Visualization of knowledge maps by linking social network analysis with the analytic hierarchy process for assessing academic performance – The case of Taiwan’s Intelligent Transportation Systems discipline

This paper introduces empirical studies of visualizing Taiwan’s Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) knowledge maps and assessing academic performance. Social network analysis is applied to visualize ITS knowledge maps to quantify the strength of the connections between individuals or universities. The results from the empirical study show that the development of ITS research is very promising worldwide. CiteSpace and UCINET have proven to be useful tools for demonstrating ITS knowledge maps with clusters by fields, institutions, and authors. Taiwan's ITS knowledge maps with clusters can be summarized to assess their academic performance by using AHP analysis. The ranking indicators and corresponding knowledge maps provide an overview of current performance status of ITS researchers in different ITS fields in Taiwan. This can eventually identify the most important ITS fields in local areas and contribute to highlighting hot topics of ITS researchers in the future. Key-Words: Intelligent Transportation Systems, Visualization of knowledge maps, Academic performance assessment