Annals of Library Science and Documentation 1993, 40(2), 48-55

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH TRENDS IN EXPLORATIONGEOPHYSICS

A comprehensive database, the cumulative Indexof Geophysics for the period 1936-1985 wasanalysed to study collaborative and authorshiptrends in exploration geophysics. A total of 3,417publications in GEOPhYSICS and 1,318 publica-tions in GEOPHYSICAL PROSPECTING comprisedthe database. About 56.2% of all the publicationswere found to be single authored items. The numberof single authored items has been gradually de-clining from 1936 to 1985.Authorship per item forthe period was found to be 1.6 which has f.l-creased from 1. 17 per item during 1936-1950 to1.9 per item during 1981-1985. The results of thisstudy reveal that like in any other discipline insciences, collaboration in Exploration Geophys-ics research has been increasing over the periodof time.

INTRODUCTION

Since scientific research is becoming anincreasingly collaborative endeavour, the modernscientists seidom carry out their research alone.Price (8) noted that "the proportion of multiple-authored papers has been increasing steadilysince the beginning of 20th century and if thesame trend continued, there would hardly be anysingle-authored paper by 1980". However, thisdid not happen as fast as Price predicted althoughthe extent of collaboration, especially in sci-ences, has been steadily increasing. Clarke (4)challenged the view of Price and produced dataon collaborative trend in biomedical sciences forthe period between 1934 and 1969 and provedthat the average number of authors per paperhad remained almost stable at about 2.3 duringthis period. Gupta (5) also found a similar trendin entomological research in Nigeria but that re-flected the pattern of research in a developingcountry. Trends of collaborative research arewell reflected in the patterns of scientificpublications with more and more research

48

DAVENDRA K GUPTAAssociate ProfessorAddis Ababa UniversityP.O. Box 33945,ADDIS ABABA (Ethiopia)

papers by several authors rather than by onlyone. Several studies have been reported onsuch patterns and it is found that patterns, natureand magnitude of collaboration differ with disci-pline, culture and time (1-5,7,8). Gupta (5) in areview paper highlights some of the importantfindings of collaborative studies previously re-ported in the literature and attempts to establishthe fact that personal attitudes, complexity ofproblems to be solved, management structures(funds and facilities of expertise and experimen-tation etc.) and other demographic and environ-mental factors' influence the research and re-search patterns. But an investigation on collabo-rative patterns in any subject area or speciality fora specific period of time, is likely to reflect thenature, dynamism and other characteristics of thediscipline. Findings of such studies can usefullybe employed in research planning and organi-sing information resources and services moreeffectively and efficiently. This facilitates andaccelerates research activities in that discipline.

EXPLORATION GEOPHYSICS

Exploration geophysics, also known as appliedgeophysics, a sub-discipline of geophysics isconcerned with studies of structures and layersof the earth which are sufficiently shallow to beexploited by man. Exploration geophysics is still avery young discipline compared to many otherdisciplines in geosciences. Methods of geo-physical exploration started around 1923 formineral exploration and they have since becomeincreasingly important especially because oftheir increasing and useful application in oilexploration. During early years, development ofthe subject mostly depended on the explorationactivities of mineral industries and of the petro-leum industry in particular. But recently, develop-ments in physics, electronics and other disci-plines in science directly influenced the develop-

Ann Lib Sci Doc

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH TRENDS IN EXPLORATION GEOPHYSICS

ment of exploration geophysics. Advancement ofmodern technology in fields like computer sci-ence, satellite communication, aviation, shippingand transport etc. has accelerated and facili-tated exploration activities. development andconstruction of geophysical instruments for datacollection and processing was also largely influ-enced by the developments in the fields likeelectronics, mechanical engineering and graphictechnology etc. Techniques of data recording,processing and interpretation have remarkablyimproved with increased and improved applica-tion of 'intcrmation technology especially thecomputer technology and computer graphics.Recent offshore ventures and frequent suc-cesses of geophysical methods to discovermore petroleum reserves further boosted theprogress of exploration geophysics and itsresearch activities. The details of explorationgeophysics, its research and information activi-ties have been described in another paper byGupta (6).

OBJECTIVES

The main objectives of this study was toinvestigate the collaborative trends in the re-search of exploration geophysics. It is presumedthat the research collaboration in this newlydeveloping discipline should also followthe trendsof other disciplines in science and also thatcollaboration should be increasing steadily withtime.

THE DATABASE

The necessary data for this study were obtainedfrom the Cumulative Index of Geophysics for theperiod, 1936-1985published by the Society of theExploration Geophysicists (=SEG) (11). Theindex provides complete bibliographic details ofresearch publications that appeared in two mostimportant journals of the discipline:

1) GEOPHYSICS is published by the Society ofthe ExplorationGeophysicists from USA (pub-lished from 1936 and indexed for the period,1936-1985) and

2) GEOPHYSICALPROSPECTING is publishedby the European Society ot the ExplorationGeophysicists from Europe (published from1953 and indexed for the period, 1953-1985).The index of these two journals not onlyprovided sufficient and adequate material for

Vol 40 No 2June 1993

this data but also provided the mostcomprehensive and representative samplefor the research output in exploration geo-physics which was quite suitable for thepurpose of this study.

METHODOLOGY

Authorship is an observable phenomenonreflecting the contemporary practices by clearlyshowing patterns of communication, productiv-ity,collaborationand influences among researcheseven though their quantities and qualities are notunderstood. Thus the knowledge of this relation-ship is useful in the study of communicationamong scholars. It also helps in assessing theirstrength in scientific productivity and in deter-

I

mining research patterns of a subject or a special-ity. Data on authorship were collected item byitem for each journal excluding the items pro-duced by corporate authors. Data on the year ofpublication, number of author (s) for each itemwere recorded; frequencies for each year andclass of authorship for each journal were counted.Authorship data for each journal were computedfor each five-year period. Data for frequencies,year to year and five~yearperiods are plotted andillustrated in figure 1 for single-authored itemswhile similar data for multiple authored items areplotted in figure 2. Authorship trend is presentedgraphically in figure 3. Authorship and averageauthorship per itemfor each five-year period werecomputed and presented in Table 3.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

Authorship data for each five-year period forGEOPHYSICS are given in Table 1.A total of3,417 items were published in GEOPHYSICSduring the period between 1936 and 1985. Out ofthese items, 2,015 (about 59% of all the items)appeared as Single authored items; 935 as twoauthored items; 337 as three authored items; 85as four authored items; 30 as five authored itemsand only 15 items were contributed by more thanfive authors jointly. Similarly, authorship data forGEOPHYSICALPROSPECTINGare given in Table2. Almost an identical trend can be observed fromthe analysis of these data. A total of 1,318 itemswere published in Geophysical Prospectingduring the period 1953-1985. of these items, 741(or to say about 56% of all the items) were pub-lished as single authored items; 420 as two au-thored items; 120 as three authored items; 27 as

49

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COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH TRENDS IN EXPLORATION GEOPHYSICS

Table 1

Distribution of Publications according to Collaboration of authors:GEOPHYSICS; 1936-1985

Number of Publications and percentage by:

Period Total one author two authors three authors four authors five authors * *items

No. % No. % No. % No. % No. % No %

1936-40 141 117 83.0 21 14.9 2 1.4 0 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.01941-45 153 133 87.0 17 11.1 3 2.0 0 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.01946-50 181 146 80.0 29 16.0 5 2.8 0 0.0 1 0.5 0 0.01951-55 248 186 75.0 44 17.7 11 4.4 5 2.0 2 0.8 0 0.01956-60 274 177 64.6 69 25.2 26 9.5 1 0.3 0 0.0 1 0.31961-65 372 235 63.1 81 21.8 36 9.7 6 1.6 2 0.5 2 0.51966-70 362 200 55.3 107 29.6 43 11.9 8 2.2 3 0.8 1 0.31971-75 371 206 55.5 113 30.5 33 8.9 11 3.0 7 1.9 1 0.31976-80 505 267 52.9 158 31.3 56 11.0 16 3.2 6 1.21981-85 821 348 42.4 296 36.1 122 14.9 38 4.6 9 1.1 7 0.9

Total 3417 2015 59.0 935 27.4 337 9.9 85 2.5 30 0.9 15 0.4and Average%

• • Items and percentage by more than five awhon

Table 2

Distribution of Publications according to Collaboration of authors:GEOPHYSICAL PROSPECTING; 1953-1985

Number of Publications and percentage by:

Period Total one author two authors three authors four authors five authors * *items

No. % No. % No. % No. % No. % No %

1953-55 70 53 75.7 16 22.9 1 1.4 0 0.0 0 0.01956-60 139 93 66.9 36 25.9 9 6.5 1 0.7 0 0.01961-65 150 112 74.7 31 20.7 7 4.7 0 0.0 0 0.01966-70 173 111 64.2 51 29.5 9 5.2 1 0.6 1 0.61971-75 244 132 54.1 87 35.7 16 6.6 7 2.9 2 0.81976-80 258 132 51.2 89 34.5 29 11.2 7 2.7 1 0.41981-85 284 108 38.0 110 38.7 49 17.3 11 3.9 5 1.8

Total 1318 741 56.2 420 31.9 120 9.1 27 2.1 9 1.1and average %

Vol 40 No 2 June 1993 51

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COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH TRENDS IN EXPLORATION GEOPHYSICS-

four authored items; 9 as five authored items andonly 1 item was contributed by more than fiveauthors jointly. Percentage distribution of singleauthored publications is shown in figure 1.

General trend for the two journals appears to bethe same with decreasing trend for singleauthored items from 1936 to 1985. Single au-thored items decreased from 87% during 1941-1945 to 42.4% during 1981-1985 (the averagebeing 59.0% for the whole period in case ofGEOPHYSICS). Single authored publications incase of GEOPHYSICAL PROSPECTlNG, decreasedfrom 75.7% during 1953-1955 to 38.0% during1981-1985 (average being 56.2% for the wholeperiod). Authorship data given in table 3 indicatethat the field of exploration geophysics has beendeveloping steadily over the years with increas-ing research activities. The number of itemspublished from year to year has been increasing(from 141 publications during 1936-1940 to 821items during 1981-1985 in case of GEOPHYSICSand similarly, from 139 during 1956-1960 to 284during 1981-1985 in case of Geophysical Pros-pecting). The authorship which was 1.17 per itemduring the period 1936-1945 increased to 1.88

per item during the period 1981-1985 for GEO-PHYSICS and in case of GEOPHYSICAL Prospect-ing, the authorship from 1.14 per item during theperiod 1953-1960 jumped to 1.92 during theperiod 1981-1985. The average for the whole pe-riod and for both the journals comes to 1.6 peritem. This goes contrary to the findings of Clarke(4) and also establishes the fact that the field ofmedical sciences is fairly established while theexploration geophysics is still in developing stage.

CONCLUSIONS

A few general and broad conclusions can bedrawn from the findings of this study :

1) There is a perceptible increase in thecollaborative research in the field of Explora-tion Geophysics from 1936 to 1985.

2) The reduction in single authored papersduring the period 1981-1985 is very sharpwhich reflects the influence of developmentin other scientifit disciplines and approach tointerdisciplinary research collaborative effort.

3) Authorship per item has been increasingsteadily from an average of 1.2 per item

Table 3

Authorship Trend: Exploration Geophysics, 1936-1985 GEOPHYSICS

GEOPHYSICAL PROSPECTING

PeriodNumber of Authorship Authorship Number of Authorship Authorship

items per item items per item

1936-40 141 165 1.17 ... ... ...1941-45 153 176 1.15 ... ... ...1946-50 181 224 1.23 ... ... ...1951-55 248 337 1.35 70& 88 1.141956-60 274 403 1.47 139 196 1.411961-65 372 551 1.48 150 196 1.301966-70 362 596 1.65 173 249 1.441971-75 371 616 1.66 244 392 1.611976-80 505 863 1.71 258 430 1.671981-85 821 1545 1.88 284 545 1.92

Total 3417 5476 1.60 && 1318 2100 1.59&&

& Data only for the period 1953-1955&& A verage authorship per item for the whole period, 1936-1985

Vol 40 No 2June 1993 53

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Total nucber of items . j.J_."': ••. ....;._•...•.. : ..:_. _._:.~ •..:_-.:..:~ __ :.-~!..:._~1

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH TRENDS IN EXPLORATION GEOPHYSICS

during 1936-1950 to 1.9 per item during1981-1985 which is not constant and certainlylower than medical sciences as reported byClarke(4) ( average being 1.6 for the wholeperiod in comparison to 2.3 items in case ofmedical sciences). There is a sudden in-crease in authorship trend from 1.6 to 1.9 peritem during the period 1981-1985 confirmingthe influence of other disciplines as statedabove in para 2.

4) The collaborative and authorship trends asfound in this study, suggest that ExplorationGeophysics is still at a developing stage andthere is a strong possibility that the trend willcontinue towards further increase in future.

5) Therefore, it is recommended that further stud-ies should be conducted to observe thedynamic phenomenon of growth and devel-opment in the research activities of this youngfield of exploration geophysics.

REFERENCES

1) Beaver, D. de B and Rosen, R.: Studies inscientific collaboration. Pt.I. The professionalorigins of scientific coauthorships. Scientom-etrics. 19781 (1),65-84.

2) : Pt. II. Scientific coauthorship,research productivity and visibility in the Frenchscientific elite. Scientometrics. 1979 1(2),133-145.

3) : Pt. III. Professionalisation and thenatural history of modern scientific coauthor-Ship. Scientometrics. 1979 1(2), 231-245.

Vol 40 No 2June 1993

4) Clarke, Beverly L.: Multipleauthorshiptrendsin scientific papers., Science. 1964, 143(3608),822-824.

5) Gupta, DK: Collaboration in research out-put: A review and case study of collaborativetrends of entomological research in Nigeria,1900-1973. International Information Commu-nication and Education 1986, 5(1), 57-75.

6) --------. Development of exploration geophys-ics and its information activities. Annals ofLibrary Science and documentation. 1986,33(3), 117-125.

7) Pao, M.L. : Collaboration in computationalmusicology. Journal of the American Societyfor Information Science 1982, 33, 38-43.

8) Price, D.J. de Solla and Beaver, de B.Donald. : Collaboration in an invisiblecoltege. American Psychologist. 1966, 21,1011-1018.

9) Subramanyam K :Bibliometric studies ofresearch collaboration: A review. Journal ofInformation Science. 1983, 6, 33-38.

10) Zuckerman, Harriet A.: Nobellaureates in sci-ence: Patterns of productivity, collaborationand authorship. American Sociological Re-view. 1967,32,391-403.

11) Zwart, William J. : ed. Cumulative iiindex ofgeophysics, 1936-1985. Geophysics. 51,1986, Supp, Tulsa, Society of ExplorationGeophysicists, 8th computerised edition.

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