SCIENCE POLICY

Methodology outline

The methodology being used in this study is outlined as follows:

  1. Establish an expert steering committee. This expert steering committee is charged with consideration of the three questions specified in the previous section, with regard to the goals specified for the Australian context.

  2. The expert committee's initial tasks are to:
    • identify relevant sub-fields of nanotechnology to be considered in the project;
    • identify relevant keywords to be used in the bibliometric analysis.
  3. Once the sub-fields and keywords are identified, perform a comprehensive bibliometric analysis.

  4. Compile a preliminary report on the bibliometric analysis.

  5. The expert steering committee is then to oversee the leadership survey/virtual congress peer assessments, as follows:

    • From the bibliometric analysis (and recommendations from the expert steering committee), identify all Australian researchers/research groups working in nanotechnology.
    • Survey all the Australian nanotechnology researchers/research group leaders. Provide them with the preliminary bibliometric analysis report, including a list of leading Australian researchers identified from the bibliometric analysis and ask:
      1. What sub-field(s) are you (or your research group) working in?
      2. Name the world leaders in that sub-field.
      3. Are any key researchers missing from the list of Australian researchers identified in the bibliometric analysis?
    • Based on the results of the survey of Australian nanotechnology researchers (and recommendations from the expert steering committee), identify a panel of world experts in each nanotechnology sub-field.

    • Survey the panel of world experts and ask:
      1. Name the world leaders in the sub-field.
      2. Name any Australian nanotechnology researchers/research groups whose work you are aware of
  6. Examine the responses from the surveys to see if any prominent researchers have been missed. If not, it can be concluded that the keywords used have adequately captured the bulk of Australia's nanotechnology publications. If some important researchers have been missed, investigate why this has happened and modify the keywords if necessary.

  7. The expert steering committee may then analyse the results of the bibliometric analysis, the leadership surveys, and any other supporting data to assess Australia's nanotechnology capability.