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Scientometrics is a research field that deals with the measurement of the outputs of science to evaluate scientists and to understand how disciplines and specialisms grow. The results can be used to allocate research funding and to compare research outputs between countries in order to identify areas of strength and weakness as well as patterns of overall improvement or decline. Scientometrics can therefore provide quantitative evidence of winners and losers in e-science. A related concept is “Webometrics” or Webmetrics, in which hyperlinks can behave like citations. This chapter examines the role of Webometrics in identifying winners and losers in e-science, the advantages of Webometrics, and the methods used in Webometrics.

This chapter describes the contribution that the ATLAS Collaboration is making to the emerging cultures and practices of e-science. Information and communication technologies (ICTs) have played a crucial enabling role in the development and operation of the ATLAS detector. Beyond making possible the simulation of progressively elaborate models of the detector itself and providing data-processing resources for the detection, recording, and analysis of particle-collision data, the new ICTs have provided the infrastructure needed for the coordination of a complex scientific ecosystem spread around the globe. The chapter looks at how ATLAS and the other Large Hadron Collider experiments, through their roles as lead users of these new ICTs, are changing the way that science is done.

Embedded and wireless sensor networks are transforming research in the biosciences, environmental sciences, and other fields. However, these technologies also contribute significantly to the data deluge associated with e-Research and cyberinfrastructure activities. Embedded networked sensing research is a reflection of e-science and thus presents an opportunity to understand the transformation of scientific work and collaborative research, along with the emergence of communities of practice that give rise to new forms of data production. This chapter focuses on embedded sensor networks and their applications in e-Research, especially in “big science” and “little science” as well as digital libraries.

This chapter looks at the institutional infrastructures for global research networks in the public sector. Drawing on the results of a survey and case studies of e-science projects in the United Kingdom, it argues that “soft” institutional infrastructures can facilitate the formation and conduct of collaborative research initiatives in the public sector, such as those which aim to be truly global in scope. The chapter also examines ownership of research data or processes, citing the example of medical images, and the role of authorship in protecting the integrity of scientific collaboration. Finally, it highlights the legal issues that are related to the authorship and copyright of intellectual property developed in many e-Research projects.

Grid computing enables a global e-science infrastructure that has the potential to become a technically complex supercomputing infrastructure, distributed among geographically disparate locations and providing higher processing power and larger data storage. This chapter discusses the importance of a “soft” infrastructure of e-science by focusing on the electronic Diagnostic Mammography National Database (eDiaMoND) pilot project in the United Kingdom. The project was launched to create a database of digital mammography images using Grid technology. The chapter discusses the intellectual property rights and ownership issues concerning images in the eDiaMoND project and highlights the need for e-science collaborations to include, at their project design stage, plans for creating a functioning working culture.

This chapter examines how historical norms and practices of openness have been vital for scientific communities’ work, but have often been in tension with technical and institutional restraints on access to research tools and information. Drawing on the results of a study of practices in e-science projects in the United Kingdom, it looks at the conceptual differences and similarities between e-science and open science, and rejects the notion that the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) fosters open global research collaboration. The chapter proposes a framework on how further empirical research can be undertaken to help establish where, when, and to what extent “openness” and “e-ness” in research may be expected to advance in harmony. It also discusses the international politics of open access in e-Research and argues that “open viewing” of journal articles online at no cost to the user cannot adequately support the kind of participation in scientific research made possible by free public availability of scholarly publications. The chapter cites Neurocommons as an example of an open access platform in e-Research.

In advanced industrialized countries, academic scientists and funding agencies have been trying to develop new forms of “e-science” or “cyberinfrastructure,” the set of organizational practices, technical infrastructures, and social norms that collectively enable the smooth operation of scientific work at a distance. In contrast, historians and social scientists have focused on other kinds of infrastructure such as the Internet, telephony, railroads, highways, waterworks, and business communication systems. This chapter examines shared patterns, processes, and lessons learned from research on cyberinfrastructures, with an emphasis on the social processes shaping technologies and their implications. It first considers the “long now” of scientific information infrastructures before discussing the organizational, technical, and social dimensions of cyberinfrastructures.