Springer Handbook Of Science And Technology Indicators

This handbook presents the state of the art of quantitative methods and models to understand and assess the science and technology system. Focusing on various aspects of the development and application of indicators derived from data on scholarly publications, patents and electronic communications, the individual chapters, written by leading experts, discuss theoretical and methodological issues, illustrate applications, highlight their policy context and relevance, and point to future research directions. A substantial portion of the book is dedicated to detailed descriptions and analyses of data sources, presenting both traditional and advanced approaches. It addresses the main bibliographic metrics and indexes, such as the journal impact factor and the h-index, as well as altmetric and webometric indicators and science mapping techniques on different levels of aggregation and in the context of their value for the assessment of research performance as well as their impact on research policy and society. It also presents and critically discusses various national research evaluation systems. Complementing the sections reflecting on the science system, the technology section includes multiple chapters that explain different aspects of patent statistics, patent classification and database search methods to retrieve patent-related information. In addition, it examines the relevance of trademarks and standards as additional technological indicators. The Springer Handbook of Science and Technology Indicators is an invaluable resource for practitioners, scientists and policy makers wanting a systematic and thorough analysis of the potential and limitations of the various approaches to assess research and research performance.

This handbook offers a state-of-the-art overview of quantitative science and technology research. It focuses on the development and application of indicators derived from data on scientific or scholarly publications and patents. It comprises 34 chapters written by leading specialists in the various sub-domains. These chapters deal with theoretical and methodological issues, illustrate applications, and highlight their policy context and relevance. Authors present a survey of the research topics they address, and show their most recent achievements. The 34 chapters are arranged into 5 parts: Disciplinary Approaches; General Methodology; The Science System; The Technology System; and The Science–Technology Interface. The Editor’s Introduction provides a further specification of the handbook’s scope and of the main topics addressed in its chapters. This handbook aims at four distinct groups of readers: – practitioners in the field of science and technology studies; – research students in this field; – scientists, scholars and technicians who are interested in a systematic, thorough analysis of their activities; – policy makers and administrators who wish to be informed about the potentialities and limitations of the various approaches and about their results.

The aim of the Handbook of Social Indicators and Quality of Life Research is to create an overview of the field of Quality of Life (QOL) studies in the early years of the 21st century that can be updated and improved upon as the field evolves and the century unfolds. Social indicators are statistical time series “...used to monitor the social system, helping to identify changes and to guide intervention to alter the course of social change”. Examples include unemployment rates, crime rates, estimates of life expectancy, health status indices, school enrollment rates, average achievement scores, election voting rates, and measures of subjective well-being such as satisfaction with life-as-a-whole and with specific domains or aspects of life. This book provides a review of the historical development of the field including the history of QOL in medicine and mental health as well as the research related to quality-of-work-life (QWL) programs. It discusses several of QOL main concepts: happiness, positive psychology, and subjective wellbeing. Relations between spirituality and religiousness and QOL are examined as are the effects of educational attainment on QOL and marketing, and the associations with economic growth. The book goes on to investigate methodological approaches and issues that should be considered in measuring and analysing quality of life from a quantitative perspective. The final chapters are dedicated to research on elements of QOL in a broad range of countries and populations.

We live in an era of extreme claims versus weak consensus on issues critical to the public. Is climate change a hoax, or is it destroying our planet? Were the vaccines and social distancing measures of COVID-19 designed to protect us, or were they an invasion of our liberty? How do we determine the validity of these claims and others like them? Can we find a reliable middle ground leading to policies that help everyone? How Science Engages with Ethics and Why It Should makes an impassioned plea for a scientific analysis of ethics, discussing what such a method is, why we need it, and what it can offer that other methods cannot. With contributions from leading thinkers across a range of disciplines, Part 1 explores the challenges facing scientists and how to establish ground rules that will both protect human subjects and guide researchers in the future. Part 2 explores the importance of evidence-based science for topics such as climate change, social care, political polarization and rational decision-making, showing how even good science can go wrong, at times contributing to disastrous effects. At the cutting edge of its discipline, How Science Engages with Ethics and Why It Should provides a compelling case for demanding evidence-based analysis to form the foundation of the discussions and policies that affect our very lives. With contributions by: Jeffrey Barratt, Peter Ditto, Jessica Maria Gonzalez, James W. Hicks, Mahtab Jafari, Rose McDermott, B.W. Sarnecka, Roxane Cohen Silver, Brian Skyrms, Teresa Sabol Spezio, Lawrence Sporty, Kyle Stanford, Ashley J. Thomas, James Tran, and the assistance of Ali Ansari, Kendrick Choi, Hannah Dastgheib, David Han, Nate Kang, Alexis Kim, Connor Lee, Michelle Lee, Lauren O’Neill, Samuel Shih, and Anqi Wang.

This book provides a comprehensive account of the patterns of university and academics’ societal engagement in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), considering knowledge production and the resulting outputs, outcomes, and benefits that are yielded from such engagement for society. Responding to the call for increased visibility of otherwise marginalised voices in SSA’s extant global literature on knowledge production, chapters in the book explore questions around Knowledge-based Economies and forms of knowledge, and suggest an alternative framework to overcome conventional bias and limits present in prominent concepts, such as National Systems of Innovation, Triple Helix, and Mode 2. Further, the authors examine the main drivers, constraints, and barriers to this engagement, and the typology of those with a vested interest in its development. Ultimately exploring how higher education institutions in SSA engage with, and transfer knowledge to, different external stakeholders, this book will be of value to academics involved with the study of higher education and science, innovation studies, the sociology of education, and education and development more broadly. In addition, politicians, administrators, and practitioners related to higher education, science, and innovation will also find the book of use.

This book presents a collection of meta-studies, reviews, and scientometric analyses that together reveal a fresh picture about the past, present, and future of computing education research (CER) as a field of science. The book begins with three chapters that discuss and summarise meta-research about the foundations of CER, its disciplinary identity, and use of research methodologies and theories. Based on this, the book proceeds with several scientometric analyses, which explore authors and their collaboration networks, dissemination practices, international collaboration, and shifts in research focus over the years. Analyses of dissemination are deepened in two chapters that focus on some of the most influential publication venues of CER. The book also contains a series of country-, or region-level analyses, including chapters that focus on the evolution of CER in the Baltic Region, Finland, Australasia, Israel, and in the UK & Ireland. Two chapters present case studies of influential CER initiatives in Sweden and Namibia. This book also includes chapters that focus on CER conducted at school level, and cover crucially important issues such as technology ethics, algorithmic bias, and their implications for CER.In all, this book contributes to building an understanding of the past, present and future of CER. This book also contributes new practical guidelines, highlights topical areas of research, shows who to connect with, where to publish, and gives ideas of innovative research niches. The book takes a unique methodological approach by presenting a combination of meta-studies, scientometric analyses of publication metadata, and large-scale studies about the evolution of CER in different geographical regions. This book is intended for educational practitioners, researchers, students, and anyone interested in CER. This book was written in collaboration with some of the leading experts of the field.

This Handbook provides a comprehensive overview of current developments, issues and good practices regarding assessment in social science research. It pays particular attention to the challenges in evaluation policies in the social sciences, as well as to the specificities of publishing in the area.

This book presents an introduction to the field of applied evaluative informetrics, dealing with the use of bibliometric or informetric indicators in research assessment. It sketches the field’s history, recent achievements, and its potential and limits. The book dedicates special attention to the application context of quantitative research assessment. It describes research assessment as an evaluation science, and distinguishes various assessment models, in which the domain of informetrics and the policy sphere are disentangled analytically. It illustrates how external, non-informetric factors influence indicator development, and how the policy context impacts the setup of an assessment process. It also clarifies common misunderstandings in the interpretation of some often used statistics. Addressing the way forward, the book expresses the author’s critical views on a series of fundamental problems in the current use of research performance indicators in research assessment. Highlighting the potential of informetric techniques, a series of new features is proposed that could be implemented in future assessment processes. It sketches a perspective on altmetrics and proposes new lines in longer term, strategic indicator research. It is written for interested scholars from all domains of science and scholarship, and especially for all those subjected to research assessment, research students at advanced master and PhD level, research managers, funders and science policy officials, and to practitioners and students in the field.