IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/scient/v125y2020i3d10.1007_s11192-020-03680-6.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A mathematical approach to assess research diversity: operationalization and applicability in communication sciences, political science, and beyond

Author

Listed:
  • Manuel Goyanes

    (Carlos III University
    University of Salamanca)

  • Márton Demeter

    (National University of Public Service)

  • Aurea Grané

    (Universidad Carlos III de Madrid)

  • Irene Albarrán-Lozano

    (Universidad Carlos III de Madrid)

  • Homero Gil de Zúñiga

    (University of Salamanca
    Pennsylvania State University
    Universidad Diego Portales)

Abstract

With today’s research production and global dissemination, there is growing pressure to assess how academic fields foster diversity. Based on a mathematical problem/solve scheme, the aim of this study is twofold. First, the paper elaborates on how research diversity in scientific fields can be empirically gauged, proposing six working definitions. Second, drawing on these theoretical explanations, we introduce an original methodological protocol for research diversity evaluation. Third, the study puts this mathematical model to an empirical test by comparatively evaluating (1) communication research diversity in 2017, with respect to field’s diversity in 1997, and (2) communication research and political science diversity in 2017. Our results indicate that, contrasted to pattern diversity, communication research in 2017 is not a diverse field. However, throughout the years (1997–2017), there is a statistically significant improvement. Finally, the cross-comparison examination between political and communication sciences reveals the latter to be significantly more diverse.

Suggested Citation

  • Manuel Goyanes & Márton Demeter & Aurea Grané & Irene Albarrán-Lozano & Homero Gil de Zúñiga, 2020. "A mathematical approach to assess research diversity: operationalization and applicability in communication sciences, political science, and beyond," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 125(3), pages 2299-2322, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:scient:v:125:y:2020:i:3:d:10.1007_s11192-020-03680-6
    DOI: 10.1007/s11192-020-03680-6
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11192-020-03680-6
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11192-020-03680-6?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Lin Zhang & Wolfgang Glänzel & Liming Liang, 2009. "Tracing the role of individual journals in a cross-citation network based on different indicators," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 81(3), pages 821-838, December.
    2. Andy Stirling, 2007. "A General Framework for Analysing Diversity in Science, Technology and Society," SPRU Working Paper Series 156, SPRU - Science Policy Research Unit, University of Sussex Business School.
    3. Lin Zhang & Frizo Janssens & Liming Liang & Wolfgang Glänzel, 2010. "Journal cross-citation analysis for validation and improvement of journal-based subject classification in bibliometric research," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 82(3), pages 687-706, March.
    4. Lin Zhang & Ronald Rousseau & Wolfgang Glänzel, 2016. "Diversity of references as an indicator of the interdisciplinarity of journals: Taking similarity between subject fields into account," Journal of the Association for Information Science & Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 67(5), pages 1257-1265, May.
    5. Han Woo Park & Loet Leydesdorff, 2009. "Knowledge linkage structures in communication studies using citation analysis among communication journals," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 81(1), pages 157-175, October.
    6. Alpa Dhanani & Michael John Jones, 2017. "Editorial boards of accounting journals: gender diversity and internationalisation," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 30(5), pages 1008-1040, June.
    7. Ismael Rafols & Martin Meyer, 2010. "Diversity and network coherence as indicators of interdisciplinarity: case studies in bionanoscience," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 82(2), pages 263-287, February.
    8. Frédérique Bone & Michael M. Hopkins & Ismael Ràfols & Jordi Molas-Gallart & Puay Tang & Gail Davey & Antony M. Carr, 2019. "DARE to be different? Applying diversity indicators to the evaluation of collaborative research projects," SPRU Working Paper Series 2019-09, SPRU - Science Policy Research Unit, University of Sussex Business School.
    9. Loet Leydesdorff & Carole Probst, 2009. "The delineation of an interdisciplinary specialty in terms of a journal set: The case of communication studies," Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 60(8), pages 1709-1718, August.
    10. Darrin J. Griffin & San Bolkan & Jennifer L. Holmgren & Frank Tutzauer, 2016. "Central journals and authors in communication using a publication network," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 106(1), pages 91-104, January.
    11. Sungbin Youk & Hee Sun Park, 2019. "Where and what do they publish? Editors’ and editorial board members’ affiliated institutions and the citation counts of their endogenous publications in the field of communication," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 120(3), pages 1237-1260, September.
    12. Leydesdorff, Loet & Wagner, Caroline S. & Bornmann, Lutz, 2019. "Interdisciplinarity as diversity in citation patterns among journals: Rao-Stirling diversity, relative variety, and the Gini coefficient," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 13(1), pages 255-269.
    13. Ron Boschma, 2005. "Proximity and Innovation: A Critical Assessment," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 39(1), pages 61-74.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Manuel Goyanes & Márton Demeter & Zicheng Cheng & Homero Gil Zúñiga, 2022. "Measuring publication diversity among the most productive scholars: how research trajectories differ in communication, psychology, and political science," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 127(6), pages 3661-3682, June.
    2. Rüdiger Mutz, 2022. "Diversity and interdisciplinarity: Should variety, balance and disparity be combined as a product or better as a sum? An information-theoretical and statistical estimation approach," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 127(12), pages 7397-7414, December.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Kim, Hyeyoung & Park, Hyelin & Song, Min, 2022. "Developing a topic-driven method for interdisciplinarity analysis," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 16(2).
    2. Jielan Ding & Zhesi Shen & Per Ahlgren & Tobias Jeppsson & David Minguillo & Johan Lyhagen, 2021. "The link between ethnic diversity and scientific impact: the mediating effect of novelty and audience diversity," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 126(9), pages 7759-7810, September.
    3. Dengsheng Wu & Xiaoli Lu & Jianping Li & Jing Li, 2020. "Does the institutional diversity of editorial boards increase journal quality? The case economics field," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 124(2), pages 1579-1597, August.
    4. Alfonso Ávila-Robinson & Cristian Mejia & Shintaro Sengoku, 2021. "Are bibliometric measures consistent with scientists’ perceptions? The case of interdisciplinarity in research," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 126(9), pages 7477-7502, September.
    5. Hongyu Zhou & Raf Guns & Tim C. E. Engels, 2022. "Are social sciences becoming more interdisciplinary? Evidence from publications 1960–2014," Journal of the Association for Information Science & Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 73(9), pages 1201-1221, September.
    6. Chen, Shiji & Qiu, Junping & Arsenault, Clément & Larivière, Vincent, 2021. "Exploring the interdisciplinarity patterns of highly cited papers," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 15(1).
    7. Liang Hu & Win-bin Huang & Yi Bu, 2024. "Interdisciplinary research attracts greater attention from policy documents: evidence from COVID-19," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 11(1), pages 1-10, December.
    8. Fan, Yangliu & Lehmann, Sune & Blok, Anders, 2022. "Extracting the interdisciplinary specialty structures in social media data-based research: A clustering-based network approach," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 16(3).
    9. Loet Leydesdorff & Inga Ivanova, 2021. "The measurement of “interdisciplinarity” and “synergy” in scientific and extra‐scientific collaborations," Journal of the Association for Information Science & Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 72(4), pages 387-402, April.
    10. Shengli Deng & Sudi Xia, 2020. "Mapping the interdisciplinarity in information behavior research: a quantitative study using diversity measure and co-occurrence analysis," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 124(1), pages 489-513, July.
    11. Cristina Páez-Avilés & Frank J. Rijnsoever & Esteve Juanola-Feliu & Josep Samitier, 2018. "Multi-disciplinarity breeds diversity: the influence of innovation project characteristics on diversity creation in nanotechnology," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 43(2), pages 458-481, April.
    12. Shiji Chen & Yanhui Song & Fei Shu & Vincent Larivière, 2022. "Interdisciplinarity and impact: the effects of the citation time window," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 127(5), pages 2621-2642, May.
    13. Yi Bu & Mengyang Li & Weiye Gu & Win‐bin Huang, 2021. "Topic diversity: A discipline scheme‐free diversity measurement for journals," Journal of the Association for Information Science & Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 72(5), pages 523-539, May.
    14. Manuel Goyanes & Márton Demeter & Zicheng Cheng & Homero Gil Zúñiga, 2022. "Measuring publication diversity among the most productive scholars: how research trajectories differ in communication, psychology, and political science," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 127(6), pages 3661-3682, June.
    15. Jingjing Ren & Fang Wang & Minglu Li, 2023. "Dynamics and characteristics of interdisciplinary research in scientific breakthroughs: case studies of Nobel-winning research in the past 120 years," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 128(8), pages 4383-4419, August.
    16. Loet Leydesdorff & Lutz Bornmann, 2020. "“Interdisciplinarity” and “Synergy” in the Œuvre of Judit Bar-Ilan," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 123(3), pages 1247-1260, June.
    17. Loet Leydesdorff & Caroline S. Wagner & Lutz Bornmann, 2018. "Betweenness and diversity in journal citation networks as measures of interdisciplinarity—A tribute to Eugene Garfield," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 114(2), pages 567-592, February.
    18. Loet Leydesdorff & Dieter Franz Kogler & Bowen Yan, 2017. "Mapping patent classifications: portfolio and statistical analysis, and the comparison of strengths and weaknesses," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 112(3), pages 1573-1591, September.
    19. Xian Li & Ronald Rousseau & Liming Liang & Fangjie Xi & Yushuang Lü & Yifan Yuan & Xiaojun Hu, 2022. "Is low interdisciplinarity of references an unexpected characteristic of Nobel Prize winning research?," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 127(4), pages 2105-2122, April.
    20. Lina Xu & Steven Dellaportas & Zhiqiang Yang & Jin Wang, 2023. "More on the relationship between interdisciplinary accounting research and citation impact," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 63(4), pages 4779-4803, December.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:scient:v:125:y:2020:i:3:d:10.1007_s11192-020-03680-6. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.