Abstract

The studies and analysis of Spanish scientific activity usually are more focused on contributions in journals with impact factor than on patents as a relevant indicator of the scientific work. This reality contrasts with the trends of the specialized literature, which show patents to be one of the most important parameters to measure scientific productivity. Therefore, we conducted a case study on the patents registered by Spanish Universities in 2008, using as our source the European Patents Fulltext database. Analysis of the distribution of patents by university in this specific period of time revealed a certain correlation with other commonly used indicators. This finding can be a basis for suggesting that patents can and should be considered when conducting such studies.

Abstract

In 1974, Unesco published the Nomenclature for Fields of Science and Technology. Since then, it has been used in Spain to classify the scientific activity. In order to better determine its characteristics, development and scope, we studied the literature and analysed its use by university research groups in Spain and in other national and international settings. From the data obtained, we designed an ontology based on the combination of the Nomenclature and keywords identified in the literature. The result is an ontological model adapted to the semantic web technologies that provides a higher degree of expressiveness than the original Nomenclature. It also helps to solve problems such as obsolescence and the absence of certain emerging subject areas, facilitating the classification of scientific activities and increasing its usefulness