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Which academic subjects have most online impact? A pilot study and a new classification process
Mike Thelwall, Liwen Vaughan, Viv Cothey, Xuemei Li, Alastair G. Smith
2003
333 - 343
1468-4527
10.1108/14684520310502298
MCB UP Ltd
The use of the Web by academic researchers is discipline-dependent and highly variable. It is increasingly central for sharing information, disseminating results and publicising research projects. This pilot study seeks to identify the subjects that have the most impact on the Web, and look for national differences in online subject visibility. The highest impact sites were from computing, but there were major national differences in the impact of engineering and technology sites. Another difference was that Taiwan had more high impact non-academic sites hosted by universities. As a pilot study, the classification process itself was also investigated and the problems of applying subject classification to academic Web sites discussed. The study draws out a number of issues in this regard, having no simple solutions and point to the need to interpret the results with caution.
Classification, Subject cataloguing, Universities, Worldwide Web
Research paper
http://konstanza.emeraldinsight.com/10.1108/14684520310502298