Editing Scientometrics (section)

{{Short description|Quantitative study of scholarly literature}}
{{for|the journal|Scientometrics (journal)}}

'''Scientometrics''' is a subfield of [[informetrics]] that studies quantitative aspects of [[scholarly literature]].<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |last1=Gómez-Morales |first1=Yuri Jack |title=Scientometrics |encyclopedia=The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Sociology |date=2015 |doi=10.1002/9781405165518.wbeoss057.pub2 |isbn=9781405165518}}</ref> Major research issues include the measurement of the impact of research papers and academic journals, the understanding of scientific citations, and the use of such measurements in policy and management contexts.<ref name="ScientometricsLeydesdorff">[[Loet Leydesdorff|Leydesdorff, L.]] and Milojevic, S., "Scientometrics" [https://arxiv.org/abs/1208.4566 arXiv:1208.4566] (2013), forthcoming in: Lynch, M. (editor), ''International Encyclopedia of Social and Behavioral Sciences'' subsection 85030. (2015)</ref> In practice there is a significant overlap between scientometrics and other scientific fields such as [[information system]]s, [[information science]], [[science of science policy]], [[sociology of science]], and [[metascience]]. Critics have argued that overreliance on scientometrics has created a system of [[perverse incentives]], producing a [[publish or perish]] environment that leads to low-quality research.