Measurement of Science. Study of the Development of Science as an Information Process

The book concerns quantitative methods of studying the development of science. The material is presented from single theoretical positions - science is examined as an informational process. An analysis is given of growth curves for a number of publications, a number of journals and a number of scientists and assignments for science. The informational crisis and slowing down in the development of science are discussed, and new organizational forms, invisible collectives, are described. It is shown how it is possible to use the language of bibliographical references for establishing internal connections in publications. The question of the evaluation of the effectiveness of the operation of scientific collectives is discussed. The contribution of different countries to the world informational flow is estimated. (Author)