Files and links (1)
PDFOpen Access (License Unspecified), Open Access
Dissertation
Communication in superconductivity research: a study of scientific discoveries with particular reference to a developing country
Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Drexel University
Dec 1991
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17918/00000619
Abstract
The main objective of the present research is to study the communication dimensions of China's contribution to the discovery of high-Tc superconductors. Chinese researchers of the field were compared with non-Chinese superconductivity scientists from developed countries to reveal similarities and differences in the formal as well as the informal domains of scholarly communication. 240 documents highly cited in a manually-created Chinese database and in Science Citation Index for the period of 1987-89 were examined to delineate the formal structure of communication in the area. Data obtained through a letter poll over the 143 researchers who authored the cited "cores" were used to describe the informal aspects of communication among themselves. Noteworthy similarities, e.g., similar cited cores, identical publication sources, and comparable intellectual structures of cocitation data, were found in formal communication between Chinese and non-Chinese scientists. Nevertheless, differences were also located in regard to citedness, timeliness and direction of communication. In the informal realm of communication, Chinese researchers were less visible than their counterparts. While non-Chinese researchers performed both parts equally, Chinese scientists functioned more often as information receivers than as information disseminators in informal communication. The informal interaction between Chinese and non-Chinese researchers was at best moderate. The mapping of the informal communication activities among the superconductivity researchers shows that all Chinese scientists except Zhongxian Zhao, a special liaison between the two groups of scientists, clustered away from their non-Chinese colleagues. The findings of this communication study reflect the role Chinese scientists played in the discovery of high-Tc superconductors. Chinese researchers overall did better in the formal domain than in the informal realm of scientific communication. Informal communication with scientists from advanced nations appears to be a very weak element in China's endeavors of searching for high-Tc superconductors.
Metrics
37 File views/ downloads
12 Record Views
Details
- Title
- Communication in superconductivity research
- Creators
- Heting Chu
- Contributors
- Belver C. Griffith (Advisor)
- Awarding Institution
- Drexel University
- Degree Awarded
- Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
- Publisher
- Drexel University; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- Number of pages
- xiii, 201 pages
- Resource Type
- Dissertation
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- College of Information Studies (1984-1995); Drexel University
- Other Identifier
- 991014970205004721