A Study about Methods for Bibliometric Analysis of Research: Renewable Energy
Abstract: This paper presents methods and software implementation for analyzing a field of research through the use of bibliometrics, i.e., information about published journal articles. Online publication search engines are queried, and their search results are extracted and analyzed, to help inform a researcher of the state of his or her field. Our methodology consists of three components: extraction of terms relevant to the research field, analysis of the growth in prevalence of these terms over time, and identification of interrelationships among these terms using a technique known as Latent Semantic Analysis. These methods are applicable to the analysis of any research field, but this paper presents results from a case study on the field of renewable energy.
Introduction: For researchers in a technical field, understanding the state of their area of interest is of the highest importance. Any research field is composed of many subfields and underlying technologies which are related in intricate ways. This composition, or “research landscape,” is not static. New technologies are constantly developed, while old ones become obsolete. Fields that are presently unrelated may one day become dependent on each other’s findings. An invention from decades prior may find a new application in an emerging field. Expertsin a field could already have a strong understanding of their research landscape. But it would be unreasonable to expectthem to have intimate knowledge of every aspect of theirfield. More critically, fledgling technologiesthat could one day play an importantrole are unfortunately the ones of which they aremostlikely unaware. Keep reading…
