Abstract
We carry out a bibliometric study of the activity of astronomers in the field of Herbig-Haro (HH) objects. Through an appropriate choice of keywords, we recover the papers on HH objects from the ADS (Astrophysics Data Service) and ISI (“Web of Knowledge”) databases. From the two databases we recover number of papers and citations which differ by ∼10%.
We analyze an 11-year period, restricting ourselves to authors with at least 10 papers within the period. We analyze the number of papers and citations, as well as the H index of this set of authors.
Within this sample, we identify the authors belonging to Mexican institutions. We find that the Mexican researchers perform very well, having higher publication and citation rates than the ones of the full sample of authors active in the field of HH objects. The Mexicans have a degree of specialization (measured as ratios between the production in the chosen field and the total production of the individual authors) similar to the one of the full sample. They collaborate in somewhat larger groups than the authors of the full sample.
Finally, we have carried out a study of the impact in the chosen field of different astronomical journals. We find that the Revista Mexicana de Astronomia y Astrofisica is well placed in the “second tier” of astronomical publications.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Abt, H. (2006), A comparison of the citation counts in the Science Citation Index and the NASA Astrophysics Data System. In: A. Heck (Ed.), Organizations and Strategies in Astronomy, Vol. 6, pp. 169–174.
Alkire, L. G., (Ed.) (1989), Periodical Title Abbreviations: by Title. New York: Gale Research. Vol. 2.
Blustin, A. (2007), Publication and citation statistics for UK astronomers. Astronomy & Geophysics, 48(6): 32–35.
Crabtree, D. R., Bryson, E. P. (2001), The effectiveness of the Canada-France-Hawaii telescope. Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada, 95: 259–259.
Haro, G. (1952), Herbig’s nebulous objects near NGC 1999. Astrophysical Journal, 115: 572–572.
Hirsch, J. E. (2005), An index to quantify an individual’s scientific research output. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, 102(46): 16569–16572.
Herbig, G. H. (1951), The spectra of two nebulous objects near NGC 1999. Astrophysical Journal, 113: 697–699.
Isaksson, E. (2007), Bibliometric evaluation of Finnish astronomy. Astronomical Society of the Pacific Conference Series, 377: 111–114.
Meylan, G., Madrid, J. P., Macchetto, D. (2004), Hubble space telescope science metrics. Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, 116(822): 790–796.
Sanchez, S. F., Benn, C. R. (2004), Impact of astronomical research from different countries. Astronomische Nachtrichten, 325(5): 445–450.
Trimble, V., Zaich, P., Bosler, T. (2006), Productivity and Impact of Space-based Astronomical Facilities. Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, 118(842): 651.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Sierra-Flores, M.M., Guzmán, M.V., Raga, A.C. et al. The productivity of Mexican astronomers in the field of outflows from young stars. Scientometrics 81, 765–777 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-008-2264-8
Received:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-008-2264-8