Bibliometrics is a science that uses statistical and mathematical procedures in any literature related to scientific subjects and also to the writers who produce it. This is done to analyze scientific performance. For this, it has the help of bibliometric laws, which are based on regular statistical behaviors, which over time have been manifesting the various elements that constitute science. The mechanisms used to evaluate aspects of this phenomenon are the so-called bibliometric indicators, an evaluation that provides information on the results of scientific activity in any of its expressions.
It is suggested that the first bibliometric study was carried out by Cole and Eales. In this study we carry out a statistical analysis of books or editions of comparative anatomy between the years 1550 and 1860, according to their distribution by country and the divisions of the animal kingdom. Thereafter, in 1923, E. Hulme, who was a librarian at the British Patent Office, undertook a statistical study of the history of science, establishing a first breakthrough in what would be called Scientology.
Bibliometric studies are usually classified according to data sources, which are based on: bibliographies and abstracts, references or citations, directories or general catalogs of journal titles.
Bibliometrics is normally applied: in the choice of texts and periodicals, in the identification of thematic aspects of literature; in the history of science, evaluating bibliographies, identifying the most productive countries, organizations or writers at a given time.
Some of the bibliometric laws are:
The law of exponential growth, its statement is as follows: “Science grows at compound interest, multiplying by a certain amount in equal periods of time (every 10-15 years it is multiplied by 2). The growth rate is proportional to the size of the population or the total magnitude acquired. The bigger the science, the faster it grows.”
All this statement corresponds to the following mathematical expression:
N = N0 ebt
Table of Contents
1 N = N0 ebt
1.1 A(n) = K/n2
1.2 1:n:n2
Law of the productivity of the authors, this law shows that the work/author relationship follows a persistent behavior in certain eventualities. This law considers that from a number of writers with a single work on a specific topic, there is the possibility of predicting the number of writers with work. Its formula is:
A(n) = K/n2
Law of Dispersion of Scientific Literature, this law shows that in the writing of articles in journals there is an unequal distribution, where most articles are concentrated in a small population of journals, while a tiny number of writings are distributed in a series of items. Its formula is:
1:n:n2
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Literature
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