Footprints through science - using citations to assess the path towards applicability

The question of how fundamental research and applicable technologies are connected has been discussed for a long time. With finding answers, Policy makers could use indicators to better direct scientific funding and companies could focus on fundamental research that would eventually lead to an application. In my dissertation, I discuss the possibility of finding links from fundamental research towards application through the discovery and analysis of so called "Genesis Articles" (GA). A GA is defined as a paper in which a new technology or scientific discovery is presented to the scientific community for the first time. Through the articles that cited this GA and articles which have a similar topic, the path of the knowledge of the GA is traced through the scientific journals and through time. By analyzing citation levels, times of publication in different journals, the journals themselves, citing and publishing institutions and patents, I try to find a general method, with which GAs can be analyzed. The Web of Science (WoS) is used as a database, along with INSPEC and COMPENDEX to help find journals
which might be read by practitioners but which one cannot find on WoS. In addition, other visualization and analysis programmes are used.