Bibliometric Analysis in Historiographical
Studies
131
for the 1994-2005 period, compared with an average of 5 per year between
1980 and 1993.
A thorough study of the creative heritage of any one figure gives way
to generalisations and classification. Over the years, the thesis titles
examined featured more personalities. However, among the leading lights of
the Russian expatriate community there remain many whose works have
not yet been the object of research in this particular genre of academic
paper, the thesis.
Conclusions
This paper has identified and demonstrated the capabilities and limits of
applying scientific bibliometric techniques, proving that such methods are
effective tools for studying the historiography of Russian emigration and
the Russian expatriate community. With their help, the direction and pace
of development of emigration studies as an academic area has been
identified, along with the dynamics of academic interest in the subject; the
contribution of individual regions, establishments and authors to the
development of the field; the intensity of research centres (including
academic institutes); and the integrative communication between branches
of academia and the subject matter before them. The only thing that is
objectively beyond the limits of applied bibliometrics is consideration of the
actual texts of academic papers, because this kind of measurement is only
amenable to formal sources. Therefore, to reflect the diversity of
information contained in theses and their abstracts, in addition to such
quantitative methods, it is necessary to use traditional, qualitative methods
of document analysis.
Bibliometric Analysis in Historiographical Studies (Based on the Example of
Theses on Russian Emigration Written between 1980 and 2005)
(Abstract)
The object of this article involves the study of theses and their abstracts on the topic of
“Russian emigration.” The purpose of the study to identify and analyse dominant
tendencies in the development of Russian humanities in terms of its understanding of the
history of the Russian diaspora.
Cognitive features were identified through historiographical study that used
knowledge-based systems and bibliometric indicators to characterise the distribution of
institutions as well as the branches and specialities of theses on the history of emigration
from Russia, explore the number of theses defended in a given period, pinpoint centres of
activity for the study of this subject, and identify characteristics and trends in the study of
Russian emigration in different stages of the country’s history. These methods proved the
effectiveness of using bibliometrics to analyse the body of thesis-based research dealing
with the phenomenon of emigration.
www.cclbsebes.ro/muzeul-municipal-ioan-raica.html / www.cimec.ro
A. A. Pronin
132
The theoretical significance of this study arises from the proposal of an algorithm
for perceiving theses as a form of academic work and a historiographical phenomenon, as
well as the establishment and systematisation of the dominant tendencies in the
development of Russian human sciences in terms of comprehending the problems of the
Russian emigration history. Furthermore, the results obtained confirm the emergence of
emigration studies as a new direction in Russian humanities, outlining the dynamics of its
development, defining the discipline-specific “core” of emigration-related research and that
taking place in allied branches of academia, and showing the pace of the subject’s
development. Three academic branches (philology, philosophy and history) were identified
within which the main developments in knowledge of Russian emigration history and the
Russian expatriate community have taken place.
This article will be of use to academics and professors within higher education
institutions whose professional interests are related to the history of Russian emigration,
when conducting specific academic research or summarising their field.
Bibliographical Abbreviations
Balayan 2004
- Galina V. Balayan, Informatsionnyye metody istoricheskogo
issledovaniya v rossiyskoy istoriografii posledney treti XX veka, thesis,
candidate of Historical Sciences (07.00.09), Moscow, 2004.
Bibliographic Index 1990
- Bibliograficheskiy ukazatel’ literatury po bibliometrii, informetrii i
naukometrii (otechestvennaya i zarubezhnaya literatura), compiled by
M. G. Kalinina and T. I. Rutkovskaya, Leningrad, 1990.
Documentary 1983
- G. V. L. Gedrimovich, Zucheniye dokumental’nykh potokov dlya
otsenki bibliograficheskikh posobiy, in
Dokumental’nyye potoki po
yestestvoznaniyu i tekhnike i problemy bibliografii, coll. of scientific
works, edited by N. K. Krupskoy, T. 76, Leningrad, 1983, p.
26-65.
Efimov 1978
- A. N. Efimov,
Informatsiya: tsennostt’, stareniye, rasseyaniye,
Novoye v zhizni, nauke, tekhnike, Seriya Matematika-
Kibernetikam, 5, 1978, Moscow.
Fokeev 2008a
- Valeriy A. Fokeev, Bibliograficheskaya nauka i praktika:
terminologicheskiy slovar’, Saint Petersburg, 2008.
Fokeev 2008b
- Valeriy A. Fokeev, Metodologicheskiye issledovaniya, in Mir
bibliografii, 2, 2008, p. 6-11.
Gedrimovich 1968
- Gertrude V. Gedrimovich, Rasseyaniye publikatsiy v mirovoy
periodike, in Nauch.-tekhn. Inform, 1, 1968, 11, p. 12-17.
Gedrimovich, Minkina 1976 - Gertrude V. Gedrimovich, V. A. Minkina, Metodicheskiye
sovety po izucheniyu informatsionnykh dokumental’nykh
potokov, Leningrad, 1976.
Gedrimovich,
Zilbermints
1972 - Gertrude V. Gedrimovich,
L. V. Zilbermints,
Polnota
otrazheniya i kriterii otbora mirovoy literatury dlya tekushchikh
bibliograficheskikh izdaniy, in Nauch.-tekhn. Inform, 1, 1972, 3, p.
29-35.
Gliantsel 2004
- V. Gliantsel, Ispol’zovaniye bibliometricheskikh pokazateley pri
vyrabotke nauchnoy politiki: vozmozhnosti i ogranicheniya, in
NTB,
10, 2004, p. 43-47.
www.cclbsebes.ro/muzeul-municipal-ioan-raica.html / www.cimec.ro