Mapping Science - Mapping Scientific Frontiers: The Quest for Knowledge Visualization - page 299

Using visualization and science mapping techniques we have demonstrated
that many high-profile retracted articles belong to vibrant lines of research. Such
complex attachments make it even more challenging to restore the validity of
the scientific literature in a timeliness manner. We introduced a set of novel
and intuitive tools to facilitate the analysis and exploration of the influence of
a retracted article in terms of how they are specifically cited in the scientific
literature. We have demonstrated that topic-transition visualizations derived from
citation sentences can bridge the cognitive and conceptual gap between macroscopic
patterns and microscopic individual instances. The topic flow of citation sentences is
characterized in terms of convergent and divergent topics, which serve as conceptual
touchstones for analysts to discern the dynamics of topic transitions associated with
the perceived role of a retracted article.

8.3.5 Summary

The perceived risk introduced by retracted articles alone is the tip of an iceberg.
Many high-profile retracted articles are interwoven deeply with the scientific
literature and in many cases they are embedded in fast-moving significant lines of
research. It is essential to raise the awareness that much of the potential damages
introduced by a retracted article are hidden and likely to grow quietly for a long time
after the retraction via indirect citations. The original awareness of the invalidity of
a retracted article may be lost in subsequent citations. New tools and services are
needed so that researchers and analysts can easily verify the status of a citation
genealogy to ensure that the current status of the origin of the genealogy is clearly
understood. Such tools should become part of the workflow of journal editors and
publishers.
From a visual analytic point of view, it is essential to bring in more techniques
and tools that can support analytic and sense making tasks from the dynamic and
unstructured information and allow analysts and researchers to move back and forth
freely across multiple levels of analytic and decision making tasks. The ability of
trailblazing evidence and arguments through an evolving space of knowledge is a
critical step for the creation of scientific knowledge and maintaining a trustworthy
documentation of the collective intelligence.

8.4 Global Science Maps and Overlays

Science mapping has made remarkable advances in the past decade. Powerful
techniques have become increasingly accessible to researchers and analysts. In this
chapter, we present some of the most representative efforts towards generating maps
of science. At the highest level, the goal is to identify how scientific disciplines
are interrelated, for example, how medicine and physics are connected, what topics