GeneticPrism: Multifaceted Visualization of Citation-Based Scholarly Research Evolution

Area of Science:

• Bibliometrics and Information Visualization
• Scholarly Communication Analysis
• Scientometrics

Background:

• Scholarly research evolution is crucial for academic decision-making, but current metrics lack context.
• Existing visualizations often fail to represent individual research trajectories and self-citation patterns effectively.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose an integrated pipeline for visualizing a scholar's research evolution across multiple topic facets.
• To introduce novel visualization metaphors and algorithms for a comprehensive view of scientific development.

Main Methods:

• Developed a 3D prism metaphor for an overview of research profiles.
• Utilized topic chord diagrams, streamgraphs, and inter-topic flow maps for detailed topic evolution.
• Incorporated a six-degree-impact glyph to highlight interdisciplinary contributions.
• Employed an elaborate layout algorithm for optimized visualization.

Main Results:

• Demonstrated the visualization pipeline's capability through case studies of Turing award laureates and a major visualization venue.
• Evaluated the effectiveness of the proposed methods in a user study.
• Successfully visualized complex research evolution and interdisciplinary connections.

Conclusions:

• The integrated pipeline and novel visualizations offer a richer understanding of scholarly research evolution compared to traditional metrics.
• The methods provide valuable insights for research planning, frontier exploration, and academic award selection.