Scientometric Mapping of Social Science Studies in East Asia and the Philippines

Abstract

This paper presents a scientometric analysis of research efforts done in the field of Social Sciences (SS) in the region of East Asia and the Philippines during the last 18 years for comparison. With the records indexed in Scopus, we performed a computational analysis of textual data and bibliometric for publications originating in East Asia and the Philippines. The analysis performed measures and produces results in find out the total SS research output of the East Asian Region and the Philippines, global share and rank, impact and growth trends, collaboration levels within the East Asian Region and a text-based keyword research topic trend. The analytical results provide insightful mapping of SS research work in the East Asian Region as well as the Philippines. After processing, the results showed that East Asian countries place most of their efforts on Economics, Sociology, and Political Science. The results also discovered that Social Science research experienced consistent growth in over 18 years. Especially, in the period of 2006-2011 where both East Asian countries and the Philippines experienced great growth in social science research. It has also been identified that older papers are more favored due to a bigger citation window than more recent papers. It has also been found that there has been a steady decrease of cited papers in the East Asian Region and The Philippines within the 18-year scope. The results found find connections with other economic and demographic indicators in East Asian countries as well as the Philippines. The analytic results presently made inferences of this paper will be useful in gauging the performance of professionals within academic institutions within the East Asian region and the Philippines and may provide opportunities for research and improve collaboration within the said countries in the Social Science field of study. Using what we had found, we’d like to broaden our scope to include the ASEAN region or other Asian Regions.