Informetrics of Scientometrics abstracts: a rhetorical move analysis of the research abstracts published in Scientometrics journal

The research abstracts have significant functions in the process of conveying information about each research. This is much important in the scientometrics field due to the informative nature of it. The information which a research abstract provides can be of different types. That said, the purpose of the current study was to investigate the information provided by the research abstracts published in the Scientometrics journal during 1978–2017. To that end, we used a rhetorical move analysis method to analyze the research abstracts of the Scientometrics journal. In this study, 4214 research abstracts in 113 volumes of the Scientometrics journal were extracted from the original papers and reports and examined for their information based on Hyland’s (Disciplinary discourses: social interactions in academic writing, Longman London, 2000 ) five-move model. The results indicated that most of the information provided by the research abstracts during each decade of the journal publication and as a whole, was on method and results of the studies. Nevertheless, the least information both during each decade of the journal publication and as a whole, was on the conclusion of the studies. The results also revealed that there was a positive trajectory of development regarding information about introduction and purpose of the studies in the research abstracts. Thus, it can be concluded that there are some reasons such as situational options, community of practice, and the extent of the explicitness of the information which have effects on the information provided by the research abstracts.