Scientometric portraits of recognized scientists: a structured literature review

The purpose of scientometric portraits is to recognize prominent scholars, inspire others, and guide those who dedicate their lives to scientific advancement. This study presents the results of a structured literature review of 110 publications that developed scientometric portraits of 91 recognized scientists. Findings indicate that scientometric portraits are a growing topic in library & information science, scientometrics, and discipline-specific venues. Since 2010, the number of publications devoted to creating scientometric portraits has been growing steadily, reaching approximately seven works per year by 2019. 139 authors of scientometric portrait papers roughly fall into two categories of researchers: the majority, who have only contributed once, and a smaller group who have written many portraits and frequently cooperated with others. 65% of all scholars described in the portraits are Indian nationals. This reveals a great interest among Indian scholars in promoting domestic research. We recommend that authors of future scientometric portraits publish their work in discipline-specific outlets as such venues may better reach their target audience, focus on underrepresented disciplines, and recognize women scientists. They should also conduct a more comprehensive literature review to integrate previous findings and inform the study’s research methods to discover relevant variables, measures, metrics, and analysis techniques. Producing a scientometric portrait paper should not be considered a bibliometric exercise: the authors should put themselves in place of their readers—for instance, graduate students, academics, and policymakers—and find ways to inform and inspire them. This study also presents an archetype of scholars memorialized in scientometric portraits.