aggregation: subject category, publication level, and journal level. Expert opinion interviews served to assess the data, and precision and recall of each approach were calculated for comparison. Our findings confirm that field delineation is a complicated issue at both the quantitative and the qualitative level, even when experts validate results.     

Research characteristics on health law in China: Social network analysis

To determine the nature and extent of the emerging field of “health law” scholarship in China, we retrieved 2956 publications about various aspects of health law published up through 2014 in 268 journals from the “Chinese Social Science Citation Index” and from the list of Chinese “Core Journals” maintained by the Peking University Library. By bibliometric analysis, we observed some interesting results which were different from our expectations. The collaboration network among Chinese health law (CHL) authors was relatively small, loose, unstable and early in its development. Kan Tian and Lixin Yang were leading authors, Renmin University of China was the primary institution, and Beijing was the predominant region studying Chinese health law (CHL). Kan Tian ranked 1st in the collaboration network and Lixin Yang published the most number of articles on CHL. Comprehensive universities made up the majority of institutions studying CHL, while medical colleges did not focus on health law research, possibly due to medical schools focusing mainly on clinical education and not attaching as much importance to social and humanistic aspects of medicine. Food safety, health administration, and the general principles of civil law were the main areas of focus in CHL research, which is basically in line with what we expected.     

Diversity-related research reported in high-impact library and information science journal literature: A content analysis

This study reports a content analysis of the frequency distribution of diversity-related research in four high-impact Library and Information Science (LIS) journals published between 1995 and 2014. High-impact journals (with high rankings and impact factors) were chosen because empirically based articles from them are more likely to be able to influence future research direction. The journals chosen were published articles quarterly or bi-monthly, with an average of 5–6 articles per issue. A total of 1766 research articles were collected, with 28.71% determined to be related to diversity. Results show an increasing interest in diversity-related research in the LIS field, with a dramatic increase between 2010 and 2014. The majority of diversity-related research focuses on age, gender and ethnicity. Only a small portion of research discusses issues concerning specific populations and emphasizes diversity-related theoretical concepts. More efforts are needed to highlight the link in order to contribute to the diversity and inclusion agenda in LIS.     

Comparison of two article-level,field-independent citation metrics: Field-Weighted Citation Impact (FWCI) and Relative Citation Ratio (RCR)

We reproduce the article-level, field-independent citation metric Relative Citation Ratio (RCR) using the Scopus database, and extend it beyond the biomedical field to all subject areas. We compare the RCR to the Field-Weighted Citation Impact (FWCI), also an article-level, field-normalised metric, and present the first results of correlations, distributions and application to research university benchmarking for both metrics. Our analyses demonstrate that FWCI and RCR of articles correlate with varying strengths across different areas of research. Additionally, we observe that both metrics are comparably stable across different subject areas of research. Moreover, at the level of universities, both metrics correlate strongly.     

A structured analysis of e-government studies: Trends and opportunities

E-government involves the use of information and communications technology to facilitate government interaction with citizens, employees, businesses and other governments. E-government studies provide a platform to examine prior developments, and explore future opportunities in the field. This paper presents a theoretical model for the analysis of e-government studies and further uses a bibliometric analysis to examine constructs such as theoretical perspectives, methods, and units of analyses. We examine current trends in e-government research, and discuss emerging opportunities.     

Google Scholar,Web of Science,and Scopus: A systematic comparison of citations in 252 subject categories

Despite citation counts from Google Scholar (GS), Web of Science (WoS), and Scopus being widely consulted by researchers and sometimes used in research evaluations, there is no recent or systematic evidence about the differences between them. In response, this paper investigates 2,448,055 citations to 2299 English-language highly-cited documents from 252 GS subject categories published in 2006, comparing GS, the WoS Core Collection, and Scopus. GS consistently found the largest percentage of citations across all areas (93%–96%), far ahead of Scopus (35%–77%) and WoS (27%–73%). GS found nearly all the WoS (95%) and Scopus (92%) citations. Most citations found only by GS were from non-journal sources (48%–65%), including theses, books, conference papers, and unpublished materials. Many were non-English (19%–38%), and they tended to be much less cited than citing sources that were also in Scopus or WoS. Despite the many unique GS citing sources, Spearman correlations between citation counts in GS and WoS or Scopus are high (0.78-0.99). They are lower in the Humanities, and lower between GS and WoS than between GS and Scopus. The results suggest that in all areas GS citation data is essentially a superset of WoS and Scopus, with substantial extra coverage.     

Journal acceptance rates: A cross-disciplinary analysis of variability and relationships with journal measures

There are many indicators of journal quality and prestige. Although acceptance rates are discussed anecdotally, there has been little systematic exploration of the relationship between acceptance rates and other journal measures. This study examines the variability of acceptance rates for a set of 5094 journals in five disciplines and the relationship between acceptance rates and JCR measures for 1301 journals. The results show statistically significant differences in acceptance rates by discipline, country affiliation of the editor, and number of reviewers per article. Negative correlations are found between acceptance rates and citation-based indicators. Positive correlations are found with journal age. These relationships are most pronounced in the most selective journals and vary by discipline. Open access journals were found to have statistically significantly higher acceptance rates than non-open access journals. Implications in light of changes in the scholarly communication system are discussed.     

Exploring the experiences of academic libraries with research data management: A meta-ethnographic analysis of qualitative studies1

Taking on responsibilities in research data management (RDM) has proven to be a significant challenge as libraries have adopted new roles within higher education institutions. A qualitative review using the meta-ethnographic approach was conducted that examined the experiences of academic libraries and provided clarity on contextual influences associated with achievements, as well as illuminating the reasons for deficiencies. Libraries experienced uncertainty around roles and relationships related to RDM yet were recognized positively as a neutral, centralized space within academic institutions. This perception, combined with the current approach of fostering partnerships and collaborations, may prove to be useful for libraries as they strategically consider how best to provide continued support and services in RDM. Understanding the perspectives of academic libraries on how they respond and support the demands related to RDM offers a fuller, more robust insight that is essential for planning and decision-making.     

The e-government research domain: A triple helix network analysis of collaboration at the regional,country, and institutional levels

This study introduces a hybrid approach (i.e., a social network analysis technique and triple helix indicators) to study certain aspects of the e-government (EG) domain that would otherwise remain hidden when using conventional analytic tools. Particularly, we provide network analysis of the EG research domain by focusing on the network collaboration between regions, nations and institutions. We collected and analyzed 1091 scholarly papers which were classified as being about “e-government” by the Web of Science database. The results indicate that hybrid method can be used to understand certain network-level structures and patterns in the EG domain which are beyond the scope of the predominantly-used systematic literature review (SLR) method. Particularly, the hybrid method is useful in understanding collaboration patterns between countries, institutions and regions in the EG domain, identifying key players by studying their network properties (i.e., degree centralities); and in understanding the pattern of relations among universities, industries, and government. The implications of these results in terms of research and practice, and study limitations are discussed.     

Regularity in the research output of individual scientists: An empirical analysis by recent bibliometric tools

This paper proposes an empirical analysis of several scientists based on their time regularity, defined as the ability of generating an active and stable research output over time, in terms of both quantity/publications and impact/citations. In particular, we empirically analyse three recent bibliometric tools to perform qualitative/quantitative evaluations under the new perspective of regularity. These tools are respectively (1) the PY/CY diagram, (2) the publication/citation Ferrers diagram and triad indicators, and (3) a year-by-year comparison of the scientists’ output (Borda's ranking). Results of the regularity analysis are then compared with those obtained under the classical perspective of overall production.The proposed evaluation tools can be applied to competitive examinations for research position/promotion, as complementary instruments to the commonly adopted bibliometric techniques.     

科技教育研究主题发展趋势的引文分析:1994—2013

为鉴往知来,本研究运用引文分析方法,探讨近20年来(1994—2013年)科技教育研究的主题演进状况。样本取自WoS数据库的SSCI、SCI和A&HCI,共1 196篇,过滤后为1 009篇文献,共30 825条引文。①以五年为一个阶段,分析文献数量持续增加情况,各阶段的成长率分别为第I-II阶段为85.45%,第II-III阶段为62.26%,第III-IV阶段为55.79%;②     

Characterizing in-text citations in scientific articles: A large-scale analysis

We report characteristics of in-text citations in over five million full text articles from two large databases – the PubMed Central Open Access subset and Elsevier journals – as functions of time, textual progression, and scientific field. The purpose of this study is to understand the characteristics of in-text citations in a detailed way prior to pursuing other studies focused on answering more substantive research questions. As such, we have analyzed in-text citations in several ways and report many findings here. Perhaps most significantly, we find that there are large field-level differences that are reflected in position within the text, citation interval (or reference age), and citation counts of references. In general, the fields of Biomedical and Health Sciences, Life and Earth Sciences, and Physical Sciences and Engineering have similar reference distributions, although they vary in their specifics. The two remaining fields, Mathematics and Computer Science and Social Science and Humanities, have different reference distributions from the other three fields and between themselves. We also show that in all fields the numbers of sentences, references, and in-text mentions per article have increased over time, and that there are field-level and temporal differences in the numbers of in-text mentions per reference. A final finding is that references mentioned only once tend to be much more highly cited than those mentioned multiple times.     

Continuous usage of e-participation: The role of the sense of virtual community

Local governments around the world are increasingly implementing e-participation platforms to involve citizens in consultation and decision-making processes. E-participation platforms usually succeed and produce positive effects in the community when adopted in the long-term scenario. The adoption of those platforms is still a challenge for local governments. The understanding of the factors that influence the continuous intention to use e-participation over time is critical for the design of diffusion and promotion strategies that motivate the citizens to keep using e-participation. This article explores the drivers that predict the post-adoption of e-participation platforms from the perspective of the sense of virtual community theory, that is the degree of affective attachment to a given community mediated by information technology. Specifically, our research model evaluates the association between the sense of virtual community with use behaviour and the continuous intention to use e-participation. Structural equation modelling was used to evaluate the data collected from 370 citizens who experienced an e-participation platform hosted by a European capital city. We found out that the direct association between the sense of virtual community and use was significant. Even though the direct association between the sense of virtual community and the continuous intention was non-significant, the indirect association sense of virtual community to use to continuous intention was statistically significant. This finding may indicate that the use behaviour is triggered by the influence of other members of the community for a short period of time, but it does not persist to influence the continuous intention over time.     

Financing innovation: A bibliometric analysis of the field

This article presents a bibliometric analysis of the financing of innovation during the period 2001–2016. Among the most prominent journals in the field are Research Policy, Technovation and Small Business Economics; among the most influential authors are Petersen, Hall, Himmelberg, Lerner and Brown; and the most connected documents are those by Hall (2002) and Brown, Fazzari, and Petersen (2009). The field is fragmented and uses a variety of financial theoretical models. Salient topics in the field are financial constraints, funding sources (internal and external), capital structure, venture capital and financing of technology companies.     

A hierarchical model of e-government service capability: An empirical analysis

Enhancing the effectiveness and efficiency of e-government services at affordable costs continues to be an interesting discussion. Given the lack of guidelines on the effective management of such services, we propose a hierarchical model of e-gov service capabilities and develop theoretical links. We used confirmatory factor analysis to investigate observed data from 102 cities in 26 provinces in Mainland China. Furthermore, we adopted path analysis to explore the potential relationships among the effects caused by the processes involved in delivering e-gov services. Our results may serve as practical contributions to the management and improvement of e-gov service capabilities.