Research Trends Issue 35: Developing Research in Developing Countries
This issue contains five articles that provide a bibliometric view of scientifically developing countries from different angles. First, Sarah Huggett reveals how these countries are scientifically maturing, while Ylann Schlemm discusses how the availability of scientific literature has a positive effect on this development. Gali Halevi shows how developing countries participate in international research networks and in a second piece, how approaches originating from them have had and still have a great impact on modern science. Finally Daphne van Weijen explains how authors from developing countries may overcome language obstacles to publication.
From a bibliometric point of view, the pieces illustrate the potential usefulness of publication trend analysis for the identification of emerging scientific institutions, of co-authorship relationships for the study of international collaboration networks, and of keyword analysis in large publication databases to identify cognitive influences from one field upon the other.
This issue also contains a sixth article, by Mike Taylor, on the development and use of new types of metrics denoted as altmetrics, an entity which is fast maturing into a new scientific (sub) discipline. This discussion paper is a prelude for a special issue of Research Trends dedicated to this topic next year.
We hope you enjoy reading this issue. Please share your thoughts and feedback with us! You can do this in the comments section following each article on our website or by sending us an email (researchtrends@elsevier.com).
Sarah Huggett touches upon the difficulty of defining 'developing countries' and then discusses their development in bibliometric terms. For example, has research output from developing countries changed in different subject fields in recent years? Read more
In this article, Dr. Gali Halevi describes the co-authorship networks and researchers' migration trends for three scientifically developing countries: Mexico, India and Turkey. Read more
In this contribution Ylann Schemm discusses some of the factors contributing to the increase in research output from sub-Saharan Africa, including increased funding, the rise of open access and Research4Life. Read more
Dr. Gali Halevi investigates the extent to which "Complementary" or "Alternative" medicine (CAM) has penetrated modern practices by means of a bibliometric study that looks at journals, articles and citations of alternative medicine in mainstream medical research. Read more
For this issue on Research in Developing countries, Dr. Daphne van Weijen takes a closer look at the challenges researchers from developing and/or non-English speaking countries face when trying to get their work published, and suggests what they can do to overcome them. Read more
In this contribution, Mike Taylor stresses the need for a theoretical basis for the nascent field of alternative metrics, on which any methodological decisions need to rely. Read more
