Webometrics Research: Theory, Methods And Case

It is an innovative attempt of the methodologies of social sciences to analyze quantitatively, with statistics, the past and present of social sciences and reveal their developmental laws. Evaluation of social sciences is the base of social science research, encouragement and management. By adopting the quantitative method, the accuracy and reliability of the evaluation can be improved. The network provides researchers with a still more convenient metrical instrument for social science research and evaluation research. It also contributes to a more accurate and more objective metrical means.The theoretical purpose of this paper is to explore the webometrics as a new cross marginal discipline and discuss with emphasis the major applications of webometrics to informatics. The practical purpose is, by adopting the webometric methods of the library experts in our country, the total impact of these experts, to analyze quantitatively their regional distribution, the institutions they belong to, and the distribution within the library system, and demonstrate with concrete examples, the objectivity and accuracy of the webometrics in social science research and evaluation. The paper consists of four parts.Part I : Introduction. It introduces the significance of carrying out measurement research at present and the purpose of carrying out networkmeasurement. It also summarizes the study on webometrics at home and abroad, and explains the necessity of undertaking this research to resolve the present problems in network measurement.Part II: Introduction to webometrics. This part defines webometrics as a new cross marginal discipline, discusses its formation background and major research objects. It exemplifies in detail the major research methods, such as linking analysis and content unit analysis, which are different from previous measurement research in other fields. It also dwells on some research instruments used in webometric research: search engine, database and computer soft, etc.Part III: The applications of webometrics. This part enumerates the major applications of network measurement in specific areas and discusses the extensive application perspectives of webometrics: in the resource construction and management of the digital library, the construction of the network information resources, the progress of the informatics, the acceleration of the development of network information search technology, as well as the direction of network construction and site management, the resolving of some social problems and the promotion of the healthy network development by studying the Internet users'information demand and exploring habits.Part IV : Case study: the network evaluation and analysis of commissioners in our national library academy organization. This part presents some positivist webometric research and the scientific webometrics and evaluation of these commissioners. It justifies the influence of library experts on Internet and the significant status of public libraries in the library circles of our country. It concludes that the library experts in our country are mainly located in the economically-developed coastal southeast China and that the popularization of social science evaluation can be conducted by applying webometrics.