scientometric analysis of the scientometric literature

using bibliographic records from the social science citation index, science citation index, and arts & humanities citation index, this paper tries to give a complete view of the evolution of the field of scientometrics based on its literature published during 1980 to 2009. this is a descriptive survey using scientometric indicators. findings revealed that out of 691 articles in the field of scientometrics, a total number of 183 articles (26.48%) were written during 1980 to 2009 by the top ten authors. some of these articles were produced in authors’ collaboration and some of them were by single authors.   geographical analysis indicated that the field had evolved considerably in different regions of the world. hungarian academy of science with 40 records (5.71%) was the most productive institution in the field of scientometrics. furthermore, chronological analysis disclosed that the scientific production in the field of scientometrics showed a slow increase from 1980 to 2009. the overwhelming majority of documents were in english, and the international journal of scientometrics was the most prolific journal in the field. it has also been declared that 67.87% of the literature was published in the area of library and information science.