Thematic Identification of 'Little Science': Trends in Portuguese IS&LS Literature by Controlled Vocabulary and Co-Word Analysis

TL;DR

This paper analyzes the thematic evolution of Portuguese IS&LS literature from 2001 to 2012 using manual classification and automated co-word analysis, revealing dynamic trends and differences between national and international themes.

Contribution

It introduces a combined manual and automated approach to identify thematic trends in bibliographic records of Portuguese IS&LS literature.

Findings

Significant thematic dynamism in the corpus over time

Distinct themes in national versus international publications

Effective use of co-word analysis and visualization tools

Abstract

This study presents an overview of IS&LS thematic trends in Portugal between 2001 and 2012. The results were obtained by means of an analysis, using expeditious qualitative and quantitative techniques, of the bibliographic records of proceedings papers identified during this period. These records were processed using two techniques: a manual subject classification and an automated co-word analysis of the Author-Assigned Keywords. From this we designed cluster and co-occurrence maps, using the VOSviewer and the Pajek software packages. The results indicated an accentuated dynamism in the thematic evolution of this documental corpus, apart from revealing a significant difference among the themes transmitted in nationally and internationally visible production.