Computer-assisted roadmapping: A case study in energy research

Science and technology (S&T) roadmaps are an attractive tool in R&D management, and have been widely used during the past decade. S&T roadmaps are typically constructed by gathering and stimulating expert’s opinion. In these days, the planner of S&T research has to grasp the broader coverage of scientific and technological research, and make decisions on effective investment in promising and emerging technologies especially under circumstances of limited resources. In such a situation, roadmapping is time-consuming and subjective, and therefore computer-based approach is expected to supplement expert-based approach. In this paper, we proposed and demonstrated that the computer-based approach using citation network analysis can be used to depict technology trend, and build the first draft of S&T roadmaps. We perform a case study in energy research. We track emerging research domains in it by citation network analysis. Our analysis confirms that the fuel cell and solar cell are rapidly growing domains in energy research. We further investigate the detailed research structures by clustering. Each citation cluster has characteristic research topics, and there is a variety of growth trends among the clusters. By using citation network analysis, we can track emerging research domains among a pile of publications efficiently and effectively.