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Measurement and analysis of collaboration ability: The collaborative rate, collaborative breadth and collaborative depth

Rongying Zhao (School of Information Management, Wuhan University, Wuhan, China)
Xuqiu Wei (School of Information Management, Wuhan University, Wuhan, China)

The Electronic Library

ISSN: 0264-0473

Article publication date: 3 April 2018

441

Abstract

Purpose

Collaboration is an important way for scientific research. It attracts a large number of researchers, and forms a series of measurement evaluation indicators. The purpose of this study further enriches the evaluation system of collaboration and provides new indicators to measure collaboration ability at author level in order to identify the most appropriate potential partners.

Design/methodology/approach

The papers published during the period 2006-2015 and collected from Web of Science Core Collection in library and information science (LIS) are regarded as data source. And it defines and measures the collaborative rate, collaborative breadth and collaborative depth at author level.

Findings

The authors’ research shows that collaboration is an important way in the scientific research activities in LIS. Unfortunately, most author’s collaborative breadth and the collaborative depth are lower than mean. Therefore, the author’s scope and stability of collaboration is further strengthened in future. Authors can identify the most appropriate potential partners according to author’s research purpose and the region of the collaborative breadth – the collaborative depth.

Originality/value

It further enriches the evaluation system of collaboration and provides new indicators to evaluate collaboration ability at author level. Authors can identify the most appropriate potential partners according to author’s collaboration ability.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

This work is supported by National Social Science Foundation in China (Grant No.16BTQ055).

Citation

Zhao, R. and Wei, X. (2018), "Measurement and analysis of collaboration ability: The collaborative rate, collaborative breadth and collaborative depth", The Electronic Library, Vol. 36 No. 2, pp. 270-285. https://doi.org/10.1108/EL-10-2016-0229

Publisher

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Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2018, Emerald Publishing Limited

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