Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Phases of growth in a green tech research network: a bibliometric evaluation of fuel cell technology from 1991 to 2010

  • Published:
Scientometrics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This study uncovers the evolution of a fuel cell research network through a bibliometric study focusing on a period from 1991 to 2010. From a dataset of 37,435 research articles, the study focuses on the evolution of fuel cell research networks at a national level. Focusing solely on the expansion of the research networks, and the policies effecting collaboration, the paper poses three research questions (1) Is research into fuel cells more unconcentrated than in science overall and if so, (2) is there changes within time and (3) can we identify a cluster among certain countries. To answer the research questions, the data was compared to findings on the overall scientific output worldwide. In addition, an ego network analysis was performed and a modularity algorithm was used in order to identify clusters from the network data. The study showed that fuel cell research co-operation has had a distinct evolution within the time frame of the study. Research has increased in both volume and in co-operation, but research co-operation is more unconcentrated than in science overall. Non-TRIAD countries have a stronger role in fuel cell research than in science overall. Clusters in research co-operation have evolved into two modes of co-operation—one around Asia and North America and the second around European co-operation with US and Asia.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. Among others, large Asian companies, such as Samsung, NEC, Fujitsu, LG, Sanyo, Sony, Casio, and Toshiba (Wee 2006; Fuel Cells Bulletin 2002a, 2003b, a), and North American companies, such as Coca-Cola, Verizon, General Motors and eBay Curtin et al. (2010), have taken up research and expected a rapid commercialization of the technology (Suominen and Tuominen 2010).

  2. Illustrated by a practical example by (Chao et al. 2007; Seymour et al. 2007; Liu et al. 2012) and the discussion that followed (Ho 2009, 2012; Seymour 2008)

References

  • Anadón, L. D. (2012). Missions-oriented RD&D institutions in energy between 2000 and 2010: A comparative analysis of china, the united kingdom, and the united states. Research Policy. doi:10.1016/j.respol.2012.02.015.

  • Archambault, É., Beauchesne, O., Côté, G., & Roberge, G. (2012). Scale-adjusted metrics of scientific collaboration. http://www.science-metrix.com/pdf/Scale_Adjusted_Metrics_of_Scientific_Collaboration.pdf

  • Bakker, S. (2010). The car industry and the blow-out of the hydrogen hype. Energy Policy, 38(11), 6540–6544.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Blondel, V. D., Guillaume, J. L., Lambiotte, R., & Lefebvre, E. (2008). Fast unfolding of communities in large networks. Journal of Statistical Mechanics: Theory and Experiment. doi:10.1088/1742-5468/2008/10/P10008.

  • Budde, B., Alkemade, F., & Weber, K. M. (2012). Expectations as a key to understanding actor strategies in the field of fuel cell and hydrogen vehicles. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 79(6), 1072–1083. doi:10.1016/j.techfore.2011.12.012.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chao, C. C., Yang, J. M., & Jen, W. Y. (2007). Determining technology trends and forecasts of RFID by a historical review and bibliometric analysis from 1991 to 2005. Technovation, 27(5), 268–279. doi:10.1016/j.technovation.2006.09.003.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cropper, M., Geiger, S., & Jollie, D. (2004). Fuel cells: A survey of current developments. Journal of Power Sources, 131, 57–61.

    Google Scholar 

  • Curtin, S., Gangi, J., & Delmont, E. (2010). The business case for fuel cells: Why top companies are purchasing fuel cells today. Fuel Cells, 2000. www.fuelcells.org/uploads/BusinessCaseforFuelCells.pdf

  • European Commission (2003). Third european report on science & technology indicators 2003. Tech. Rep. EUR 20025 EN, Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, Luxembourg.

  • Everett, M., & Borgatti, S. P. (2005). Ego network betweenness. Social networks, 27(1), 31–38.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fch, J. U. (2011). Fuel cells and hydrogen—Joint undertaking—European commission, fuel cell and hydrogen joint undertaking (fch ju). http://ec.europa.eu/research/fch/pdf/fch_ju_multi_annual_implement_plan

  • Fuel Cells Bulletin. (2002a). Portable fuel cell systems. Fuel Cells Bulletin, 2002(7), 8–12.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fuel Cells Bulletin. (2003a). Polyfuel unveils dmfc prototype at intel forum. Fuel Cells Bulletin, 2003(4), 5.

  • Fuel Cells Bulletin. (2003b). Latest dmfc prototypes from toshiba, hitachi. Fuel Cells Bulletin, 2003(12), 2.

  • Fuel Cells Bulletin. (2007c). Samsung shows smallest fuel cell yet for mobile charger, laptop station. Fuel Cells Bulletin, 2007(2), 3.

  • Fuel Cells Bulletin. (2007d). Hitachi to sell DMFCs for PCs, phones in 2007. Fuel Cells Bulletin, 2007(2), 3, 5, 7, 9.

  • Glänzel, W. (2001). National characteristics in international scientific co-authorship relations. Scientometrics, 51(1), 69–115.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Glänzel, W., & Schubert, A. (2005). Analysing scientific networks through co-authorship. Handbook of quantitative science and technology research (pp. 257–276). Netherlands: Springer.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Hanneman, R., & Riddle, M. (2005). Introduction to social network methods. Riverside, CA, USA: University of California, Riverside.

    Google Scholar 

  • Haslam, G. E., Jupesta, J., & Parayil, G. (2012). Assessing fuel cell vehicle innovation and the role of policy in Japan, Korea, and China. International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 37(19), 14612–14623. doi:10.1016/j.ijhydene.2012.06.112.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hellman, H. L., & van den Hoed, R. (2007). Characterising fuel cell technology: Challenges of the commercialisation process. International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 32(3), 305–315. doi:10.1016/j.ijhydene.2006.07.029.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ho, Y. S. (2009). Comments on Determining technology trends and forecasts of RFID by a historical review and bibliometric analysis from 1991 to 2005. Technovation, 29(10), 725–727. doi:10.1016/j.technovation.2009.01.002.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ho, Y. S. (2012). Comments on a bibliometric study of earthquake research: 1900–2010. Scientometrics, 500, 2010–2012. doi:10.1007/s11192-012-0915-2.

    Google Scholar 

  • Katz, J. S., & Martin, B. R. (1997). What is research collaboration? Research policy, 26(1), 1–18.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kurzweil, P., & Garche, J. (2009). History—fuel cells. Encyclopedia of electrochemical power sources (pp. 579–595). Amsterdam: Elsevir.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Laudel, G. (2002). What do we measure by co-authorships? Research Evaluation, 11(1), 3–15.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lee, S., & Bozeman, B. (2005). The impact of research collaboration on scientific productivity. Social Studies of Science, 35(5), 673–702. doi:10.2307/25046667.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Li, L. L., Ding, G., Feng, N., Wang, M. H., & Ho, Y. S. (2009). Global stem cell research trend: Bibliometric analysis as a tool for mapping of trends from 1991 to 2006. Scientometrics, 80(1), 39–8.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Liu, X., Zhan, F. B., Hong, S., Niu, B., & Liu, Y. (2012). A bibliometric study of earthquake research: 19002010. Scientometrics, 92(3), 747–765. doi:10.1007/s11192-011-0599-z.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lv, P. H., Wang, G. F., Wan, Y., Liu, J., Liu, Q., & Ma, F. (2011). Bibliometric trend analysis on global graphene research. Scientometrics, 88(2), 399–419.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Melin, G. (1999). Impact of national size on research collaboration. Scientometrics, 46(1), 161–170.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Persson, O., & Danell, R. (2009). How to use bibexcel for various types of bibliometric analysis. In F. Åström, R. Danell, B. Larsen, & J. Schneider (Eds.), Elebrating scholarly communication studies: A Festschrift for Olle Persson at his 60th Birthday (pp. 9–24). Leuven: International Society for Scientometrics and Informetrics.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ruef, A., & Markard, J. (2010). What happens after a hype? how changing expectations affected innovation activities in the case of stationary fuel cells. Technology Analysis & Strategic Management, 22(3), 317–338.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Seymour, E. H. (2008). Rebuttal to commentary. International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 33(4), 1457–1458. doi:10.1016/j.ijhydene.2007.12.004.

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  • Seymour, E. H., Borges, F. C., & Fernandes, R. (2007). Indicators of European public research in hydrogen and fuel cells An input output analysis. International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 32(15), 3212–3222. doi:10.1016/j.ijhydene.2007.02.031.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shin, S. C. (2003). Innovation in fuel cell technology in Korea. In OECD conference on the innovation of energy technologies OECD conference on the innovation of energy yechnologies. Washington D.C.

  • Solomon, B. D., & Banerjee, A. (2006). A global survey of hydrogen energy research, development and policy. Energy Policy, 34(7), 781–792. doi:10.1016/j.enpol.2004.08.007.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Suominen, A., & Tuominen, A. (2010). Analyzing the direct methanol fuel cell technology in portable applications by a historical and bibliometric analysis. Journal of Business Chemistry, 7(3), 117–130.

    Google Scholar 

  • Suominen, A., Tuominen, A., & Kantola, J. (2011). Scenarios in technology and research policy: Case portable fuel cells. International Journal of Strategic Change Management, 3(1), 32–50.

    Google Scholar 

  • Suominen, A., & Seppänen, M. (2014). Bibliometric data and actual development in technology life cycles: flaws in assumptions. Foresight, 16(1), 37–53.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tang, L., & Shapira, P. (2011). China-US scientific collaboration in nanotechnology: Patterns and dynamics. Scientometrics, 88, 1–16.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Toivanen, H., & Ponomariov, B. (2011). African regional innovation systems: Bibliometric analysis of research collaboration patterns 2005–2009. Scientometrics, 88(2), 471–493.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Veugelers, R. (2010). Towards a multipolar science world: Trends and impact. Scientometrics, 82(2), 439–456.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wagner, C.S., Brahmakulam, I., Jackson, B., Wong, A., Yoda, T. (2001). Science and Technology Collaboration: Building Capability in Developing Countries (No. RAND/MR-1357.0-WB). RAND Corp Santa Monica CA USA.

  • Wald, M.L. (2009). U.S. drops research into fuel cells for cars. The New York Times http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/08/science/earth/08energy.html

  • Wang, H., Liu, M., Hong, S., & Zhuang, Y. (2013). A historical review and bibliometric analysis of GPS research from 1991–2010. Scientometrics, 95(1), 35–44.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wee, J. (2006). Which type of fuel cell is more competitive for portable application: Direct methanol fuel cells or direct borohydride fuel cells? textitJournal of Power Sources, 3, 238–245.

  • Zhang, G., Xie, S., & Ho, Y. S. (2010). A bibliometric analysis of world volatile organic compounds research trends. Scientometrics, 83(2), 477–492.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

The author would like to acknowledge the helpful comments of Dr. Hannes Toivanen and anonymous reviewers. This work has been partly supported by the Finnish Funding Agency for Innovation funded project Co-evolution of knowledge creation systems and innovation pipelines (CEK).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Innovation and Knowledge Economy, VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, Itäinen Pitkäkatu 4, P.O. Box 106, 20521, Turku, Finland

    Arho Suominen

Authors
  1. Arho Suominen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Arho Suominen.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Suominen, A. Phases of growth in a green tech research network: a bibliometric evaluation of fuel cell technology from 1991 to 2010. Scientometrics 100, 51–72 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-014-1285-8

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-014-1285-8

Keywords

Search

Navigation