[Air-L] PhD Studentship in Webometric methods to assess emerging research fields

[m.thelwall at blueyonder.co.uk]

PhD Studentship in Webometric methods to assess emerging research fields

A significant part of the effort in the research field of scientometrics
is devoted to tracking new and emerging scientific fields by analysing
their publications in standard databases like the web of science. This
approach suffers from an inevitable time lag due to the publication cycle.
The objective of this PhD is to develop web-based methods to track
heterogeneous emerging research fields, bypassing the publishing time lag
and encompassing commercial, governmental and other actors that would not
be fully represented in traditional academic publishing. This research
will build upon pilot studies already conducted at Wolverhampton.

The candidate will ideally have some knowledge of bibliometrics or
scientometrics and interview or qualitative analysis techniques. The PhD
will combine quantitative and qualitative approaches and would suit
someone with a library and information science background. Funding is
available for a three-year full-time PhD.

Essential: Degree in information science, mathematics or related
discipline. Ability to use novel software and do simple analyses of
quantitative data.

Desirable: Master’s degree. Experience of writing scientific articles.
Experience of interviewing and interview analysis. Knowledge of
bibliometrics, scientometrics, webometrics, social network analysis,
science studies. Programming experience.

For more information see:
http://cybermetrics.wlv.ac.uk/phd_2009a.htm