Metrics and Innovation in Science and Technology (MIST)

Head of the group: Zaida Chinchilla Rodríguez

Members:

 

VISION
The adoption of the so-called Open Science increases and diversifies both the actors generating research activity and third parties that may be the object of impact studies (scientific, social, economic, environmental, political) of such activity. The description, analysis and understanding of an increasingly complex system requires an interdisciplinary approach that combines the experience of metric studies and the methodological knowledge of the qualitative approach.

 

MISSION
The MIST group aims to consolidate itself as an interdisciplinary research team integrating experts in both qualitative and quantitative techniques. The objective is to study contemporary scientific and technological challenges, to analyze all the social agents involved and to explore the innovation capabilities and the social impact of the results. Priority will be given to a multidisciplinary and international approach, giving the opportunity to the incorporation of new researchers.   

 

OBJECTIVES. The group proposes the following research objectives:

1) To analyze the dynamics and flows of scientific information and communication in the global science system, and their impact on innovation processes.
2) To describe the structure and dynamics of scientific communication processes by means of advanced visualization techniques.
3) To design or adapt analytical tools to support decision making, fund raising and improve the efficiency of research and innovation in research centers and units.
4) To develop and validate new indicators and methodologies in the field of Responsible Metrics and for monitoring the implementation of specific Open Science lines and policies.
5) To assess and analyse  the scientific and innovation capacities of countries, institutions, research groups and scientific domains, and their influence on the definition of scientific agendas.
6) Study interdisciplinarity and scientific collaboration in different challenges of current interest such as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the social impact of biomedical and genetic research.
7) To analyze sociologically the trajectories of technological innovation.
8) To study the relationship between science, technology and society, with emphasis on the analysis of the social impact of emerging technologies and to develop new indicators and methodologies for their monitoring.
9) To understand the processes and dynamics of strategic innovation.

 

CHALLENGES AND MILESTONES
Each member, publication of at least 1 research article per year in first quartile journals indexed in international and multidisciplinary databases.
Periodic publication of rankings of institutions, individuals, academic journals and other aggregates.
Obtaining competitive funding through European, international and national projects, with a minimum target of one project per researcher of the group, every 5 years.
It is necessary to secure a permanent position for a Senior Scientist who, in addition to being an expert in quantitative studies of science and technology with international projection, has a clear technological and innovative profile with skills in the analysis of Big Data and complex information systems.
In order to increase the potential and strengthen and broaden our competences and skills, a staff researcher, expert in STS studies and in the analysis of the social impact of science and technology, and a senior postdoctoral researcher, expert in qualitative methodologies and social studies of science, have joined the group.

 

QUALITY INDICATORS
Publication in the last 10 years of more than 300 articles, more than 100 in first quartile journals.
The rankings prepared by the group receive more than 15 million visits per year.
Regularly assessment to governmental and supranational entities and research institutions.
Leadership and participation in national, European and international projects.
Internationalization and global networking capacity of the members of the group.
Training capacity at different educational levels, especially at doctoral level.
Participation in editorial committees, review of articles and projects and other scientific evaluation panels.
Presence in national and international scientific forums.
Dissemination of scientific knowledge in the media and social networks.
National and international awards and recognitions.

 

INDIVIDUAL DESCRIPTION
Zaida Chinchilla is an expert in the field of scientific evaluation and communication. Since its inception she has worked in the SCImago group and has participated in major projects of international relevance (SJR and SIR portals, among others). She has worked in the design and elaboration of reports on the results of scientific activity mainly focused on national and institutional level for different governments and national and supranational institutions, and in the development and analysis of metrics and methodologies oriented to the development of scientific information systems for the evaluation of science. She has been coordinator of the "Yearbook on Bibliometric Indicators on Spanish Scientific Activity" for the Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology (FECYT) since 2003, collaborator in the OECD Science, Technology and Industry Scoreboard since 2013 and co-author of the Compendium of Bibliometric Indicators (2016) for the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). She is currently co-director of the International Network of Science of Team Science (INSciTS), editor-in-chief of the journal Frontiers in Research Metrics and Analytics: Research Assessment, Visiting Researcher at Indiana University Bloomington (USA) and Visiting Professor at Peking University (China).

 

Elena Corera belongs to the SCImago research group since its inception, has participated in the most important projects of this group, the "SCImago Journal & Country Rank-SJR" and "SCImago Institutions Rankings" and SIR Iber (El profesional de la información) focused on Latin American higher education institutions (the three products are the result of the signing of a research agreement with Elsevier-Scopus). The platforms are constituted as Open Access reference scientometric tools for the evaluation of journals, countries and institutions with scientific production indexed in the Scopus database. The "SIR-Iber" is a report published annually that has also become a reference tool for all universities in the region due to the easy availability and analysis of scientometric indicators. During her career she has been principal investigator of several projects funded by the Ministry of Science and Innovation dedicated to the analysis of scientific production at various levels: thematic, regional and authors. The wide activity of the SCImago group has led her to sign numerous collaboration agreements with different national entities (FECYT, Junta de Andalucía, Junta de Castilla y León, Generalitat de Catalunya, Principado de Asturias, Consorcio de Bibliotecas Públicas de Galicia, and with individual universities) and international (CONICYT, CONACYT and the Foro Consultivo de Ciencia y Tecnología, CONICET, IESALC, Colciencias ... and other individual universities), which have served for the elaboration of reports on the internationally visible scientific production of different aggregates.

 

Isidro Aguillo has designed Webometrics Ranking of World Universities, an academic ranking of universities by their presence on the Internet, which is updated every six months. Head of the Cybermetrics laboratory at the Centro de Ciencias Humanas y Sociales of the Centro Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC).  Editor of the journal Cybermetrics until 2015 included and participates in the Advisory Board of scientific journals such as El profesional de la información. Since 2009, he is Doctor Honoris Causa by the University of Indonesia.

 

Vincenzo Pavone was awarded a PhD in Political and Social Sciences by the European University Institute of Florence (EUI). His research interests focus on the development and implementation of the reproductive bioeconomy. Other topics of his work include the relationship between science, technology and neoliberalism. He is a member of the Science and Democracy Network led by Harvard University, the Network for the Social Studies of Science and Technology. He has visited several universities, including the University of Berkeley in California, the University of York in the UK, King's College London, the National University of Quilmes in Argentina and the University of Chile in Santiago de Chile. He is editor of the book review section of the journal "Science and Technology Studies" and member of the editorial board of the journal "Public Understanding of Science". He is currently PI of the EDNA project "Egg Donation in Europe", funded by the British ESRC.

 

Mauro Turrini is a senior post-doctoral research (Atracción de Talento, Comunidad de Madrid) and works at the intersection of science and technology studies and the socio-anthropology of health and disease, conducting interdisciplinary research on innovative biomedical techniques, which he analyzes as heterogeneous sets of knowledge, institutions, technologies, practices and subjectivities. His research interests focus on the relationship between new genetics and society. This new research examines susceptibility and prediction of diseases based on genetic information and how genetic information transforms clinical settings and society at large. He has previously worked at several institutes (Institute for Advanced Studies on Science, Technology and Society in Austria, Institute for Advanced Studies in Nantes) and universities (University of Paris 1 Panthéon Sorbonne, University of Nantes).

 

Related sites:

Dept. of Science and Innovation