Distributed scientific communication in the European information society: Some cases of "Mode 2" fields of research

TL;DR

This paper investigates how self-organization in European scientific communication can be quantified using entropy measures, revealing increasing differentiation and stability in the distribution of references and terminology across member states.

Contribution

It introduces an entropy-based approach to analyze self-organization in

Findings

European system shows stable distribution of references and words among member states

Increasing differentiation indicates evolving self-organization

Mutual information measures reveal growing specialization

Abstract

Can self-organization of scientific communication be specified by using literature-based indicators? In this study, we explore this question by applying entropy measures to typical "Mode-2" fields of knowledge production. We hypothesized these scientific systems to be developing from a self-organization of the interaction between cognitive and institutional levels: European subsidized research programs aim at creating an institutional network, while a cognitive reorganization is continuously ongoing at the scientific field level. The results indicate that the European system develops towards a stable level of distribution of cited references and title-words among the European member states. We suggested that this distribution could be a property of the emerging European system. In order to measure to degree of specialization with respect to the respective distributions of countries, cited references and title words, the mutual information among the three frequency distributions was calculated. The so-called transmission values informed us that the European system shows increasing levels of differentiation.