Statistical Cybermetrics Research Group

We are an Information Science research group that develops software and methods to analyse new internet-based information on a large scale. We develop software and methods to exploit web-based sources for social sciences research, and research alternative metrics, scientometrics, link analysis, cybermetrics, webometrics, social media images, and sentiment analysis.

Our research: Making a difference | Big Data

In this video, Professor Michael Thelwall, Professor of Information Science and Head of the Statistical Cybermetrics Research Group, discusses one of the group's main projects, Big Data. The group has developed a computer programme to assess whether social media posts contain positive or negative sentiment, and how strong that sentiment is. The project is now being developed to be applied to real life situations such as how transport authorities can change road layouts based on drivers’ levels of stress.

 

Top 5 in the UK

Our REF2014 evaluation by the UK Communication, Cultural & Media Studies, Library and Information Management research assessment panel gave an average score of 3.37 out of 4, which was joint 5th in the UK in this subject area. Almost all of our research was rated "world leading" or "internationally excellent". The score for our submitted research outputs was the second highest in the country in this subject area (behind LSE). The research group score was also higher than the institution-wide average score of every single British university.

We have been funded by the European Union for four multinational EU Framework Projects and have received many other academic research and consultancy contracts. We have also completed research for several groups within the United Nations as well as the European Commission Directorate-General of Research, the BBC World Service Trust, Nesta (UK), the UK National Archive, the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC), the Milan Chamber of Commerce, the publisher Emerald, and have been part of successful funding bids to European, UK, Dutch, Canadian and German government funding agencies.

Visit our Statistical Cybermetrics Research Group website for more information.

Research areas and PhD opportunities

We specialise in blog analysis, hyperlink analysis, and web text analysis, particularly for academic, media and research-related issues.

We offer:

  • A PhD in Library and Information Management
  • Supervision in cybermetrics, webometrics, information science, informetrics and general social science research that includes a significant component of internet-based quantitative methods

To express your interest in PhD study with us, please fill in our PhD Initial Enquiry Form.

Further information

For more details on our Research Group and research interests, please contact Mike Thelwall on +44 (0)1902 321470.