A key decision in scientific work is whether to build on novel or well-established ideas. Because exploiting new ideas is often harder than more conventional science, novel work can be especially dependent on interactions with colleagues, the training environment, and ready access to potential collaborators. Location may thus influence the tendency to pursue work that is close to the edge of the scientific frontier in the sense that it builds on recent ideas. We calculate for each nation its position relative to the edge of the scientific frontier by measuring its propensity to build on relatively new ideas in biomedical research. Text analysis of 20+ million publications shows that the United States and South Korea have the highest tendencies for novel science. China has become a leader in favoring newer ideas when working with basic science ideas and research tools, but is still slow to adopt new clinical ideas. Many locations remain far behind the leaders in terms of their tendency to work with novel ideas, indicating that the world is far from flat in this regard.
Assessing evaluation procedures for individual researchers: the case of the Italian National Scientific Qualification
意大利国家科学资格(英语:Italian National Scientific Qualification)是申请国立大学终身副教授或教授职位的先决条件。该证书旨在证明一个人已经达到了合适的科学成熟度水平,可以申请教授职位。为每个科学学科指定的五人小组负责通过影响和生产力的量化指标以及通过评估其研究概况来评估申请人。对评价标准的适当性,特别是对使用文献计量学评价个别研究人员的问题提出了许多关切。其他关切涉及到最后评价报告被认为质量不佳。在本文中,我们评估的应用方法的适当性,并提供给申请人的反馈质量的条件下的benefit。我们认为,在使用文献计量学指标评价个别研究人员的最佳做法是不完全符合的,此外,最终报告的质量有很大的差异,在各小组,建议采取措施,以防止草率的做法,在未来的研究。
The dominance of big teams in China's scientific output
现代科学是由团队的科学成果主导的。最近的一项发现表明,大规模和小规模的团队在研究中都是必不可少的,这促使我们分析一个国家的科学工作在多大程度上是由大/小团队进行的。在这里,使用来自Web of Science的超过2600万篇出版物,我们发现中国的研究成果比世界其他地区更受大团队的主导,特别是在自然科学领域。尽管全球趋势是大团队完成的论文越来越多,但中国小团队产出的下降幅度要大得多。随着中国团队规模从小到大的转变,对于创新工作至关重要的团队多样性并没有像其他国家那样增加。以全国平均水平为基准,我们发现国家自然科学基金委员会(NSFC)资助的小团队项目少于美国国家科学基金委员会(NSF),这意味着中国的资助机构更倾向于大团队。我们的发现为中国对原创性和创新的关注提供了新的见解,这迫切需要平衡小型和大型团队。
Not Just Large: Tall Teams Dominate East Asia's Scientific Production
College of Computer and Information Science, Southwest University(西南大学计算机与信息科学学院);College of Science, Guangxi University of Science and Technology(广西科技大学理学院);College of Computer and Information Science, Chongqing Normal University(重庆师范大学计算机与信息科学学院)
China leads scientific trends; the West launches new ones
University of California, Berkeley(加州大学伯克利分校);Knowledge Lab, University of Chicago(芝加哥大学知识实验室);School of Computing, DePaul University(德保罗大学计算学院);Department of Sociology, University of Chicago(芝加哥大学社会学系);Santa Fe Institute(圣塔菲研究所)