and especially the sociology of science z

Abstract:  Contents, #46, p.5-1 O, November 12, 1979 Scientometrics Comes o! Age Number 46 whei first nceived of the Science Citation Index (SCI), I was almost totally preoccupied with the problem of information retrieval. I saw citation in- dexing primarily as a way to search the scientific literaturea way to achieve better bibliographic control.l Although I had at one time planned a career in the history of science, it was only later that I began to recognize the tremendous potential of citation analysis in the history and especially the sociology of science. 2 Robert K. Menon of Columbia Univer- sity and Allen Newell of Carnegie-Mellon University appreciated much better than I how the SCI might affect not only socio-historical research but science it- self) (p. 52-53) There is little doubt that this has come to pass. As citation analysis, properly used, has provided new insights into historical and contemporary science 4 there has emerged a new field called scientometrics. The SC[ is one of