Spatial Scientometrics and Scholarly Impact: A Review of Recent Studies, Tools, and Methods

Abstract

Previously, we proposed a research program to analyze spatial aspects of the science system which we called “spatial scientometrics” (Frenken, Hardeman, & Hoekman, 2009). The aim of this chapter is to systematically review recent (post-2008) contributions to spatial scientometrics on the basis of a standardized literature search. We focus our review on contributions addressing spatial aspects of scholarly impact, particularly, the spatial distribution of publication and citation impact, and the effect of spatial biases in collaboration and mobility on citation impact. We also discuss recent dedicated tools and methods for analysis and visualization of spatial scientometric data. We end with reflections about future research avenues.