Mapping Global e-Research: Scientometrics and Webometrics

This paper uses traditional scientometric and also webometric measures to gauge the prominence of e-Research across the globe. We have used the same keywords for both samples in an analysis of e-Research, using a wide variety of labels to capture the field as widely as possible. Thus we are able to compare scientometrics (broadly speaking, publication outputs) and webometrics (again, broadly, web presence), and this comparison makes for an interesting investigation into the global distribution of e-Research. This research also confirms contrasts in terms of the different labels used in different countries, such as the greater prominence of ‘cyberinfrastructure’ in the US and of ‘e-Science’ in the UK. Apart from this expected result, there are a number of surprising findings when we examine the global rank order of countries but also the relative prominence of publications as against online presence. Clearly, e-Research has recently emerged as a distinctive field which can be charted more easily than other areas of research. At the same time, there are a number of challenges inherent in scoping e-Research by the visibility of publications and online presence. In the conclusion, we discuss some of these, and indicate the usefulness and limits of research of this type.