Exploration of reproducibility issues in scientometric research Part 1: Direct reproducibility

TL;DR

This paper explores the challenges of direct reproducibility in scientometric research by critically reviewing five diverse studies to develop assessment tools and identify potential reproducibility issues, aiming to inform future reproducibility practices.

Contribution

It introduces a categorization of study types and a taxonomy of threats to direct reproducibility in scientometrics, based on an exploratory review of selected publications.

Findings

Developed a classification of study types in scientometrics

Created a taxonomy of threats to reproducibility

Highlighted open questions for future assessment methods

Abstract

This is the first part of a small-scale explorative study in an effort to start assessing reproducibility issues specific to scientometrics research. This effort is motivated by the desire to generate empirical data to inform debates about reproducibility in scientometrics. Rather than attempt to reproduce studies, we explore how we might assess "in principle" reproducibility based on a critical review of the content of published papers. The first part of the study focuses on direct reproducibility - that is the ability to reproduce the specific evidence produced by an original study using the same data, methods, and procedures. The second part (Velden et al. 2018) is dedicated to conceptual reproducibility - that is the robustness of knowledge claims towards verification by an alternative approach using different data, methods and procedures. The study is exploratory: it investigates only a very limited number of publications and serves us to develop instruments for identifying potential reproducibility issues of published studies: These are a categorization of study types and a taxonomy of threats to reproducibility. We work with a select sample of five publications in scientometrics covering a variation of study types of theoretical, methodological, and empirical nature. Based on observations made during our exploratory review, we conclude this paper with open questions on how to approach and assess the status of direct reproducibility in scientometrics, intended for discussion at the special track on "Reproducibility in Scientometrics" at STI2018 in Leiden.