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Dr Anthony F.J. van Raan
Professor of Quantitative Studies of Science
Photo by Martijn Beekman
Anthony F.J. van Raan (born 1945 in
Breda
, the Netherlands) is Professor of Quantitative Studies of Science at the Centre for Science and Technology Studies (
CWTS) at
Leiden University,
Leiden, The Netherlands.
E-mail: vanraan at cwts.leidenuniv.nl
Anthony (Ton) van Raan studied mathematics, physics and astronomy at the
University of Utrecht
(with 1999 Nobel Laureate Martin Veltman as one of his theoretical physics
teachers) and graduated (M.Sc.) in 1969. In 1973 he received a PhD in physics
at the University of Utrecht, with a thesis on the interaction between
electrons and helium atoms.
From 1969 to 1973 he was junior lecturer and researcher in Utrecht, from 1973
to 1977 post-doctoral research fellow (assistant professor) at the University
of Bielefeld (Germany) teaching physics and astrophysics, and from 1977
senior lecturer and research fellow in Leiden. He has been visiting scientist
in several universities and research institutes in the US, UK, and France.
Previous work in experimental atomic and molecular physics, laser-physics,
astrophysics, and in science policy and research management. In 1985 'field
switch' from physics to science and technology (S&T) studies, 1986 senior
researcher (associate professor) and (founding) director of CWTS. In 1991
appointment as full Professor of Quantitative Studies of Science.
Professor Van Raan published (as author and co-author) about thirty articles
in physics and around hundred in science and technology studies. He is the
editor of the standard Handbook of Quantitative Studies of Science and
Technology (Elsevier). He is currently editor of the international journal
Research Evaluation
and member of the editorial advisory board of the
international journal
Scientometrics.
Areas of interest
Professor Van Raan's main research area concerns the design, construction and
application of quantitative indicators on important aspects of science and
technology. His current work covers the development of information systems in
S&T, cognitive and socio-organizational processes in the development of
scientific and technological fields; analysis of scientific progress and
assessment of scientific performance. His main research themes include
research performance assessment by advanced bibliometric methods, mapping of
science and technology, science as a 'self-organizing' cognitive ecosystem.
In this work he combines ideas from physics and mathematics, particularly
networks and complex systems, philosophy of science, and sociology of science.
Main research themes
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Quantitative analysis of science and technology, in particular the advancement
and sophistication of citation-analysis based on bibliometrics as a powerful,
objective tool not only in research evaluation, but also in the study of
scientific developments in general;
-
Development and application of a mapping methodology to create 'landscapes' of
scientific fields; this methodology has a generic character and is therefore
widely applicable as a general 'knowledge discovery' instrument;
-
Development of the above mentioned methodology not only to map 'established'
scientific fields, but also to map research 'around' socio-economic
themes;
-
Science as a 'self-organizing ecosystem', based on empirical work leading to
the discovery of the fractal structure of science (published in Nature,
1990);
-
A new model for the measurement of growth and differentiation of science that
explains the fractal structure mathematically;
-
A new model to explain the distribution of citing articles over publications
in terms of a general two-step competition process that could also be used in
economics to explain income-distributions;
-
Science as a scale-free network system.
Teaching
Professor Van Raan is coordinator of the annual (October) CWTS
Graduate Course
in science and technology studies.
Participation in advisory committees
Professor Van Raan's advisory work is frequently used by the government of the
Netherlands, of other European Union member states, and of the European
Commission, particularly as a Member of the High Level Group on
Research Excellence; by the OECD, and by national and international research
organizations and the business sector. For instance, he has been appointed by
the German Federal Minister of Science and Education as a member of a
committee to evaluate the Fraunhofer Society for Applied Research; he is
member on the German federal committee on 'regions of excellent research'.
Prof. Van Raan is a member of the audit committee for the Fraunhofer Institute
for Systems and Innovation Research (Karlsruhe). Recently he was appointed by
the Netherlands Minister of Education, Culture and Sciences as a member of a
State Committee to evaluate the Netherlands Advisory Council for Science and
Technology Policy. He is a member of the Board of Science Alliance
(University-Society 'Interface' Organization).
Professor Van Raan is chairman of the Leiden University's Professors Club and
in this position he is actively engaged in the links between the university
and the city of
Leiden.
Further memberships
Netherlands Royal Society for Astronomy and Meteorology (
NVWS), Netherlands
Physics Society (
NNV),
European Association of the Study of Science and
Technology (
EASST),
Society for Social Studies of Science (
4S),
International Society for Scientometrics and Informetrics (
ISSI).
Awards
In 1995 he received in Chicago, together with the American sociologist Robert
K. Merton, the
Derek de Solla Price Award, the highest international award in
the field of quantitative studies of science.
In 2002 he was voted as the best speaker of the international conference on
Current Research Information Systems (
CRIS), University of Kassel, Germany.
Publications
Publications from 1990 are listed annually under 'Publications' in the CWTS
website. Professor van Raan's research has appeared in a wide variety of
outstanding international journals such as The Physical Review, Journal of
Physics, Scientometrics, Research Policy, Journal of the American Society for
Information Science and Technology, Nature, Physica A. We
here present a
selection of recent publications directly available in pdf-format.
Institute
Centre for Science and Technology Studies
Leiden University
P.O. Box 9555
2300 RB Leiden
The Netherlands
Tel.: +31 715273909, Fax: +31 715273911
E-mail: vanraan at cwts.leidenuniv.nl
CWTS is located at Wassenaarseweg 52, Leiden, in the Pieter de la Court
Building, close to Leiden Central Station and to the historic downtown of
Leiden. The institute can be reached very conveniently by bike, car, train.
Leiden has excellent connections with the rest of the world. Amsterdam
International Airport Schiphol is within 20 direct intercity train minutes.
Leiden
Professor Van Raan is a member of the Board of the Foundation Lucas van
Leyden
, with special focus on the bridge between natural sciences and 17th C.
painting art. He is also a member of the Municipal Committee on the
Leiden
city center renovation program in the
Aalmarkt area, special focus of the
importance of city quality of life in the framework of socio-economic aspects
of
knowledge-intensive urban regions.
Professor Van Raan lives in Leiden with his wife Paula Wilke. They have three
sons, Clemens, Lukas and Paul.
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