Page 180 - JOURNAL OF LIBRARY SCIENCE IN CHINA 2015 Vol. 41

The diffusion process of academic innovation 1①

Ge SONG 2 ∗

The Institution of Information Science & Technology, Southeast University Library, Nanjing 210096, China

Abstract
Knowledge diffusion has become an important research topic in bibliometrics. Existing results pay more
attention to studying the knowledge diffusion in one discipline or among different fields, while studies on
the dynamic process of the academic innovation diffusion remain rare. Present study provides a valuable
reference not only for colleges and universities to construct the disciplines, organize the interdisciplinary
research, tackle the key problems, select the research topics, grasp the subject frontier and trend, but also
important for the scientific research management departments to plan strategy and policy, and evaluate
projects and research. This study establishes a sequential network of knowledge diffusion, draws the
diffusion curve, and measures the speed and acceleration. The subject distribution as well as the delay and
diffusion curved in different subjects have been studied. Besides, the diffusion strength and the information
interactive mode have been analyzed. This paper also identifies the main path, the main path component,
and the key nodes with the definition of the diffusion span, the diffusion speed, the diffusion acceleration,
the diffusion strength and the diffusion delay. This paper integrates different methods and analysis
dimensions, and finally concludes the general methods and steps to analyze the diffusion process.
Keywords
Academic innovation, Knowledge diffusion, Innovation diffusion, Diffusion process

0 Introduction

Diffusion is the process by which an innovation is communicated through certain channels over
time among the members of a social system. It is a special type of communication, in that the
messages are concerned with new ideas (Rogers, 2002). Academic innovation diffusion is the
diffusion of new knowledge in an academic field. Knowledge diffusion has important implications
for the knowledge innovation. From the twelfth five-year plan of the National Philosophy and
Social Science Research (2011), there is a clear view: “Vigorously promote the permeability and
integration of basic sciences, basic science and applied science, philosophy and social science and
natural science. Cultivate new growth point of discipline development by the promotion of mutual
learning among various disciplines.” Currently, the study on characteristics of knowledge diffusion
has become an important research topic in the field of bibliometrics (Li, 2013). Existing study
results pay close attention to the knowledge diffusion in one discipline or among several different
fields (Chang & Huang, 2012; Leydesdorff, Carley, & Rafols, 2013; Qiu & Cao, 2012; Zhao, Tan,
① This article is an outcome of the project “Study on knowledge diffusion of Social Sciences in China based on the citation
network” (No. SKCX20130037) supported by Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities of China.
* Correspondence should be addressed to Ge SONG, Email: songge.2000@163.com