Springer handbook of science and technology indicators. Preface

The Springer Handbook of Science and Technology Indicators offers a collection of state-of-the-art contributions on quantitative science and technology research. Organized in six parts, the individual chapters focus on various aspects of the development and application of indicators derived from data on scholarly publications, patents, and electronic communication. The 44 chapters are written by leading specialists in the topics selected for this Springer Handbook. These chapters deal with theoretical and methodological issues, illustrate applications, highlight their policy context and relevance, and point to future research directions. In particular, the authors present a survey of the research topics they address, and show their most recent achievements and contribution to the advancement of quantitative studies of science and technology. The chapters are arranged into six parts: Part A: Analysis of data sources and network analysis Part B: Advancement of methodology for research assessment Part C: Science systems and research policy Part D: New indicators for research assessment Part E: Advancement of methodology for patent analysis Part F: Patent system, patents, and economics. The Editors' Introduction provides a further specification of the handbook's scope and of the main topics addressed in its chapters. This Springer Handbook aims at four distinct groups of readers: practitioners in the field of science and technology studies; research students in this field; information scientistsa and practitioners in informatics; scientists, scholars, and technicians who are interested in a systematic, thorough analysis of their activities; policy-makers and administrators who wish to be informed about the potentialities and limitations of the various approaches and about their results. The current handbook can be considered a successor of the Handbook of Quantitative Science and Technology Studies edited by Anthony van Raan and published in 1988 and the Handbook of Quantitative Science and Technology Research. The Use of Publication and Patent Statistics in Studies of S&T Systems edited by Henk F. Moed, Wolfgang Glänzel, and Ulrich Schmoch in 2004. We are grateful to all contributors for their enormous efforts to share their longstanding experience as experts in their research topics and to provide us with excellent chapters for this handbook.