ERIC Number: EJ1461619
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2025-Mar
Pages: 28
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0026-4695
EISSN: EISSN-1573-1871
Available Date: 2024-10-04
Investigating Knowledge Flows in Scientific Communities: The Potential of Bibliometric Methods
Minerva: A Review of Science, Learning and Policy, v63 n1 p155-182 2025
In their everyday work, scholars constantly acquire and transfer knowledge. Many of these knowledge flows are difficult to observe, not least because scholars are often not aware of them. This may be the reason why the attention to knowledge flows is very unevenly distributed across science studies, with bibliometric citation-based studies contributing the most research. Starting from the premise that bibliometric methods can be more readily exploited in the study of knowledge flows, this review explores the potential of bibliometric methods for the investigation of knowledge flows. Bibliometrics provides a portfolio of data and methods that can be used alone or in combination with qualitative methods to study knowledge flows. We organise contributions to the study of knowledge flows according to their object of study--formal, informal, or tacit knowledge--and according to the mode of flow--impersonal or interpersonal knowledge flow. The review shows that bibliometrics is strongly focused on the use of citation data for the investigation of impersonal flows of formal knowledge and has recently turned to the impersonal flow of informal knowledge via social media. In contrast, there are only few bibliometric studies that address interpersonal flows of knowledge. The review identifies an under-utilised potential of bibliometric methods and suggests some directions for future methodological development.
Descriptors: Sciences, Scholarship, Communication (Thought Transfer), Sharing Behavior, Researchers, Scientists, Subcultures, Communities of Practice, Knowledge Management, Research and Development, Epistemology, Bibliometrics, Publications
Springer. Available from: Springer Nature. One New York Plaza, Suite 4600, New York, NY 10004. Tel: 800-777-4643; Tel: 212-460-1500; Fax: 212-460-1700; e-mail: customerservice@springernature.com; Web site: https://link-springer-com.bibliotheek.ehb.be/
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Evaluative
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: 1German Centre for Higher Education Research and Science Studies GmbH, Berlin, Germany; 2TU Berlin, Social Studies of Science and Technology, Berlin, Germany; 3Stellenbosch University, Centre for Research on Science and Technology (CREST), Stellenbosch, South Africa