BIBLIOGRAPHICAL CARTOGRAPHY OF AN EMERGING INTERDISCIPLINARY DISCIPLINE - THE CASE OF BIOELECTRONICS

A bibliometric analysis in the emerging field of bioelectronics, chara cterised by a high degree of interdisciplinarity, is carried out. Two different techniques - co-classification and co-word analysis - have b een used and their results have been compared. The limitations and pot entials of these techniques, especially concerning their use for analy sing interdisciplinary scientific fields, are discussed. It is found t hat these techniques enable analyses gaining a first insight into the coarse structure of the field. The advantage of the techniques is thei r relative simplicity, and the possibility to carry out trend analyses based on relatively constant classifications of research activities, so that maps of different time periods become comparable and changes w ithin the structure of the field become visible.