A Scientometric Analysis of Global Forensic Science Research Publications

Abstract

A scientometric study of forensic science literature from the year 1975 to 2011 is carried out to find out the growth in forensic science literature, authors' productivity, the top ranking source journal and the country-wise productivity. The data for the study is obtained from the SCOPUS database. The 13626 number of results retrieved are analysed using excel worksheets. Google Scholar database is used as a data source for citation analysis of the authors who are found highly productive in the SCOPUS data. Publish or Perish (PoP) software is used for the citation analysis. It is found forensic science literature has seen an explosive growth during the period of study. Bruce Budowle is the author who has contributed the highest number of articles. The three journals, Journal of Forensic Sciences, Forensic Science International and Science & Justice contribute almost half of the total forensic science literature. The United States of America contribute 30% forensic science literature. FBI Laboratory is the only forensic science laboratory in the top ten affiliating institutions.