Desktop scientometrics

Abstract

Advanced scientometric tools are moving from the realm of the privileged few with access to mainframe and minicomputers to the desktop of researchers equipped with personal computers. This shift is not only due to the decreasing cost and technological advances in PCs but the ready availability of a powerful multitasking operating system, a versatile text processing language and easy access to the Internet. Furthermore, the latest releases of PC software, such as Microsoft Excel, make it possible to develop graphical user interfaces into complex bibliometric data for a wide spectrum of researchers and policy analysts. Recent developments in digital communication, in particular, tools to access the Internet via the World Wide Web will provide even greater flexibility to those researchers wishing to make their scientometric data available to a diverse international audience. This paper examines how the BESST project developed a Desktop Scientometric environment using public domain, hardware independent software, prototyped a graphical user interface to provide easy access to UK sectoral level bibliometric data and gives a glimpse into future developments.