Virtual Reconstruction of Historical Objects as a Research Domain (1996-2020): the Structure of Scientific Discourse through Citations Analysis

Abstract

The article searches for and analyzes stable scientific discourse patterns within the subject area named by means of bibliometric tools. To achieve this goal it uses analytical opportunities provided by the Scientific Electronic Library eLIBRARY.RU. Its platform has a selection of Russian research papers studying virtual reconstructions of historical and cultural heritage objects. The author has selected a pool of highly cited works and by means of Gephi software has created an oriented graph that provided for visualizing the links between the selected works, identifying "sub-subject" areas and finding their interaction and mutual influence within this research domain. The research novelty is the use of citation data to identify and analyze the structure of communications in this subject area. As a result, the article clarifies and supplements the existing typology of this research field. The author has distinguished seven relatively independent types of virtual reconstruction technologies use in history and has identified the leading research teams affiliated with Moscow State University, Siberian Federal University, Novosibirsk State University of Architecture and Civil Engineering, Moscow Institute of Architecture and Center for Virtual History of Science and Technology of the Russian Academy of Sciences. It is these research groups whose papers have had a significant theoretical and methodological influence on other authors in the process of formation and development of this research domain and thus confirmed their scientific value.