Development of a methodology for scientometric analysis. Application to study worldwide research on hardware architecture and cybernetics

Resumen

The use of scientometric approach and correspondingly generating indicators to measure results of scientific and technological activities. The study of scientific production in a subject area is always a continue indicator of research progress and knowledge generation.The main objective of this thesis is to develop a methodology to carry out scientometric analysis of a global character, by combining different complementary approaches which permits to characterize the worldwide research of a study field in an integral and comprehensive form. This methodology for scientometric analysis overcomes some of the limitations of other existing tools, like inability to analyze simultaneously the keywords defined by the authors as well as the words that make up those keywords, grouping terms of keywords like singular and plural forms; weighing of scientific production with respect to participating research centres; production based qualitative classification of countries and research centres through the impact factor of their publications, etc.Based on formulated methodology, to analyze research fields with thousands of published works, a computer application has been developed. It performs different types of analysis with effective algorithms and use different visualizations to interactively explore and understand huge datasets. Computer application provides keyword analysis functionality which allows researcher to identify and track the important and rapidly growing research topics. Moreover, the changes in the distribution and productivity, along with changes in collaboration, could help worldwide research institutions to evaluate research plans or investment strategies and to make decisions related to old or new research collaborations, based on worldwide rankings of leading research centres.