Within the past few years, the discipline of landscaping and urban planning has become quite popular in the general public.  Many graduate schools offer degrees in Landscape Architecture and Urban Planning to teach others to use ecological and environmental space in a healthier, more constructive way.  During the rise of environmental and ecological concerns in the Western world, the publishing company Elsevier released a new journal, which capitalized on the concerns of the general public about how best to mange urban areas without causing distress to the natural environmental and ecological systems.  In 1974, Elsevier began publishing the journal Landscape and Urban Planning,  (Landscape and Urban Planning.  An International Journal of Landscape Ecology, Planning and Design. ISSN: 0169-2046.  Vol. 1, 1974.  Elsevier Science Publishing Company, Amsterdam.  Latest available issue (as of April 2003): Landscape and Urban Planning.  An International Journal of Landscape Ecology, Planning and Design. Vol. 63, No. 4, May 2003.  Elsevier Science Publishing Company, Amsterdam) which was “concerned with conceptual, scientific, and design approaches to land use” (Elsevier).  With a highly diversified editorial board headed up by Editor-In-Chief, Jon E. Rodiek, Landscape and Urban Planning has become a journal at the forefront of ecological and environmental approaches to design and urban planning.

Landscape and Urban Planning was first published in 1974 by the Elsevier publishing company out of Amsterdam.  Landscape and Urban Planning was born through the merging of three journals throughout a 19-year history.  In 1974, the journal Landscape Planning was first launched; the journal Urban Ecology quickly followed suit one year later in 1975.  In 1986, these two journals merged, and in 1988 they incorporated the journal Reclamation and Revegetation Research.  Since that time, Landscape and Urban Planning has been a scholarly journal, which “attempts to draw attention to the interrelated nature of problems posed by nature and human use of land” (Elsevier). Through research of the publisher website and various articles through a number of years, it can be inferred that Landscape and Urban Planning is a journal that attempts to better explain the ecosystems, land, ecology, environment and how humans use all of these things together to create urban areas. Elsevier lists landscape ecology, landscape planning, and landscape design as major topics that the journal covers on a continual basis.

Landscape and Urban Planning produces 16 issues per year and is based in the Netherlands.  The journal includes articles, biographical items, book reviews, corrections, editorial material and reviews in issues throughout the year.  The Editor-In-Chief is Jon E. Rodiek at the College of Architecture, Texas A&M University.  There are two Associate Editors: one for Asia, Australia, and New Zealand, Denis A. Saunders at CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems and one for Europe, Rodolphe Schlaepfer, Chair of Ecosystem Management (IATE-GECOS), Department of Rural Engineering, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology.  There are 35 members of the Editorial Advisory Board and one Book Review Editor: R.R. Stoltz at the School of Landscape Architecture, University of Arizona.

Landscape and Urban Planning is included in many indexes through the University of Arizona’s library website.  According to the Elsevier website, the journal is indexed and abstracted through Applied Ecology Abstracts, BIOSIS, Cambridge Scientific Abstracts, Current Contents, Elsevier BIOBASE, Environmental Abstracts, Environmental Periodicals Bibliography, GEOBASE, Geographical Abstracts, LandSearch, Science Citation Index, and Urban Studies Abstracts; full-text editions of the journal are available through Science Direct.  Through Science Direct, one is able to access over seven years worth of full-text journals.  The University of Arizona library cancelled their subscription to Landscape and Urban Planning in 1996 due to the fact that Science Direct offers the full text to all the journals since that point as well as far before.

Summary statistics

The statistical overview given in what follows is based on the years 1996-2003 of the journal Landscape and Urban Planning. Through the use of ISI Web of Science database, it was noted that Landscape and Urban Planning publishes much more than just articles.  Through the years 1996-2003, Landscape and Urban Planning published articles, biographical items, book reviews, corrections, editorial material, and review articles.  Below is a table representing the years searched and frequency of materials contained in the journal.  Although the majority of Landscape and Urban Planning is made up of scholarly articles, it can also be seen that the journal publishes many book reviews, as well.
 
 
 

	2002	2001	2000	1999	1998	1997
Article	70	87	93	53	63	70
Biographical	0	0	0	0	1	0
Book Review	4	19	20	18	16	8
Correction	0	0	0	0	0	1
Editorial	4	2	3	3	4	4
Review Article	2	1	1	2	1	2

To find citivity, Landscape and Urban Planning Volume 62, Issue one, published in December 2002 was used.  In Issue one, there were three articles and one review.  Article one had 21 citations, article two had 38 citations, and article three had 46 citations; the book review had zero citations.  The mean number of references per document type in Volume 62 Issue one was 26.25.  The median number of references per document type was 29.5.  Using Journal Citation Reports for the year 2001, a report was done for the journal Landscape and Urban Planning. The impact factor tells us the measure of frequency with which the average article in a journal has been cited that year.  The impact factor of this journal is 0.477.  The immediacy index tells us the measure of how quickly the average article in a journal is cited.  The immediacy index of this journal is 0.159.

Keyword statistics

Using the mentioned documents from Volume 62, Issue one, a search of subject and author keywords was done in ISI Web of Science for each article.  In document one, “Perception and evaluation of water in landscape: use of Photo-Projective Method to compare child and adult residents’ perceptions of a Japanese river environment”, the keywords were: landscape perception, landscape assessment, water, child development, projective method, and Japan.  In document two, “Multivariate analysis of soil heavy metal pollution and landscape pattern in Changhua county in Taiwan”, the keywords were: landscape patterns, landscape indices, soil pollution, urbanization, geographic information system, forested landscapes, variability, ecosystems, simulation, and indexes.  In document three, “General principles of monitoring land cover change based on two case studies in Britain and Denmark”, the keywords were: surveillance, monitoring, land use, landscape, vegetation, Small Biotopes, Denmark, Countryside Survey, and Great Britain.  In document four, “Threatened landscapes: Conserving cultural environments”, there were no keywords listed.

Cited author statistics

Through Science Citation Indexes, a search of most frequently cited authors was conducted.  The most cited author in one specific article through the years 1997-2003 was R. Hobbs with 21 cites from his article “Future landscapes and the future of landscape ecology.”  Next was a tie for 2nd place between five authors.  D. LeCoeur, J. Baudry, and F. Burel were all cited 17 times for their article “Field margins plant assemblages: Variation partitioning between local and landscape factors.”  For their article, “The transformations of the natural landscapes of the Haut-Saint-Laurent (Quebec) and their implications on future resource management”, A. Bouchard and G. Domon also received 17 cites.

In terms of overall citing throughout the five-year period, F. Burel is the most cited author with 33 cites between three different articles.  Along with the article mentioned above co-authored with D. LeCoeur and J. Baudry which was cited 17 times, two additional articles, one in 1997 and the other in 2000 gave him an additional 16 cites. G. Domon came in second with 26 cites between two articles, and J. Baudry was third with 22 cites between two articles.  LeCoeur, Hobbs, and Bouchard only published 1 research article each for Landscape and Urban Planning from 1997-2003. Domon and Baudry each published 2 and Burel published 3 during the same time period.

Summary

Using the data collected, it can be surmised that although Landscape and Urban Planning does have articles that are noticed and cited, it is not necessarily the most popular of journals.  By using the impact factor and immediacy index, one can see that the numbers are on the low side.  The closer those two numbers come to 1.00 shows greater popularity in the citing community.  The closer those numbers are to 1.00, the closer the journal comes to having one citation per article published.  However, since the impact factor is close to a .500, it can be estimated that average articles are cited frequently.  Also, the authors most cited received quite a low number of cites compared to other scholarly journals; however, Landscape and Urban Planning looks like a journal with much potential.

F. Burel – A Bibliometric Profile

Through the years 1945-2003, F. Burel was an author in 45 documents published in ISI’s Web of Science indexed publications.  The breakdown of his author position is included in the following chart:
 

Only	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th
3	10	10	13	5	2	1	1

Using the 45 documents indexed in ISI’s Web of Science, the following statistics were calculated.  F. Burel worked with 155 co-authors, although many of them he world with repeatedly.  F. Burel was cited 935 times by other authors, and F. Burel cited various authors 1345 times in the 45 documents indexed in Web of Science.  Using H.D. White’s article “Author-centered bibliometrics through CAMEOs”, I have constructed the following table which identifies F. Burel’s citation identity, citation image-makers, citation image and co-authors.

In terms of citation image, when F. Burel was cited by other authors the majority of the time, he was cited for his work produced in collaboration with J Baudry, who also happens to be who he co-authored with the most, according to my data.

Using H.D. White’s article, “Authors as Citers over Time”, I also analyzed the data I compiled to find F. Burel’s synchronous self-citation rate and his diachronous self-citation rate.  To find the synchronous self-citation rate, I divided F. Burel’s self-citations (75) by the total number of references (1345).  F. Burel’s synchronous self-citation rate is 0.055762.  To find the diachronous self-citation rate, I divided F. Burel’s self-citations (75) by the number of times others cited F. Burel’s work (935).  F. Burel’s diachronous self-citation rate is 0.05021390.  According to Lawani, quoted in White, if an author’s synchronous self-citation rate is high, it doesn’t necessarily mean he or she is egotistical, but if the author’s diachronous self-citation rate is high, it does mean the author is egotistical.  F. Burel’s diachronous self-citation rate is higher than his synchronous self-citation rate, but neither one of them are very close to 1.00.  As each rate approaches 1.00, it would signal that every time F. Burel quoted someone else, he also quoted himself or every time F. Burel cited himself, someone else cited him.  In this case, through the data, it can be inferred that F. Burel not only uses his own past work to his advantage, he also cited a variety of other writers to help construct his studies.

Through my analysis of F. Burel as an author, I found his work to incorporate ideas from many different authors; however, I also found that he relied heavily on his own work as well as work from his most frequent co-author, J Baudry to substantiate his claims.  F. Burel is cited quite heavily in other Landscaping and Environmental journals indexed by ISI, but again, he is his one greatest citer.  It is understandable that authors cite themselves due to familiarity of work and how they are able to work that in easily into what they are writing.  Yet, as I was compiling the data, it became quite apparent very fast, that F. Burel was his own favorite writer.  As I continued to separate the data, I was happy to see that F. Burel does truly incorporate many different writers into his published articles.  Although he has quite a few authors that he cites most frequently, there are many authors whom he has utilized based on the specific topic that he happened to be writing on at the time.  F. Burel is definitely a member of a group as opposed to a single writer.  Many authors that he cited were lone authors, but he tends to always be apart of a group, usually in a group of 2 or 3.  Although F. Burel seems to recite frequently, the addition of individual authors or small groups evens out his high rate of self-citation.

Keyword Analysis

As noted in the introduction, Landscape and Urban Planning is “a journal concerned with conceptual, scientific, and design approaches to land use” (Elsevier).  I kept this definition in mind as I gave a closer look to the keywords mentioned briefly in the introduction to this report.  The keywords studied in part 1 of this study included landscape perception, landscape assessment, landscape patters, landscape indices, soil pollution, urbanization, geographic information system, forested landscapes, variability, ecosystems, land use, landscape, vegetation, Small Biotopes and Countryside Survey, to name a few.  In keeping with the definition of the journal, landscape and actions related to upkeep or monitoring of the landscape were heavily listed as keywords.  Others words such as ecosystems and variability were also highly used keywords, and this would keep in check with the journal’s commitment to also include ideas to help keep environments and ecosystems better regulated and preserved through landscape design.

According to the Texas A&M University Geographic Information Science website, “The earth is a fragile planet with finite resources. These resources are shared by increasing numbers of humans and decreasing numbers of wildlife. To manage the changes taking place on Earth we need information to guide our actions and policies. Much of this information is required in geographical form; in other words, we need to answer some basic questions such as: What is it? Where is it? How big is it? How will it affect those around it? Geographic Information Science (GISc) provides the tools, skills, and information to answer these questions, and more, about the physical environment of our planet and how our actions affect the environment in which we live and work” (Texas A&M).  In my opinion I do believe that the subject keywords, in general, do appear to fit within the discipline of Geographic Information Science.  Although geographic information system was a specific keyword, in terms of what the journal attempts to talk about and teach, the match between the keywords and GIS is much stronger than having GIS as a keyword.  In the field of Information Science, we are learning not only about information, but also how best to disseminate the information, how best to introduce the information, where the information originated, and what could hamper the spread of information in the society.  I see Geographical Information Science as an offshoot of the more general term of Information Science.  I think that Landscape and Urban Planning is an excellent example of a publication dedicated to informing the public about geography and land space and use.  Just examining the keywords shows what how important landscape is in terms of the topics researched in this particular journal.  Also, through other keywords such as urbanization and soil pollution, the reader also notices that Landscape and Urban Planning is not just about informing the public about landscape design, but also about the problems that come along with the human movement into previously unaltered areas.  Also, when looking beyond the keywords to the articles in which they represent, the reader is offered an array of information not only about the United States, but the world, in terms of a geographical area.  The journal offers information on geographical areas throughout the world; the journal utilizes the newest technology, geographic information systems, to offer new in depth analysis of areas whose geography have been adversely affected.

Information about the geographical makeup of a particular area is not only about where the rivers flow or the rock structure of the area, but also about how that area will fare and function in the future.  Not only do the keywords reported on earlier show how Landscape and Urban Planning attempt to address problems and offer solutions, but their mission statement and purpose show that they wish to disseminate information about a specific aspect of our society, its’ geography and how human movement and urban sprawl affects not only the physical properties of the landscape, but the animal and insect inhabitants of that area, as well.  Through the use of Geographic Information Systems, one can further investigate the affects of design on a given area and use that data to further support previous research or theses.  In the field of Geographic Information Science, Landscape and Urban Planning is a journal which many people in the field, including, as mentioned on the Elsevier website, “landscape planners, landscape architects, landscape conservationists, ecologists, urban planners and urban ecologists” can come together to receive information and solutions about the geographical system and the problems that landscape and human design have arisen in a given geographical area.  “Landscape and Urban Planning is based on the premise that research linked to practice will ultimately improve the human made landscape” (Elsevier).

Critical Analysis

I believe the fundamental factor of scholarship to be that material is available, free to the public and all inclusive of research and viewpoints in a given field.  In terms of scholarly communication, as people, students or colleagues, come together to research a particular topic and their works are, in turn, made available in Information Science discipline, for example, the availability to knowledge grows, and thus, in turn, scholarship is made even better for those incoming to the field.  Through the genius of Eugene Garfield, and his decision to index publications to show patterns between citations, the students and professors of today are better able to see how the consensus on a given subject moved from its’ beginning point A to its’ point in the present day through linked citations.  Through the use of ISI’s Web of Science alone, the student can search based on authors, journal titles and article titles among many other aspects of the publication, to see patterns and similarities.  As noted in Christine L. Borgman’s essay, “Scholarly Communication and Bibliometrics Revisited” noted, the Internet only made this process easier and faster (143).

Through my evaluation of data and research, I researched not only a journal, Landscape and Urban Planning, but an author, F. Burel, as well.  Through the manual work of organizing citing authors, co-authors, and cited authors, I could see things that I wouldn’t have been able to see just by glancing at the journal itself or browsing through the database.  I noticed that Burel cites himself more than he cites anyone else, and he usually is a co-author with J Baudry.  Through this bibliometric method, I was able to see patterns based on keywords, i.e. he tended to cite certain authors based upon the subject of his paper, etc.  Bibliometric methods allow for the student to compile information in a way in which he or she can spend more time looking at and analyzing the data instead of trying to compile it all in the first place.  As Wallace Koehler writes in his article, “Information science as “Little Science”:  The implications of a bibliometric analysis of the Journal of the American Society for Information Science”, Information Science is growing bigger from the little science that it was – research was performed by small groups with very little money, thus the need for huge bibliometric methods was unnecessary at the time when research was easily gathered and analyzed (119). However, in today’s Informational world, Information Science encompasses more information than one person could look through alone.  Through the use of bibliometric methods, the student, such as myself, can access materials for research and informational needs.  Using the methods available to me made my work much easier, but if I knew other methods, such as DIALOG, etc. my research would have been even easier to compile, leaving me with more time to study and reflect on data I had compiled
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Through bibliometric methods, the user can see links between various articles, various authors, and various publications.  One can link by country of publication or original citing author.  One can also study aspects of publishing like the Matthew Effect or the Journal “Halo” effect.  Patterns in scholarly communication manifest themselves in many ways and show themselves differently at different points in time.  Through bibliometric methods, one is able to focus on analyzing those patterns and being able to distribute and organize data in ways that only exaggerates  the pattern for the user to see.  In times past, the organization of data was in such a way that to further investigate patterns through manual investigation proved to be time consuming, and probably quite frustrating.  Through the use of modern bibliometric methods, most notably those offered electronically, the user is better able to create his or her own rules for data organization and retrieval.

Although ISI databases are the most often seen in the bibliometric world, there are also new more independent databases that offer material to those in a way that differs from the past offerings.  DLIST and E-LIS are repositories that house documents relating to the Information Science discipline; these 2 databases are offering access to even harder to find materials, often materials that were not published or were published in hard to access journals.  This bibliometric method helps in identifying patterns even more because if you do not have access to all the information in your given field, how can you get a true representation of what patterns there actually are?  By offering this kind of material to the general public, for free, it only allows for the scholarship to continue to develop in an all-encompassing way.

Through the use of bibliometric methods, research and publications can be easily accessed by the given user.  However, does it make it easier to understand any more than if another method was used in obtaining the data?  I was able to spot specific patterns while I was transferring data to my Excel spreadsheets.  By just browsing the articles, I was unable to notice basic patterns of co-authorship and author citation.  By simply arranging the documents in WOS in a way in which I transferred the data to a spreadsheet, patterns became apparent immediately.  I could see that Burel cited specific authors for specific topics, and he cited those whom he co-authored with the most.  Through the use of bibliometric methods, these patterns became clear to me right away.  Also, through the use of more advanced bibliometric methods, smaller patterns and deviances would become clear which could lead to further investigation on the part of the researcher.  Through the recognition of my patterns, I started to think more critically about my author and the data I was inputting and analyzing.  I started to understand why an author might cite him or herself more frequently than others or why he or she might choose to cite co-authors more frequently than unknown colleagues.  Instead of focusing on just trying to retrieve the data, through the use of bibliometric methods, the user can spend more time on the analysis of the data and recognition of seen and unseen relationships.

Through the compilation of this paper and the findings I used to write my study, I used only web based bibliometric methods to help me with my research and the organization of my data.  To have done so any other way would have proved to be highly futile and time consuming.  Through the use of ISI’s Web of Science and Journal Citation Reports, I was able to organize and retrieve data on both my journal, Landscape and Urban Planning and my author, F. Burel.  I was able to analyze the citation history of the journal as well as identify most cited authors and keywords.  The information I retrieved on F. Burel was time consuming to record and organize, but the actual retrieval part of the process was simplified with ISI’s Web of Science.  Seeing how this paper was only possible with the help of webometric methods, I can only see webometrics growing and becoming more integrated in the University system in which students now exist.  I see webometrics as the next stepping-stone in the bibliometric story.  At the time, the original bibliometric methods were seen as groundbreaking and innovative, and now with the advent of computers and computer technology, webometrics is taking that innovative idea and expanding it to how students and others wish to research in this new millennium.  From the print form of ISI’s Citation Indexes to their Journal Citation Reports and Web of Science, the path of webometrics is sure to prove to be a long and prosperous journey.

Through this study, I was able to gain a better understanding not just of how bibliometric, mainly webometric, methods work and how they are used, but how also to critically analyze an author, a journal and specific keywords in relation to a given topic.  Webometrics will only continue to make the process I went through easier and more user-friendly in the future.  I believe as webometrics becomes easier and more integrated in the university society, previously unseen articles, like those catalogued in E-LIS and DLIST, will become a part of the Information Science community of resources.  As webometrics starts integrating more bibliometric methods, the user will be introduced to a greater community of scholarship within the information science discipline.  As scholarship grows within the discipline, the recipients of the wealth of information will only then go on to conduct their own research, and be added into the database of growing knowledge that will continue to flourish and prosper through the future.