Seeding a field: The growth of bibliometrics through co‐authorship ties

Abstract

Editor's Summary A series of bibliometrics‐based visualizations illustrate the contributions of five preeminent researchers in information science. With data drawn from the Web of Science, the views reflect a total of 1,993 publications by Christine Borgman, Blaise Cronin, Eugene Garfield, Katherine McCain and Howard White spread across seven time periods between 1955 and 2012. Contributions by the authors rose over time as they became active in the field and collaborated with others. The visualizations reveal the temporary nature of some co‐authorship linkages while others were reinforced over time. Trends in the strength of author citations varied. The later time slices show the dynamic connections among the five authors studied, revealing the prominent and influential role played by Garfield and his collaborators through the years.