This week, two members of U-CHASS, Nicolás Robinson and Manuel Cobos, are taking part in the I International Edition of the Summer School in Science Mapping, held at the University of Naples Federico II. The school is organised by the academic spin-off K-Synth and the Department of Economics and Statistics of the university, and directed by Professors Massimo Aria and Corrado Cuccurullo, renowned creators of the Bibliometrix R package and its web interface, Biblioshiny.
This five-day programme is aimed at PhD students, postdoctoral researchers, and scholars from universities or research institutions—public or private—who wish to develop expertise in bibliometric analysis. The school offers an intensive, hands-on curriculum that covers essential topics such as impact metrics and evaluation, types of Systematic Literature Reviews and knowledge synthesis, and the conceptual, intellectual, and social structures of scientific knowledge.
What began in 2008 as a collaborative effort between Aria and Cuccurullo to make sense of the fragmented literature on fast-growing firms has grown into one of the most important bibliometric tools in the field. Initially developed out of frustration with expensive, unwieldy commercial software, Bibliometrix was first released in 2016 and has since become a key reference for scholars and institutions around the world. The project eventually led to the creation of K-Synth, an academic spin-off aimed at advancing bibliometric research and open science.
This international edition of the summer school will take place from 9–13 June at the University of Naples Federico II, and will feature distinguished invited speakers from leading scientometric centres.