Age-sensitive bibliographic coupling with an application in the history of science

TL;DR

This paper introduces age-sensitive bibliographic coupling, a novel method that enhances traditional science mapping techniques by producing historically valid research clusters, aiding the study of science evolution and history.

Contribution

The paper proposes an age-sensitive bibliographic coupling method that improves historical accuracy of research clusters in science mapping, especially for studying scientific development over time.

Findings

Successfully applied to bioscience history of the Species Problem

Produced historically coherent thematic research clusters

Enhanced understanding of scientific discourse evolution

Abstract

In science mapping, bibliographic coupling (BC) has been a standard tool for discovering the cognitive structure of research areas, such as constituent subareas, directions, schools of thought, or paradigms. Modelled as a set of documents, research areas are often sorted into document clusters via BC representing a thematic unit each. In this paper we propose an alternative method called age-sensitive bibliographic coupling: the aim is to enable the standard method to produce historically valid thematic units, that is, to yield document clusters that represent the historical development of the thematic structure of the subject as well. As such, the method is expected to be especially beneficial for investigations on science dynamics and the history of science. We apply the method within a bibliometric study in the modern history of bioscience, addressing the development of a complex, interdisciplinary discourse called the Species Problem.