Scientometric-based analysis in business and economics: Introduction, examples, and guidelines

In this introductory paper to the special issue on Scientometric Analysis in Business and Economics, we consider four related issues. First, we outline why we believe it is time to produce a special issue of the Journal of Economic Surveys dedicated to the scientometric analysis and its growing use in the fields of business and economics. Second, we focus on the topic of "evaluative scientometrics," which revolves around the central, basic, original question: how much is a publication worth? The question then is: how do we measure scholarly impact? In answering the question, many pitfalls exist and we identify some of them. Third, we present a brief overview of the seven papers, authored by twelve scientometricians, that constitute the special issue. The manuscripts show the potential of scientometrics in terms of the wide range of fields of application. Finally, we present a set of Guidelines which, if prospective authors in business and economics follow them, we hope will increase readability, impact and the potential for their scientometric-based research to be published.