Diversity and Polarization of Research Performance: Evidence from Hungary

TL;DR

This study evaluates research diversity and polarization among Hungarian research organizations using a modified Stirling index, revealing insights into interdisciplinarity and proposing a typology of research portfolios.

Contribution

It introduces a modified Stirling index to better measure research profile polarization and diversity, applied to Hungarian research organizations.

Findings

Modified index effectively measures research profile polarization.

Research portfolios can be categorized into different diversity types.

Results challenge previous assumptions about research diversity metrics.

Abstract

Measuring the intellectual diversity encoded in publication records as a proxy to the degree of interdisciplinarity has recently received considerable attention in the science mapping community. The present paper draws upon the use of the Stirling index as a diversity measure applied to a network model (customized science map) of research profiles, proposed by several authors. A modified version of the index is used and compared with the previous versions on a sample data set in order to rank top Hungarian research organizations (HROs) according to their research performance diversity. Results, unexpected in several respects, show that the modified index is a candidate for measuring the degree of polarization of a research profile. The study also points towards a possible typology of publication portfolios that instantiate different types of diversity.