title: Twenty-first century macro-trends in the institutional fabric of science: bibliometric monitoring and analysis.
abstract: Some say that world science has become more 'applied', or at least more 'application-oriented', in recent years. Replacing the ill-defined distinction between 'basic research' and 'applied research', we introduce 'research application orientation' domains as an alternative conceptual and analytical framework for examining research output growth patterns. To distinguish possible developmental trajectories we define three institutional domains: 'university', 'industry', 'hospitals'. Our macro-level bibliometric analysis takes a closer look at general trends within and across some 750 of the world's largest research-intensive universities. To correct for database changes, our time-series analysis was applied to both a fixed journal set (same research journals and conference proceedings over time) and a dynamic journal set (changing set of publication outlets). We find that output growth in the 'hospital research orientation' has significantly outpaced the other two application domains, especially since 2006/2007. This happened mainly because of the introduction of new publication outlets in the WoS, but also partially because some universities-especially in China-seem to have become more visible in this domain. Our analytical approach needs further broadening and deepening to provide a more definitive answer whether hospitals and the medical sector are becoming increasingly dominant as a domain of scientific knowledge production and an environment for research applications.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Science and Technology Studies (CWTS), Leiden University, The Hague, The Netherlands ; DST-NRF Center or Excellence in Scientometrics and Science, Technology and Innovation Policy (SciSTIP), Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch, South Africa.
authors.forename: Robert J W
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Tijssen
authors.affiliation: Centre for Science and Technology Studies (CWTS), Leiden University, The Hague, The Netherlands ; Dual PhD Centre, Leiden University, The Hague, The Netherlands ; Netherlands Enterprise Agency, The Hague, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Jos
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Winnink
keywords: Applied science; Basic science; Bibliometric analysis; Research orientation; Web of science