Onderzoeksgroep Informetrics - UHasselt

The Research Project Informetrics

The research project "Informetrics" studies all quantitative aspects (mathematical, statistical, probabilistic) of information and information flow, incl. the modelling of library management. In the latter sense, the research area usually is called "Bibliometrics". The study of citations is called "Scientometrics".
Leo Egghe studies the problems related to these topics from a model theoretic point of view. External collaborator : Prof. Dr. R. Rousseau. The research of L. Egghe has lead to a Ph. D. in Information Science (1989) from the City University London (UK); the research of R. Rousseau lead to a Ph. D. in Library and Information Science (1992) from the University of Antwerp (UA). L. Egghe and R. Rousseau received in 2001 the Derek De Solla Price Award (award of the journal Scientometrics).

Research - Activities - Publications - Contacts

Research

The following topics are studied :
Generalized bibliographies (called IPPs : Information Production Processes) : sources that produce items (as e.g. in the case of journals "producing" articles). Proving regularities in production patterns. Explanations of the laws of Bradford, Lotka, Mandelbrot, Zipf, ... and proving derived results .
Study the productivity of these IPPs in the framework of stochastic processes and prove regularities in time.
Study the degree of inequality in production of these sources : Lorenz curves, measures of concentration, similiarity and diversity (there is a strong link here with econometrics and biometrics).
Model-theoric aspects of information retrieval.
Study of concrete library and information problems.
Graph theoretical aspects of networks (Internet, Intranet).
Citation analysis and ageing.

Activities

In 1987 Egghe and Rousseau organised "The first international Conference on Bibliometrics" in LUC, Diepenbeek (Belgium). This series of conferences is continued until Today and booked in the future :

• 1989 : London (Ontario, Canada),
• 1991 : Bangalore (India),
• 1993 : Berlin (Germany),
• 1995 : River Forest (USA),
• 1997 : Jerusalem (Israel),
• 1999 : Colima (Mexico)
• 2001 : Sydney (Australia)
• 2003 : Beijing (China)
• 2005 : Stockholm (Sweden)
• 2007 : Madrid (Spain)

Egghe and Rousseau edited the first two conference proceedings : "Informetrics 87/88", respectively "Informetrics 89/90", both published by Elsevier, Amsterdam in 1988 and 1990 respectively.

Publications

The studies, conducted since 1984, have led to many publications, mainly in the journals :

• Jounal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology (JASIST),
• Scientometrics,
• Information Processing and Management,
• Mathematical and Computer Modelling,
• Journal of Information Science

Egghe and Rousseau have written two books in this field :
Introduction to Informetrics. Elsevier, Amsterdam, 1990. ISBN 0-444-88493-9. Elementary Statistics for effective Library and Information Management. Aslib, London (UK), 2001. ISBN 0-8514-2451-1.
Egghe has written the book:
Power laws in the Information Production Process : Lotkaian Informetrics. Elsevier, Oxford (UK), 2005. ISBN: 0-12-088753-3.
Egghe also teaches informetrics and information retrieval in the university of Antwerp (UA).
See also at the repository Universiteit Hasselt: Informetrics.

Contacts

Prof. Dr. L. Egghe
Universiteit Hasselt
Bibliotheek
Campus Diepenbeek
Agoralaan - Gebouw D
B-3590 Diepenbeek
Office: E2
Phone: (0)11/26.81.21
Fax: (0)11/26.81.26
Email: leo.egghe@uhasselt.be

Prof. Dr. R. Rousseau
Email:rousseau@kh.khbo.be - ronald.rousseau@pandora.be