On the approach to the analysis of research vectors as the case study of Microbiology subject area

Abstract

It is very important to identify the most developing research areas. The analysis of terminology dynamics, as exemplified by microbiology, enables to make conclusions on the current changes within the corresponding branch of science. The terminological dynamics of the most cited publications demonstrates high relevance of research findings demanded by scientific community. As exemplified by our Microbiology subject index, we introduce the method of identification of the most developing research problems based on key words frequency distribution. We suggest that the share of unique topic-oriented key words in the articles which belong to the same topic-oriented group is a variable that correlates with the range of research studies, methods, and the diversity of microorganisms: the greater is the number of these words, the greater diversity of topics is comprised by scientific papers in the field. Within this study, the group of papers falling under the heading of Genetics of yeasts and microfungi is leading in the number of papers with the number of topic-oriented key words amounting to 83%. Soil microbiology, Geomicrobiology, Pathogen-host interactions, and Bacterial Genetics also belong to the most developing topics.