Comparison Study On Methods And Indicators Of Measuring Research Fronts Characteristics

With the rapid development of information technology, all countries in the world is in a high-speed development of the track, and international competition is becoming more and more intense. In such a tense international situation, the development of the society is no longer only depends on following the steps of the world, but needs to be quick to grasp the frontier science and technology. Many countries begin to put limited resources in the frontier fields, and give priority to develop them. Science is the foundation of social development, so mastering research front as early as possible is not only helpful to scientific researchers, but contribute to nation to make science and technology policy. Therefore, research front has caught scholars' general attention and it has become research themes of all fields.This article defines the concept of research front through combing all concepts and characteristics. According to this concept, we conclude four critical characteristics, including novelty, activeness, betweenness and attraction. Then based on all these characteristics, compare three kinds of methods that is co-citation analysis, bibliographic coupling analysis and direct citation analysis. In addition, according to the characteristics of research front, design a set of indicators. Finally, take scientometrics as sample to actually verify the effects that these methods measure characteristics of research front.In order to better compare the analysis results, consider research fronts mainly from the aspect of time and activeness level. Learning from strategic management, divide research fronts identified into hot research front, border research front, emerging hot research front and emerging potential research front in the form of strategic diagram. Compare the results and combine the state of the art of scientometrics, then find that co-citation analysis method is better to measure characteristics of research front. Based on the method, we compare the applicability of four kinds of indicators.This article not only systematically introduces the theoretical basis of research front, but also combines the methods and indicators. It enriches and deepens related research, makes it more operable and reliable and provides reference for making science and technology policy.