Bibliometric Analysis Course: From Search String to Science Maps

What you will learn

• Formulate bibliometric research questions and choose between bibliometric analysis and a systematic review, or combine them
• Build and document a reproducible search string for Scopus, Web of Science, PubMed and other databases
• Export complete records, merge databases and remove duplicates
• Clean the data: completeness checks, filters, keyword synonyms and author names
• Run performance analysis: growth, sources, authors, countries, citations, Bradford’s and Lotka’s laws
• Map the conceptual structure with co-occurrence networks, thematic maps, thematic evolution and trend topics
• Map the intellectual and social structure with co-citation, coupling, historiographs and collaboration networks
• Report a bibliometric review with a PRISMA diagram, methods paragraph and research agenda

Who this course is for

Master’s and PhD students starting a literature review chapter, researchers preparing a bibliometric or systematic review article, and librarians and research managers who analyse publication output. No programming or statistics background is needed. Access to Scopus or Web of Science through your library helps for your own project; the course itself uses the Studio’s demo dataset.

How the course works

Each lesson explains one step of the method in plain language and then sends you to a free tool on this site with the data already loaded, so you practise on a real analysis as you read. A short quiz at the end of every lesson checks your understanding. Create a free student account to save your progress on every device. After the last lesson, pass the final assessment with 70% or more to earn a certificate of completion that you can download as a PDF at any time and that anyone can verify online. There are no fees, no deadlines and nothing to install.

Syllabus

1. 1What bibliometric analysis is and what it can answerUnderstand performance analysis and science mapping, how bibliometrics differs from a systematic review, and how to write bibliometric research questions.15 min
2. 2Build the search strategy and document it with PRISMAChoose databases, build a Boolean search string, set inclusion criteria and record every step for a PRISMA flow diagram.15 min
3. 3Export, import and merge database recordsExport complete records from Scopus, Web of Science, PubMed and others, load them into the Studio and merge several databases without duplicates.12 min
4. 4Clean and filter the bibliographic dataCheck field completeness, apply inclusion filters, merge keyword synonyms, remove uninformative terms and handle author name ambiguity.15 min
5. 5Performance analysis: growth, sources, authors and impactDescribe the collection, measure growth, identify core sources with Bradford’s law, productive authors with Lotka’s law, and influential documents and countries.20 min
6. 6Map the themes: co-occurrence, thematic maps and trendsBuild a keyword co-occurrence network, classify themes on a thematic map, follow their evolution and detect emerging topics with trend topics and bursts.20 min
7. 7Map the roots and networks: co-citation, coupling and collaborationReveal the intellectual base with co-citation and the historiograph, current fronts with bibliographic coupling, and collaboration patterns between authors and countries.20 min
8. 8Interpret and write up the bibliometric reviewTurn tables and maps into findings, build a research agenda, and report methods, PRISMA, figures and limitations in a publishable structure.15 min
9. ✓Final assessment and capstone12 questions on the whole course; 70% unlocks your certificate.20 min

Tools you will use

Frequently asked questions