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Can informetrics shape biomedical
research? A case study of the HIV/AIDS
research in sub-Saharan Africa
Prof OB Onyancha
Department of Information Science
College of Human Sciences
UNISA
11/7/2013
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Agenda
•
•
•
•
•
•
Introduction – value of research and the process
Why research evaluation?
Which methods of research evaluation?
Informetrics and its related metrics
Theoretical basis of informetrics
Application of informetrics in biomedical research –
HIV/AIDS case study
• Can informetrics shape biomedical research? If so,
how?
• Conclusion
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Value of Research
There is an enormous amount of literature that has
been published on the role or importance of research
(e.g. Rantanen, 1999)
RESEARCH
The role of research in society is (i) to increase our knowledge
of nature and society, (ii) to increase our understanding of
these 3 components of life, and (iii) to provide a scientific basis
for actions to make a better world (Rantanen, 1999)
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Research Cycle
Missing from most
(if not all) models
of the research
cycle is what I
think is the ‘final’
step in the
process, namely –
research
evaluation?
Source: Greyson, 2009
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Why Research Evaluation?
The increasing demand for research evaluation can be
attributed to an increased emphasis on governance and
accountability in both the public and private sectors.
Broad purposes:
 Analysis: for example, what funding is most effective in terms of
different outputs and outcomes, including the impact of research?
 Accountability: for example, for those distributing public funds who
need to show they are doing the right thing. Likewise, funding
organisations need to demonstrate impact to donors.
 Advocacy: for example, how the research benefits society; this would
help funders wanting evidence to support their decisions, or advocates
seeking evidence for their cause.
 Allocation: for example, to prioritise which projects, people and
institutions are given funding.
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Which methods?
(Source: Geisler, 2001:39)
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Informetrics
• Sample of two definitions:
– Methodologies that examine “patterns that show up not
only in publications but also in many aspects of life, as
long as the patterns deal with information” (Diodato,
1994:ix)
– “Covers that part of information science dealing with the
measurement of information phenomena and the
application of mathematical methods to the discipline’s
problems, to bibliometrics and parts of information
retrieval theory, and perhaps more widely” (Hood &
Wilson, 2001:294)
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Informetrics, scientometrics, bibliometrics,
webometrics, cybermetrics and altmetrics
Bibliographies –
largely
references
Whole Internet,
cyberspace
Science of
Science
Informetrics
Bibliometrics
Cybermetrics
Web presence,
visibility and
impact – links,
pages,
documents
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Scientometrics
Altmetrics
Webometrics
Alternative
metrics – views,
downloads, web
citations, etc
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Informetric methodologies/approaches
• Several methods/approaches/techniques constitute
informetrics methods
• The methods can be divided into two broad
categories
– Publications count and analysis – Descriptive
– Citation count and analysis – Evaluative
• The most recently coined techniques or methods
are link count and analysis and altmetrics– follow
same approaches as above
• In each of these methods, there are several
techniques and measurements that can be applied
to assess research
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Publications count and analysis
•
•
Publications count is the simplest informetric measurement
Examples of questions that publications count is designed
to answer are:
–
–
–
–
–
–
How many publications, citations, books, patents, etc has a
particular author, group of authors, institutions and/or
countries/geographic regions, produced?
How much has been produced on a given topical issue, discipline,
country, regional area, etc?
How many publications have each been authored by how many
authors?
How many publications were published in a given source (journal,
magazine, etc?)
In how many languages are documents published?
How often does a particular word appear in a text?
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Citations count and analysis
Citation analysis is the examination of the frequency, patterns, and graphs
of citations in articles and books. It uses citations in scholarly works to
establish links to other works or other researchers.
The focus areas of citation studies would include:
 what motivates an author to cite a particular work;
 the relationship between a citing work and the works cited by it;
 works cited long after their publication and works cited while relatively
new;
 heavily cited works, infrequently cited works and those that have not
been cited at all;
 how citation practices and patterns differ throughout disciplines or
families of disciplines;
 how citation practices and patterns can be used in the evaluation of
information sources;
 how citation practices and patterns can be used to enhance information
retrieval systems.
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Theoretical basis for informetrics
• Lotka’s law states
– “there are a few researchers who publish a great deal and many
who publish very little or nothing at all” (Ikipaahindi, 1985:171)
• Bradford’s law simply states that:
– “If scientific journals are arranged in order of decreasing productivity
of articles on a given subject, they may be divided into a nucleus of
periodicals more particularly devoted to the subject and several
groups or zones containing the same number of articles as the
nucleus, when the number of periodicals in the nucleus and
succeeding zones will be as 1: k: k2 where the constant k is known
as Bradford’s constant or multiplier (Ungern-Sternberg, 2000)
• Zipf’s law is based on
– The fact that people tend to use a “small part of their available
vocabulary for most communication” (Wallace, 1989)
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Application of informetrics in biomedical
research
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A Comparative Study of the Literature on HIV/AIDS in
Kenya and Uganda: A Bibliometric Study
We expected more HIV/AIDS research on Kenya, throughout the
entire period of study, considering Kenya’s continued increase in
HIV infections besides the country’s favourable research
environment.
The study found that
Although Uganda has, for a long time, been unstable politically from
the persistent fights—a situation that could have hindered effective
research—research activities regarding HIV/AIDS were focused in
the country more than they were in Kenya.
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Productivity, and Scientific Impact of Sources of
HIV/AIDS Research in Eastern and Southern Africa
Journals are major players as far as research dissemination is concerned
The study concluded that
the coverage of HIV/AIDS
sources published in Africa
in the MEDLINE and ISI
databases is minimal
Most journals that are gaining in
popularity are those that are
electronically available; this
perhaps explains why some
African journals, which are
largely available only in print, are
not easily internationally visible
— thus affecting their impact
To achieve wider circulation, visibility and impact, we
recommend that such journals be published online
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Authorship patterns of the literature on HIV/AIDS in
Eastern and Southern Africa: an exposition of the
responsible authors, institutions and countries
Foreign authorship dominated the scene and
that majority of the publications were published
in foreign countries
South Africa
Kenya
Uganda
The most
countries
Africa and 77Foreign
A E&S
totalAfrican
of 120
countries Rest
(43 of
African
foreign
No. ofcountries)
% of – including
No. of the
% countries
of
No. of
% of
Countries
Totalof this
Countries
Total Countries
Total
within
the scope
study authored
at
16
18.82
56
65.88
least131 paper15.29
12
16.90
13
18.31
11
15.94 country
14 was 20.29
productive
foreign
the USA (2429),
by England
Tanzania
12followed
17.65
17 with25.00
1412 papers. These
two17.24
countries 13
Zambia
10
22.41
recorded a total13of 384123.21
postings which
Zimbabwe
12
21.43
accounted for 54.55%
of23.53
the total foreign
Malawi
12
8
15.69
hits (i.e. 7041) 10
Ethiopia
26.32
3
7.89
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64.79
TOTAL
85
71
63.77
69regional
The 44
most productive
(African)
countries
were
led by South
39
57.35
68
Africa,
35 Kenya,
60.34Uganda,
58 Tanzania,
Malawi,
Ethiopia,
31 Zambia,
55.36 Zimbabwe,
56
Botswana,
and Cameroon
31
60.78
51
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65.79
38
16
Country-wise collaborations in HIV/AIDS research
in Kenya and South Africa
75countries
countries largely collaborate with foreign countries,
The two
with the
56 countries
USA emerging as the strongest collaborator
Kenya exhibited stronger links with foreign countries while South
Africa had much of its papers published through internal
collaborations
Impact-wise, Kenya’s papers produced a higher average impact (i.e.
7.32 in single and 20.18 in co-authored papers) than South Africa’s
papers (4.16 in single and 8.05 in co-authored papers)
Co-authored papers yielded a higher average impact
than the single-authored papers
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Changing patterns and trends in author co-authorship
networks of HIV/AIDS research in Eastern and Southern
Africa
Author co-authorship Networks, 1981-2005: 15
2
18
1981-1985
2001-2005
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Subject content analysis of the HIV/AIDS research in
eastern and southern Africa
No. Main MESH Terms
Rank
1
1983-1985
HIV Infections
19921995- 199820012004Year
No. of Terms
1994
2004-2005 2003171242005
No. of 1997
Hits 2000
1
1
1
1 25524
1
2001-2003
Acquired Immunodeficiency
2 1 Acquired
2
Immunodeficiency
Syndrome
2 Syndrome
Sarcoma, Kaposi
29 2
22
3
Retroviridae Infections
Adolescence
3
3
Adolescence
1986-1987
Rank
5 4 Pregnancy
21
Complications,
Antibodies, Viral
1 Acquired
Immunodeficiency
5 Infectious
Deltaretrovirus
6 Anti-HIV
Agents
Syndrome
2 HIV Seropositivity
7 Pregnancy
14
3 Antibodies, Viral
8 Risk Factors
7
4 Adolescence
9 Disease
Transmission,
5 HIV Antibodies
Vertical
6 HIV
15
3
No.
15of
Hits
1424
13
172
3815
36
10
34
32
30
3
HIV-1
4
4
10
HIV Seropositivity
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4
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1998-2000
1995-1997
3
1992-1994
1989-1991
4
1986-1988
8
1983-1985
1980-1982
6
3
196362
16139
98973
66344
2090
5
453
127 6
5
6
7
14
11
8
11
13
9
7
7
10
2
3
4
9
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An informetric investigation of the relatedness of
opportunistic infections to HIV/AIDS
222
213
0.01
Year of
0 Publication
19821984
19851987
370
340
HIV/AIDS
511 694
692 943
939
813
910
545
225
3871
119
3665
Cyt omegalovirus
Pneumocyst is carinii
M ycobact erium avium-int racellulare
Strength of Association
Rank 0.07
1
Cytomegalovirus
2 0.06
Pneumocystis
carinii
3 0.05
Toxoplasma
4 0.04
Mycobacterium
aviumintracellulare
0.03
5
Mycobacterium
0.02
tuberculosis
6
Herpes simplex
62
121
230
364
383
260
51
Toxoplasma
1471
Crypt ococcus neof ormans
0
0
142
244
465
343
M ycobact erium t uberculosis
72
Herpes simplex
1266
Candida albicans
0
7
49
149
254
324
84
Isospora
867
Crypt osporidium parvum
Varicella zost er
32
’82’84
19881990
69
’85’87
19911993
98
’88’90
19941996
19971999
96
‘91’93
20002003
104
‘94’96
19822003
159
‘97’99
33
591
St rept ococcus pneumoniae
‘00- TOTAL
Salmonella
’03
St aphylococcus aureus
Hist oplasma capsulat um
Haemophilus inf luenzae
Shigella
Publication Year
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Is HIV/AIDS in Africa distinct? What can
we learn from the literature?
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The basis of the study
The study stemmed from South Africa’s former president,
Thabo Mbeki’s argument that “it is obvious that whatever
lessons we have to, and may draw from, the West about the
grave issue of HIV/AIDS, a simple superimposition of
Western experience on African reality would be absurd and
illogical” (as cited in Cohen, 2000)
It has been observed that not only do the manifestations of
the AIDS disease in Africa differ from those in the West but,
as Cohen (2000) observes, AIDS-related diseases, and
possibly disease progression itself, differ in the continent
(i.e. from region to region) (Cohen, 2000)
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Methods used
• Content analysis and specifically co-word analysis
– Co-Word analysis is a content analysis technique that
“reveals patterns and trends in technical discourse by
measuring the association strengths of terms
representative of relevant publications or other texts
produced in a technical field” (Coulter, Monarch &
Konda, 1998:1206)
• Variables considered
– Opportunistic infections, pre-disposing factors, risk
factors, sexually transmitted diseases, and other tropical
diseases most commonly associated with HIV/AIDS in
Africa
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Results
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Opportunistic diseases AND HIV/AIDS
HIV/AIDS was associated with 21 opportunistic infections, led by
Tuberculosis, followed by Pneumonia, Mycobacterium Avium Complex,
Cancer and Kaposi’s sarcoma
Opportunistic
infections/diseases that
exhibited high strengths of
association with HIV/AIDS
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Pre-disposing factors AND HIV/AIDS
The factors that could be influencing the spread of HIV/AIDS in the region
include culture, substance or drug abuse, malnutrition, rural-related factors
and activities, violence, rape, labor migration, ignorance, broken marriages,
war, poverty, inequality, socioeconomic factors, refugees and war.
Pre-disposing factors that
exhibited high strengths of
association with HIV/AIDS and
may be playing a big role in the
spread of HIV/AIDS in Africa
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Risk factors AND HIV/AIDS
Most common HIV/AIDS-associated risk factors constitute sexual
intercourse, vertical transmission (mother to child during birth), blood
transfusions and contaminated needles (intravenous drug use, needle
stick injuries)
Risk factors that exhibited high
strengths of association with
HIV/AIDS and may be playing a big
role in HIV infections in Africa
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Other sexually transmitted diseases AND
HIV/AIDS
Papillomavirus Infection was the most common in HIV/AIDS titles. There
were other high co-occurrence frequencies from genital warts, hepatitis B,
syphilis, bacterial vaginosis, and herpes zoster
STDs/Is that exhibited high
strengths of association with
HIV/AIDS and may be increasing
the risk of HIV transfer in Africa
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Other tropical diseases AND HIV/AIDS
Out of the total 24 diseases, slightly over one-half (½) co-occurred with
HIV/AIDS
The highest frequency of co-occurrence was recorded by tuberculosis
(S=0.17)
Other terms that were linked to HIV/AIDS
descriptors include cholera (S=0.01),
hepatitis (S=0.04), hypertension (S=0.01),
leishmaniasis (S=0.02), malaria (S=0.08),
malnutrition (S=0.03), meningitis (S=0.02),
polio (S=0.02), schistomiasis (S=0.01),
sickle cell (S=0.05), and syphilis (S=0.01)
People living in the poorest countries are the most vulnerable to malaria. In
2010, 90% of all malaria deaths occurred in the WHO African Region,
mostly among children under five years of age (WHO, 2013).
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Can informetrics shape biomedical research?
How?
We believe that it can
The studies have demonstrated that informetrics can assist in policy-making
decisions on such matters as funding but also the findings can lead to the
identification of possible research collaborators; predict or forecasting
changes; identification of influential journals through which biomedical
research can be disseminated as well as obtained; and the identification,
recruitment, tenure, and/or promotion of researchers
Various authors including this author have observed changes in informetrics
structure can be correlated with changes in scientific knowledge and
understanding (Onyancha & Ocholla, 2005; Onyancha & Ocholla, 2009;
Small & Greenlee, 1989; and Russell & Rousseau, nd).
BUT, as Debackere & Glanzel (2004: 261) argue, “bibliometric information
may serve highly different objectives simultaneously”
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Conclusion
We conclude by reiterating Wormell’s (2000: 133) argument
thus:
Access to information itself today does not signify either competitive
advantage or guarantee the feeling of being informed, neither in the
research nor the business environment. The sophisticated value of online
information provision is not to use the databases only for finding facts and
accessing documents, but to tap the unique items of useful information,
the nuggets of knowledge and (by synthesis and/or analysis) extract the
‘searched pattern’ in the raw data.
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Thanks for your attention
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