Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Bibliometric spectroscopy of Russia’s nanotechnology: 2000–2014

  • Published:
Scientometrics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The article investigates the scientific performance of Russia in the field of nanotechnology, focusing on production, impact and collaboration. An underlying multidisciplinary corpus of publications was extracted from the Science Citation Index Expanded database through relevant keywords. The various bibliometric findings are presented in a top-down sequence, starting with a comparative analysis of Russia and other selected countries, scrutinizing further a revitalization of science in universities and finally presenting some (possible) centers of excellence within the domestic scientific system. Focusing on the most highly-cited nano papers, I use the analysis not only in terms of percentages of world shares of publications, but also in terms of the proportions of top-1 and top-10% publications. It is shown that among the comparative countries, Russia maximally increases the citation impact depending on its internationalization efforts and that, for example, the co-authorship between Russia and Australia in the top-10% layer as well as between Russia and the UK in the top-1% layer is above expectation. Implementing the president’s initiative “Strategy of Nanoindustry Development” and the role of governmental university-centered policy are discussed in light of the performed bibliometric study.

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
Fig. 9
Fig. 10
Fig. 11

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. Due to limited space, I have not considered some other major players in the NT field (such, as Spain, Italy, Australia, etc.), so what is it—a topic for future research.

  2. In order to demonstrate on this Figure a more long historical trend for Russia, I calculated, by way of exception, some its output indicators for the 1990s.

  3. The corresponding comparison is not shown here. Additionally, one could be noted: (1) a peak growth of the UK's top-1% contribution between 2005 and 2009 (likely, due to the highly cited papers on graphene); (2) a significant rise of India's share in the world nano research output, which has not yet been matched by an equivalent increasing of its presence in the elite structure of top-cited nano papers; (3) incipient in the last years decline of the Taiwan's positions as in terms of share of global nano papers output, so and presence in the top-1 and top-10% segments. According made calculations (not shown here), the shares of top-cited nano papers from USA, China and Singapore are noticeably higher their percentages of world shares of nano papers. The opposite situation is observed in India, Iran and Russia.

References

  • Alferov, Z. I. (1996). The history and future of semiconductor heterostructures from the point of view of a Russian scientist. Physica Scripta, T68, 32–45.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Arora, S. K., Porter, A. L., Youtie, J., & Shapira, P. (2013). Capturing new developments in an emerging technology: An updated search strategy for identifying nanotechnology research outputs. Scientometrics, 95(1), 351–370.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bajwa, R. S., Yaldram, K., Hussain, S. S., & Ahmed, T. (2012). Nanotechnology research among some leading OIC member states. Journal of Nanoparticle Research, 14(9), 1–10.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bhattacharya, S., Shilpa, & Bhati, M. (2012). China and India: The two new players in the nanotechnology race. Scientometrics, 93(1), 59–87.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Braun, T., Schubert, A., & Zsindely, S. (1997). Nanoscience and nanotechnology on the balance. Scientometrics, 38(2), 321–325.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Clunan, A., Rodine-Hardy, K., Hsueh, R., Kosal, M. E., & Ian McManus, I. (2014). Nanotechnology in a globalized world. Strategic assessments of an emerging technology. PASCC report number 2014 006. http://calhoun.nps.edu/bitstream/handle/10945/43101/2014%20006%20Nanotechnology%20Strategic%20Assessments.pdf?sequence=4. Accessed 7 June 2016.

  • European Commission (EC). (2012). A European strategy for key enabling technologies—A bridge to growth and jobs: Brussels. http://wbc-inco.net/object/document/10463/attach/Strategy_for_Key_Enabling_Technologies.pdf. Accessed 7 June 2016.

  • Feigelman, M. V. (2012). Statistics as the highest form of lying? Troitskiy Variant, 7, 9 (in Russian).

    Google Scholar 

  • Georgiev, G. P. (2015). What ruins the Russian science and how to fight it. Part 2. Troitskiy Variant, 194, 6–7 (in Russian).

    Google Scholar 

  • Glänzel, W. (2010). On reliability and robustness of scientometrics indicators based on stochastic models. An evidence-based opinion paper. Journal of Informetrics, 4(3), 313–319.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gorjiara, T., & Baldock, C. (2014). Nanoscience and nanotechnology research publications: A comparison between Australia and the rest of the world. Scientometrics, 100(1), 121–148.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Guan, J., & Ma, N. (2007). China’s emerging presence in nanoscience and nanotechnology: A comparative bibliometric study of several nanoscience ‘giants’. Research Policy, 36(6), 880–886.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hicks, D., Wouters, P., Waltman, L., de Rijcke, S., & Rafols, I. (2015). Bibliometrics: The Leiden Manifesto for research metrics. Nature, 520(7548), 429–431.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Karaulova, M., Gök, A., Shackleton, O., & Shapira, P. (2016). Science system path-dependencies and their influences: Nanotechnology research in Russia. Scientometrics, 107(2), 645–670.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Karaulova, M., Shackleton, O., Gok, A., Kotsemir, M., & Shapira, P. (2014). Nanotechnology research and innovation in Russia: A bibliometric analysis. MIoIR working paper series. http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/Papers.cfm?abstract_id=2521012. Accessed 30 May 2016.

  • Kostoff, R. N. (2012). China/USA nanotechnology research output comparison-2011 update. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 79(5), 986–990.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kostoff, R. N., Koytcheff, R., & Lau, C. G. Y. (2006). Structure of the global nanoscience and nanotechnology research literature. Report: Arlington, office of naval research. http://www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a461930.pdf. Accessed 30 May 2016.

  • Lancho-Barrantes, B. S., Guerro-Bote, V. P., & Moya-Anegon, F. (2013). Citation increments between collaborating countries. Scientometrics, 94(3), 817–831.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lavrik, O. L., Busygina, T. V., Shaburova, N. N., & Zibareva, I. V. (2015). Nanoscience and nanotechnology in the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences: Bibliometric analysis and evaluation. Journal of Nanoparticle Research, 17(2), 1–11.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Levitt, J., & Thelwall, M. (2009). Citation levels and collaboration within Library and Information Science. Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, 60(3), 434–442.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Leydesdorff, L., Wagner, C. S., & Bornmann, L. (2014). The European Union, China, and the United States in the top-1 and top-10% layers of most-frequently cited publications: Competition and collaborations. Journal of Informetrics, 8(3), 606–617.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Liu, X., Zhang, P., Li, X., Chen, H., Dang, Y., Larson, C., et al. (2009). Trends for nanotechnology development in China, Russia, and India. Journal of Nanoparticle Research, 11(8), 1845–1866.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Meyer, M., & Persson, O. (1998). Nanotechnology—Interdisciplinarity, patterns of collaboration and differences in application. Scientometrics, 42(2), 195–205.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Noorden, R. (2011). Chemistry: The trial of new carbon. Nature, 469(7328), 14–16.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Petrunin, V. F. (1997). History and some programs of ultra dispersed materials development in Russia. In Proceedings of the WTEC workshop on Russian research and development activities on nanoparticles and nanostructured materials (pp. 93–98). Baltimore.

  • Pislyakov, V., & Shukshina, E. (2014). Measuring excellence in Russia: Highly cited papers, leading institutions, patterns of national and international collaboration. Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology, 65(11), 2321–2330.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Porter, A. L., Youtie, J., Shapira, P., & Schoeneck, D. J. (2008). Refining search terms for nanotechnology. Journal of Nanoparticle Research, 10(5), 715–728.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • President of the Russian Federation. (2007). Presidential initiative “strategy of nanoindustry development” (in Russian). Decree No. Pr-688, April 24, 2007.

  • Schiermeier, Q. (2010). Russia to boost university science. Nature, 464(7293), 1257.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Strathern, M. (1997). ‘Improving ratings’: Audit in the British University system. European Review, 5(3), 305–321.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Terekhov, A. I. (2011). Scientometric approach to nanotechnology. Applied Econometrics, 23(3), 3–12.

    Google Scholar 

  • Terekhov, A. I. (2012). Nano-bibliometrics: Assessments for Russia need clarification (in Russian). http://www.strf.ru/material.aspx?CatalogId=222&d_no=45730#.VlcgcnbhDPY. Accessed 30 May 2016.

  • Terekhov, A. I. (2015). R&D on carbon nanostructures in Russia: Scientometric analysis, 1990–2011. Journal of Nanoparticle Research, 17(2), 1–26.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • The Government of Russia. (2008). Program of nanoindustry development in Russian Federation until 2015 (in Russian). Decree No. BЗ-П7-2702, May 4, 2008.

  • The President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST). (2014). Report to the president and congress on the 5th assessment of the national nanotechnology initiative. Washington, DC. https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/microsites/ostp/PCAST/pcast_fifth_nni_review_oct2014_final.pdf. Accessed 7 June 2016.

  • Thomson Reuters (2015). Highly cited researchers. 2014 HCR as of September 8 2015. http://hcr.stateofinnovation.thomsonreuters.com/page/archives. Accessed 7 June 2016.

  • Tijssen, R. J. W., Visser, M. S., & Van Leeuwen, T. N. (2002). Benchmarking international scientific excellence: Are highly cited research papers an appropriate frame of reference? Scientometrics, 54(3), 381–397.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Youtie, J., Shapira, P., & Porter, A. L. (2008). Nanotechnology publications and citations by leading countries and blocks. Journal of Nanoparticle Research, 10(6), 981–986.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This research draws on support from the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (RFBR) under Project #16-06-00009. I would like to thank two anonymous reviewers for their valuable feedback to improve this article.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Central Economics and Mathematics Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Nakhimovsky Avenue 47, Moscow, Russia, 117418

    Alexander I. Terekhov

Authors
  1. Alexander I. Terekhov
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Alexander I. Terekhov.

Appendices

Appendix 1

The search string that has been used:

Title = ([(nano*) not (nanosecond* or nanogram* or nanoliter* or nanomol* or nanoplankton* or NaNO2 or NaNO3 or Nanog)] or (“scanning probe microscop*” or “scanning tunnel microscop*” or “scanning force microscop*” or “scanning electron microscop*” or “atom* force microscop*”) or (fulleren* or fullerit* or fullerid* or fullero* or buckybal* or buckminsterfulleren* or buckytub* or peapod* or graphene* or graphane* or C60 or C-60 or C70 or C-70 or MWCNT* or DWCNT* or SWCNT*) or (“quantum* dot*” or “quantum* well*” or “quantum* wire*”) or (bionano* or dendrimer* or “molecul* motor*”) or (“photonic crystal*” or metamaterial* or “QD laser*” or plasmonics)).

Appendix 2

See Table 9.

Table 9 Citation thresholds
Full size table

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Terekhov, A.I. Bibliometric spectroscopy of Russia’s nanotechnology: 2000–2014. Scientometrics 110, 1217–1242 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-016-2234-5

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-016-2234-5

Keywords

Mathematics Subject Classification

JEL Classification

Search

Navigation