ASSESSMENT OF FLEMISH RESEARCH-AND-DEVELOPMENT IN THE FIELD OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY - A BIBLIOMETRIC EVALUATION BASED ON PUBLICATION AND PATENT DATA, COMBINED WITH OECD RESEARCH INPUT STATISTICS

This paper outlines a method to evaluate a geographic region's perform ance in a research field. Using bibliometric indicators, an overview i s given of Flemish R&D potential in information technology (IT). Flemi sh IT activity is presented within the context of recent international developments in this field. Both publication, patent data, and OECD i nput statistics are used in the study. We found that Flanders is quite productive in IT as far as publication activity is concerned. In cont rast, the patenting productivity is rather low. Furthermore, the data indicate that Flemish R&D in IT has two strong points: image processin g on the patent side, and processing technology on the publication sid e. Publications in the latter subdomain have an impact which is above world average. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.