iMetrics: the development of the discipline with many names

A Review of Technological Forecasting from the Perspective of Complex Systems

Technology forecasting (TF) is an important way to address technological innovation in fast-changing market environments and enhance the competitiveness of organizations in dynamic and complex environments. However, few studies have investigated the complex process problem of how to select the most appropriate forecasts for organizational characteristics. This paper attempts to fill this research gap by reviewing the TF literature based on a complex systems perspective. We first identify four contexts (technology opportunity identification, technology assessment, technology trend and evolutionary analysis, and others) involved in the systems of TF to indicate the research boundary of the system. Secondly, the four types of agents (field of analysis, object of analysis, data source, and approach) are explored to reveal the basic elements of the systems. Finally, the visualization of the interaction between multiple agents in full context and specific contexts is realized in the form of a network. The interaction relationship network illustrates how the subjects coordinate and cooperate to realize the TF context. Accordingly, we illustrate suggest five trends for future research: (1) refinement of the context; (2) optimization and expansion of the analysis field; (3) extension of the analysis object; (4) convergence and diversification of the data source; and (5) combination and optimization of the approach.

Exploring Topics in Bibliometric Research Through Citation Networks and Semantic Analysis

This article surveys topic distributions of the academic literature that employs the terms bibliometrics, scientometrics, and informetrics. This exploration allows informing on the adoption of those terms and publication patterns of the authors acknowledging their work to be part of bibliometric research. We retrieved 20,268 articles related to bibliometrics and applied methodologies that exploit various features of the dataset to surface different topic representations. Across them, we observe major trends including discussions on theory, regional publication patterns, databases, and tools. There is a great increase in the application of bibliometrics as science mapping and decision-making tools in management, public health, sustainability, and medical fields. It is also observed that the term bibliometrics has reached an overall generality, while the terms scientometrics and informetrics may be more accurate in representing the core of bibliometric research as understood by the information and library science field. This article contributes by providing multiple snapshots of a field that has grown too quickly beyond the confines of library science.