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on Sociology of Economics |
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Issue of 2013‒11‒22
six papers chosen by Jonas Holmström Swedish School of Economics and Business Administration |
| By: | Bögenhold, Dieter |
| Abstract: | Today, social networks analysis has become a cross-disciplinary subject with applications in diverse fields of social and economic life. Different network designs provide different opportunities to communicate, to receive information and to create different structures of cultural capital. Network analysis explores modes and contents of exchanges between different agents when symbols, emotions or goods and services are exchanged. The message of the article is that social network analysis provides a tool to foster the understanding of social dynamics, which enhances recent debate on a micro-macro gap and on limitations of the cognitive and explanatory potential of economics. |
| Keywords: | Social Network Analysis, social dynamics, micro-macro gap |
| JEL: | A1 A12 A14 |
| Date: | 2013–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:51461&r=sog |
| By: | Mirjana Pejić Bach (Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Zagreb) |
| Abstract: | Scientific research publishing carries huge importance for the development of the society. Apart from the dissemination of knowledge, there are also motives for publication of scientific research results at the level of individual reserachers: it might be a requirement for graduation or promotion, and there is also an individuals’s wish to be recognized as a respectable researcher. Depending on how difficult it is for a paper to get accepted for publishing, publications can be ranged from the least difficult to the most difficult to get published in, in the following order: a book chapter, a conference, a non-indexed journal and an indexed journal. Journals are currently indexed in two databases: Scopus and Web of Science. Of the two, Web of Science has a long tradition and is formally accepted in a number of countries and institutions as an indicator of the quality of an indexed journal. Hence, publication in a journal that is indexed in Web of Science is an important venue for scientific researchers, although previously published papers indicate that there are substantial obstacles for researchers from developing countries. When considering writing for publication, four critical questions emerge: (1) How to pick a topic that is relevant for publication?, (2) How to select a journal for possible publication of research results?, (3) How to structure the paper in accordance with the IMRAD format?, and (4) How to efficiently write the paper?. The goal of the paper is to propose simple, yet highly applicable advice when answering these questions and thus pursuing the publication of a paper in a scientific journal providing a closer look to economics, business and management journals indexed in Web of Science that focus on Eastern European countries. |
| Keywords: | publication, scientific research, knowledge, economics, business, management, academic writting |
| JEL: | A10 Y20 |
| Date: | 2013–11–13 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zag:wpaper:1305&r=sog |
| By: | Toivanen, Otto; Waterson, Michael |
| Abstract: | We examine whether the organisation of individual researchers into departments has an impact on the average research quality, beyond the impact of the individuals themselves. Using data on science disciplines generated from the UK Research Assessment Exercises in 1996, 2001 and 2008, we find that department size has an independent positive effect on research quality. |
| Keywords: | economies of scale; RAE; research quality; sciences; department size; |
| Date: | 2013–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ner:leuven:urn:hdl:123456789/391779&r=sog |
| By: | Ajay Agrawal; John McHale; Alexander Oettl |
| Abstract: | We report a puzzling pair of facts concerning the organization of science. The concentration of research output is declining at the department level but increasing at the individual level. For example, in evolutionary biology, over the period 1980 to 2000, the fraction of citation-weighted publications produced by the top 20% of departments falls from approximately 75% to 60% but over the same period rises for the top 20% of individual scientists from 70% to 80%. We speculate that this may be due to changing patterns of collaboration, perhaps caused by the rising burden of knowledge and the falling cost of communication, both of which increase the returns to collaboration. Indeed, we report evidence that the propensity to collaborate is rising over time. Furthermore, the nature of collaboration is also changing. For example, the geographic distance as well as the difference in institution rank between collaborators is increasing over time. Moreover, the relative size of the pool of potential distant collaborators for star versus non-star scientists is rising over time. We develop a simple model based on star advantage in terms of the opportunities for collaboration that provides a unified explanation for these facts. Finally, considering the effect of individual location decisions of stars on the overall distribution of human capital, we speculate on the efficiency of the emerging distribution of scientific activity, given the localized externalities generated by stars on the one hand and the increasing returns to distant collaboration on the other. |
| JEL: | I23 J24 L23 O31 O33 |
| Date: | 2013–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:19653&r=sog |
| By: | Irene Bongioanni (Department of Physics, Universita' degli Studi di Roma "La Sapienza"); Cinzia Daraio (Department of Computer, Control and Management Engineering, Universita' degli Studi di Roma "La Sapienza"); Giancarlo Ruocco (Department of Physics, Universita' degli Studi di Roma "La Sapienza") |
| Abstract: | We model Science and Technology (S&T) systems as complex systems and propose to use the mathematical tools developed within the spin-glasses literature to evaluate similarity within systems and between systems in a unified manner. Our measure is based on the ÔoverlapÕ of disciplinary profiles of a set of S&T systems. The investigation of the distribution of the overlaps provides useful insights on the dynamics of the general system, that is whether it converges towards a unique disciplinary structure or to a differentiated pattern. We illustrate the usefulness of the approach by investigating the dynamics of disciplinary profiles of European countries from 1996 to 2011. We analyse several bibliometric indicators (including publications and citations) of European countries in the 27 Scopus subject categories. We compare the disciplinary profiles of European countries i) among them; ii) with respect to the European standard; and iii) to the World reference. We find that there is a convergence towards a unique European disciplinary profile of the scientific production even if large differences in the scientific profiles still remain. The investigation of the dynamics by year shows that developing countries are converging towards the European model whilst some developed countries are departing from it. |
| Keywords: | diversity/similarity; disciplinary profiles; spin glasses;overlap; overlap distribution; European science |
| Date: | 2013–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aeg:report:2013-010&r=sog |
| By: | Glänzel, Wolfgang; Thijs, Bart; Debackere, Koenraad |
| Abstract: | The analysis of the high end of citation distributions represented by its tail provides important supplementary information on the citation profile of the unit under study. In a previous study by Glänzel (2013a), a parameter-free solution providing four performance classes has been proposed. Unlike in methods based on pre-set percentiles, this method is not sensitive to ties and ensures needless integration of measures of outstanding and even extreme performance into the standard tools of scientometric performance assessment. The applicability of the proposed method is demonstrated for both subject analysis and the combination of different subjects at the macro and meso level. |
| Date: | 2013–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ner:leuven:urn:hdl:123456789/422521&r=sog |