Bibliometric indicators for assessing strengths and weaknesses of West German science

Summary Two approaches in the bibliometric study of science are employed to analyze the relative standing of national science systems: time-series indicators of publication and citation counts and co-citation analysis. The former are combined to a “performance indicator”. The potential of co-citation analysis for the determination of strengths and weaknesses of science is discussed. Also, the possibility to use both approaches in sequence as well as the limitations of such a coupling are analyzed.