# A study of seismology as a dynamic, distributed area of scientific research

**Authors:** Caroline S. Wagner, Loet Leydesdorff  
**arXiv:** [0912.1371](https://arxiv.org/abs/0912.1371)  
**Date:** 2009-12-07  
**Summary page:** https://www.summarizepaper.com/en/paper/0912.1371v1/

## Key points

- Seismology is highly internationalized due to its global subject matter, reliance on information technologies, and government interest in funding cooperative research.
- Seismology emerged as its own field within geophysics in the 1990s.
- In 2000, seismology had a lower percentage of articles co-authored on an international basis compared to geophysics.
- Social network analysis reveals that the core group of cooperating countries within seismology is larger and more distributed than in geophysics.
- Geophysics has an established network with a hierarchical structure, while seismology is still forming new partnership relations.
- Seismology demonstrates a more dynamic and evolving pattern in terms of forming collaborative relationships among countries.
- This study highlights the ongoing development and potential for further international cooperation within the field of seismology.

## Summary

In their study, Caroline S. Wagner and Loet Leydesdorff examine the internationalization of the field of seismology compared to the older field of geophysics. They argue that seismology has several characteristics that suggest it is highly internationalized, including its global subject matter, reliance on information technologies for seismic wave analysis, and government interest in funding cooperative research. To investigate whether seismology has a more internationalized structure than geophysics, the authors use aggregated journal-journal citations. Their analysis reveals that seismology emerged as its own field within geophysics in the 1990s. However, when comparing the internationalization levels between the two fields, they find that in 2000 seismology had a lower percentage of articles co-authored on an international basis. Despite this finding, social network analysis provides additional insights into the internationalization patterns within seismology and geophysics. The authors observe that the core group of cooperating countries within seismology is proportionately larger and more distributed compared to geophysics. While geophysics exhibits an established network with a hierarchical structure, seismology is still in the process of forming new partnership relations. Overall, this study suggests that while seismology may not have a higher level of internationalization than geophysics based on bibliographic analysis alone, it demonstrates a more dynamic and evolving pattern in terms of forming collaborative relationships among countries. This highlights the ongoing development and potential for further international cooperation within the field of seismology.