Scientometrics and the Possibility of Employment of Studies on Scientific Literature into Science Policy Making

Abstract

The directions of scientometrics studies on the scientific literature, which reflect the subject structure of sciences and developmental trends of various areas, are presented. The sources of information and a number of indicators related to the science development, which serve as a basis of the quantitative examination of scientific production are described. The structure and the development of the scientific literature are examined on the global level as well as according to the country break, taking the input of specific countries into the world literature into consideration. The input of Polish writers into the world literature of various theoretical and applied sciences is presented. In addition, the possibilities to utilize the in-country scientific capabilities (input) in relation to the results of the scientific activities (output) are discussed. Attention is paid to the fact that the assessment of scientists and institutions of science should refer to the international as well as to the in-country angle (studies of minor importance in the global perspective and of significant value for the in-country economic and societal development). It was reiterated that the results of scientometric studies, especially those comparising the analysis of quotations, should have been discussed by experts representing various areas of science, to balance the results of quantitative studies in terms of qualitative categories, so that they could form a basis to draw conclusions addressed to the scientific policy makers.