Exploring the position of cities in global corporate research and development: A bibliometric analysis by two different geographical approaches

Geographies of the global co-editor network in oncology

The co-editor networks of academic journals are generally examined at the journal level. This paper investigates the geographies of the global co-editor network in oncology through the lens of cities. After using different network methods to analyze the global co-editor network, we found that the network can be characterized by a core-periphery structure. The dense core is occupied by many highly interconnected cities, whereas the periphery contains many cities maintaining loose connections with the core cities. The core shows an asymmetric dual sub-core structure. The greater sub-core is constituted by Northern American cities with New York, Washington DC, Boston, Houston, and Los Angeles in the center, whereas the smaller sub-core is formed by Asian cities and centered on Tokyo, Seoul, Osaka, Beijing, and Shanghai. The European core cities do not form a well-outlined sub-core but produce a ringlike shape around the Northern American core. This structure of the co-editor network is a consequence of the prestige effect still characterizing global science. Many European and Chinese journals tend to employ Northern American editors (US-based editors in the first place) to help increase the reputation of the journal. However, US-based journals are more interested in recruiting American editors from the top-ranked national cancer centers and universities rather than outside of the country.

Solid State Switching Control Methods: A Bibliometric Analysis for Future Directions

Recently, the development and controls of solid-state switching have gained significant popularity over the years especially in academic research. The development of control strategies in solid state switching applications to ensure fast switching in a protected distribution system has fueled a great deal of investigation and further developments. Therefore, a critical review and analysis in the field of solid-state switching for distribution systems are provided in this article. The Scopus database is used to compile a list of the most cited published papers in the field of solid-state switching control methods based on the identified criteria. The study explores 120 of the most cited articles emphasizing six keywords such as a solid-state breaker, solid-state transfer switch, static transfer switch, automatic transfer switch, automatic protection switches, and solid-state protection switch. The analysis was conducted using the Scopus database in the fourth week of January 2021. The 120 articles were collected from 24 different journals and 27 different countries. It is reported that 78% of the published papers outline the methodology based on control and test systems whereas 22% of articles are based on review surveys. From that, 73% of articles concentrate on the protection strategy in the system. The main objective of the article is to classify and define the highly cited published articles in the field of solid-state switching control methods as well as to provide direction for future research on fast switching in the distribution system. The analysis also highlights various factors, issues, challenges, and difficulties to identify the existing limitations and research gaps. This review will serve to strengthen the development concepts of solid-state switching control methods towards achieving improved operational performance, energy-saving, economic prosperity, and enhanced power quality. The authors believe that this bibliometric evaluation will allow academic researchers to identify opportunities for growth in the solid-state switching industry.

Exploring the changing geographical pattern of international scientific collaborations through the prism of cities

Science is becoming increasingly international in terms of breaking down walls in its pursuit of high impact. Despite geographical location and distance still being major barriers for scientific collaboration, little is known about whether high-impact collaborations are similarly constrained by geography compared to collaborations of average impact. To address this question, we analyze Web of Science (WoS) data on international collaboration between global leader cities in science production. We report an increasing intensity of international city-city collaboration and find that average distance of collaboration of the strongest connections has slightly increased, but distance decay has remained stable over the last three decades. However, high-impact collaborations span large distances by following similar distance decay. This finding suggests that a larger geographical reach of research collaboration should be aimed for to support high-impact science. The creation of the European Research Area (ERA) represents an effective action that has deepened intracontinental research collaborations and the position of the European Union (EU) in global science. Yet, our results provide new evidence that global scientific leaders are not sufficiently collaborative in carrying out their big science projects.

On the challenges ahead of spatial scientometrics focusing on the city level

Purpose

Spatial bibliometrics and scientometrics have traditionally focused on examining both country and regional levels; however, in recent years, numerous spatial analyses on the city level have been carried out. While city-level scientometric analyses have gained popularity among policymakers and statistical/economic research organizations, researchers in the field of bibliometrics are divided regarding whether it is possible to observe the spatial unit “city” through bibliometric and scientometric tools. The purpose of this paper is to reveal the most significant challenges ahead of spatial scientometrics focusing on the city level by examining relevant scientometric studies.

Design/methodology/approach

This analysis involves the most significant spatial scientometric studies focusing on the city level and carefully examines how they collect bibliometric and/or scientometric data, what methodologies they employ to process bibliometric data and most importantly, how they approach the spatial unit “city”.

Findings

After systematically scrutinizing relevant studies in the field, three major problems have been identified: there is no standardized method of how cities should be defined and how metropolitan areas should be delineated; there is no standardized method of how bibliometric and scientometric data on the city level should be collected and processed; and it is not clearly defined how cities can profit from the results of bibliometric and scientometric analysis focusing on them.

Originality/value

This is the first study that compiles a “database” of scientometric studies focusing on the city level. The paper not only reveals major challenges ahead of city level spatial analysis but recommends some possible solution as well.

Factors Influencing Cities’ Publishing Efficiency

Purpose

Recently, a vast number of scientific publications have been produced in cities in emerging countries. It has long been observed that the publication output of Beijing has exceeded that of any other city in the world, including such leading centres of science as Boston, New York, London, Paris, and Tokyo. Researchers have suggested that, instead of focusing on cities’ total publication output, the quality of the output in terms of the number of highly cited papers should be examined. However, in the period from 2014 to 2016, Beijing produced as many highly cited papers as Boston, London, or New York. In this paper, another method is proposed to measure cities’ publishing performance by focusing on cities’ publishing efficiency (i.e., the ratio of highly cited articles to all articles produced in that city).

Design/methodology/approach

First, 554 cities are ranked based on their publishing efficiency, then some general factors influencing cities’ publishing efficiency are revealed. The general factors examined in this paper are as follows: the linguistic environment of cities, cities’ economic development level, the location of excellent organisations, cities’ international collaboration patterns, and their scientific field profile. Furthermore, the paper examines the fundamental differences between the general factors influencing the publishing efficiency of the top 100 most efficient cities and the bottom 100 least efficient cities.

Findings

Based on the research results, the conclusion can be drawn that a city’s publishing efficiency will be high if meets the following general conditions: it is in a country in the Anglosphere–Core; it is in a high-income country; it is home to top-ranked universities and/or world-renowned research institutions; researchers affiliated with that city most intensely collaborate with researchers affiliated with cities in the United States, Germany, England, France, Canada, Australia, and Italy; and the most productive scientific disciplines of highly cited articles are published in high-impact multidisciplinary journals, disciplines in health sciences (especially general internal medicine and oncology), and disciplines in natural sciences (especially physics, astronomy, and astrophysics).

Research limitations

It is always problematic to demarcate the boundaries of cities (e.g., New York City vs. Greater New York), and regarding this issue there is no consensus among researchers. The Web of Science presents the name of cities in the addresses reported by the authors of publications. In this paper cities correspond to the spatial units between the country/state level and the institution level as indicated in the Web of Science. Furthermore, it is necessary to highlight that the Web of Science is biased towards English-language journals and journals published in the field of biomedicine. These facts may influence the outcome of the research.

Practical implications

Publishing efficiency, as an indicator, shows how successful a city is at the production of science. Naturally, cities have limited opportunities to compete for components of the science establishment (e.g., universities, hospitals). However, cities can compete to attract innovation-oriented companies, high tech firms, and R&D facilities of multinational companies by for example establishing science parks. The positive effect of this process on the city’s performance in science can be observed in the example of Beijing, which publishing efficiency has been increased rapidly.

Originality/value

Previous scientometric studies have examined cities’ publication output in terms of the number of papers, or the number of highly cited papers, which are largely size dependent indicators; however this paper attempts to present a more quality-based approach.