International Conference on Scientometrics and Informetrics

International Conference on Scientometrics and Informetrics
Name	International Conference on Scientometrics and Informetrics
Status	active
Genre	academic conference
Frequency	biennial
Country	international
First	1987

International Conference on Scientometrics and Informetrics is a biennial scholarly meeting that gathers researchers working on quantitative studies of citation analysis, bibliometrics, science policy, research evaluation, and related areas. The conference has attracted participants from institutions such as the European Commission, National Science Foundation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Max Planck Society, and United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization; it has featured keynote speakers affiliated with universities like University of Oxford, Harvard University, Stanford University, University of Tokyo, and University of Melbourne.

History

The conference series traces roots to gatherings connected with organizations such as the International Council for Philosophy and Human Sciences, the Royal Society, and early meetings influenced by scholars from Imperial College London, Columbia University, and University of Amsterdam. Early iterations were shaped by methodologies introduced by figures at Karolinska Institute, University of Chicago, and Cornell University, and were informed by citation indexing developments at Institute for Scientific Information, Thomson Reuters, and later Clarivate. Over successive decades the programme incorporated work from researchers at Chinese Academy of Sciences, Indian Statistical Institute, Australian National University, and University of São Paulo, while collaborations involved agencies like the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and the World Bank.

Scope and Themes

Topics addressed include empirical studies using datasets from Web of Science, Scopus, Google Scholar, and national systems such as Research Excellence Framework and Excellence in Research for Australia, alongside methodological advances from laboratories at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, ETH Zurich, and National Institute of Informatics (Japan). Thematic strands have covered citation networks experiments influenced by work at Los Alamos National Laboratory, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and CERN, as well as altmetrics research tied to platforms like Twitter, Mendeley, and GitHub and policy implications for bodies including the European Research Council and National Institutes of Health. Sessions frequently intersect with topics pioneered at institutions such as University of California, Berkeley, Princeton University, McGill University, and Peking University.

Conference Organization and Governance

Organizational models draw on governance practices from learned societies including the International Science Council, Society for Social Studies of Science, Association for Information Science and Technology, and national academies like the Royal Society. Local organizing committees have been hosted by universities such as Leiden University, University of Geneva, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, and University of Pretoria, with program committees featuring editors from journals like Scientometrics (journal), Journal of Informetrics, Research Policy (journal), and representatives from publishers Elsevier, Springer Nature, and Wiley. Funding and sponsorship have involved grants from the European Commission Horizon 2020, the John Templeton Foundation, and national research councils including the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft and the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science.

Proceedings and Publications

Proceedings historically appeared as edited volumes, conference special issues, and collections published by houses such as Springer, Elsevier, and Wiley-Blackwell, with selected papers later appearing in journals like Scientometrics (journal), Journal of Informetrics, Research Evaluation (journal), and PLOS ONE. Data releases and software tools showcased have come from projects hosted at Harvard Dataverse, Zenodo, and repositories affiliated with Figshare and GitHub, while bibliometric datasets have been compared with archives maintained by CrossRef, ORCID, PubMed, and arXiv. Citation metrics and indicators debated at the meetings often reference systems developed at Center for Science and Technology Studies (CWTS), Leiden Rankings, and initiatives by Times Higher Education and QS World University Rankings.

Notable Conferences and Keynotes

Keynote and plenary speakers have included scholars associated with Derek de Solla Price’s legacy institutions, researchers from Eugene Garfield's milieu, and figures affiliated with Herbert Simon’s intellectual descendants at Carnegie Mellon University, Stanford University, and Yale University. Notable venues and editions have been hosted in cities such as Berlin, Beijing, Montreal, Dublin, Lisbon, Valencia, Kyoto, Helsinki, and Cape Town, and have featured panels involving representatives from UNESCO, the World Health Organization, and the United Nations Development Programme. Prominent keynote topics have included the future of indicators debated in the context of reports produced by the Leiden Manifesto signatories, the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment discussions, and evidence drawn from studies at Sage Bionetworks and Microsoft Research.

Impact and Reception

The conference has influenced research evaluation policies at institutions such as University of Oxford, National University of Singapore, and University of Melbourne and informed assessments by agencies like the Research Council of Norway, Australian Research Council, and National Science Foundation. Its proceedings and community contributions have been cited in reports by the European Commission, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, and the World Bank, and have stimulated methodological exchanges with projects at Google Research, Amazon Web Services, and IBM Research. The series has also fostered networks linking scholars from University of Cape Town, University of Buenos Aires, University of the Philippines, and University of Nairobi, while shaping curricula in departments at University College London, Syracuse University, and Dublin City University.

Category:Academic conferences