Learn bibliometrics
In short: SciNodes Academy teaches bibliometrics and science mapping through short courses made of lessons, plus articles from the SciNodes team. All content is free to read without an account. Sign in to save courses, mark lessons complete and track your progress in My learning. Then practice each method on your own corpus with the matching SciNodes map.
Before you start
- Open Academy at academy.scinodes.com, or in the SciNodes app click the Help (?) menu → Learn.
- To track progress, sign in with your SciNodes account. See Create your account.
1. Find a course
- Click Courses in the Academy header.
- Search with "Search courses…", or click a track chip to filter by track.
- Use Available now to hide courses that are still being written, or Coming soon to see what's planned.
- Switch between Grid and List views.
Courses are grouped into tracks. Open a track to see its summary and courses.
Details: Academy overview · Courses and lessons
2. Take a course
- Open a course. Its page shows the number of lessons and the total reading time.
- Click Start learning. Later visits show Continue, or Review course once you've finished.
- Read each lesson ("Lesson X of Y") and click Mark as complete at the end.
- Click Next lesson → to move on.
- Check Further reading on the course page for related articles.
Click Save for later to keep a course on your Saved list. A course marked Coming soon may have no lessons yet. Save it and come back.
3. Track your progress
When signed in, click My learning in the header to see:
- Courses started, courses completed, lessons completed and minutes learned
- "Pick up where you left off", with a Continue button
- Your in-progress and completed courses
Click Saved to see your saved courses.
Details: My learning and saved
4. Read articles
Click Articles in the header for notes, methods and arguments from the SciNodes team. Search with "Search articles…" or filter by tag. Some articles also appear as further reading on a course.
Details: Articles
5. Practice in SciNodes
Each method you learn has a matching map in SciNodes. Build it on your own corpus:
| Method | Practice with | Guide |
|---|---|---|
| Topic and keyword analysis | Term Co-occurrence or Keyword Co-occurrence map | Map a new research field |
| Co-citation analysis | Co-citation map of Cited Publications or Cited Authors | Find influential publications |
| Bibliographic coupling | Bibliographic Coupling map of Publications | Find influential publications |
| Citation analysis | Citation map | Map types |
| Collaboration analysis | Co-authorship map of Authors, Organizations or Countries | Find authors and collaborators |
| Network metrics | Node Config → Weightage (degree, betweenness, closeness, eigenvector) | Reading a map |
| Change over time | Timeline mode | Timeline mode |
Not sure which map fits? Ask "Which type of map should I build for my question?" or "Which node metric should I size this map by?" in the Map queries bar.
Tips
- Learn the terms as you go. The Glossary explains SciNodes words such as corpus, corpus slice and node weightage.
- On a map, click a term and open Definition for a short explanation of field-specific vocabulary.
- Academy courses don't have quizzes or certificates. Use My learning to keep track of what you've covered.
FAQ
Is SciNodes Academy free?
Yes. All courses, lessons and articles are public. You need a SciNodes account only to save courses and track progress.
Do I get a certificate?
No. Academy doesn't offer quizzes, certificates or enrollment. It tracks the lessons you've completed in My learning.
Where should a beginner start?
Start with a bibliometric analysis course, then read Map types. Practice on your own topic by following Map a new research field.
Can I get emails about new courses?
You can turn on New courses in Academy's notification settings, but the emails themselves aren't sent yet (coming soon). See Academy settings.