Abstract
This contribution explores how work on Triple Helix (TH) indicators has evolved. Over the past 15 years a body of literature has emerged that brings together a variety of approaches to capture, map or measure the dynamics of TH relationships. We apply bibliographic coupling and co-citation in combination with content analysis to develop a better understanding of this literature. We identify several clusters that can be aggregated to two broad streams of work—one ‘neo-evolutionary’, the other ‘neo-institutional’ in nature. We make this observation both for bibliographic coupling and co-citation analyses which we take as indication of an emerging differentiation of the field. Our content analysis underlines this observation about the ‘two faces’ of the TH. We conclude this paper with a discussion of future opportunities for research. We see great potential in developing the application side of TH indicators.
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Notes
A complete set of coupling and co-citation analyses at journal, author and other levels would go beyond the scope and scale of a journal article. The authors had to make a selection but are happy to make available other analyses to the interested colleague.
Interestingly, closer inspection of citing works indicates that other scholars view the TH as a complementary framework rather than an alternative framework even though they are often discussed as competing concepts.
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Acknowledgments
This paper started out as a brief research note for the HÉLICE newsletter (Meyer 2012). We would like to thank the Editor, Devrim Göktepe, for ‘commissioning’ this piece of work and are grateful to both guest editors as well as Loet Leydesdorff and Henry Etzkowitz for encouraging comments early on in the process and their suggestion to develop the paper further. We would also like to gratefully acknowledge the feedback from two anonymous referees.
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Meyer, M., Grant, K., Morlacchi, P. et al. Triple Helix indicators as an emergent area of enquiry: a bibliometric perspective. Scientometrics 99, 151–174 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-013-1103-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-013-1103-8