scientometricians

Scientometricians are researchers who specialize in scientometrics, the study of measuring and analyzing science, technology, and innovation. They apply quantitative and computational methods to the production, dissemination, and impact of scientific knowledge, typically focusing on publications, citations, and collaboration patterns.

Core methods include citation analysis, bibliometrics, co-citation and bibliographic coupling, co-authorship networks, topic modeling, and normalization techniques for cross-field comparisons. Data comes from bibliographic databases such as Web of Science, Scopus, Dimensions, Crossref, and emerging open data sources like OpenAlex. In recent years, altmetrics and social media signals have supplemented traditional indicators.

Scientometricians work across academia, research libraries, and policy organizations. They evaluate research performance for allocation of funding, ranking university programs, and informing science policy. They also study the sociology of science, examining collaboration, productivity, geographic and gender disparities, and the dynamics of research fields.

Educational backgrounds commonly include information science, library science, mathematics, statistics, physics, or computer science. Many obtain PhDs in bibliometrics/science of science or related fields. The field traces its roots to pioneers such as Derek de Solla Price, who laid the theoretical foundations, and Eugene Garfield, who developed citation indexing and the Journal Impact Factor. The field has grown with the advent of large digital catalogs and computational methods and intersects with data science and research analytics.

Ethical considerations and methodological challenges are central: biases in citation practices, data coverage gaps, field normalization issues, and the need for transparent, reproducible methods.