Bibliometric Analysis of Distributed Generation

This paper describes the application of data mining techniques for eludicating patterns and trends in technological innovation. Specifically, we focus on the use of bibliometric methods, viz techniques which focus on trends in the publication of text documents rather than the content of these documents. Of particular interest is the relationship between publication patterns, as characterized by term occurrence frequencies, and the underlying technological trends and developments which drive these trends. To focus the discussions and to provide a concrete example of their applicability, a detailed case study focussing on research in the area of Distributed Generation (DG) is also presented; however, the techniques and general approach devised here will be applicable to a broad range of industries, situations, and locations. Our results are promising and indicate that interesting information and conclusions can be derived from this line of analysis. The results obtained using data extraction techniques highlight and present the evolution of DG-related technology focus areas, and their relative importance within this field.