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Science & Research terms
Data-intensive science: research metrics, bioinformatics, physical and earth sciences, labs, humanities and computing.
Altmetrics Measures of research attention outside traditional citation counts, such as social media mentions, downloads and news coverage. Bibliometrics The statistical study of publications, citations and authorship patterns to measure research output and influence. Citation analysis Studying the pattern of citations between publications to measure influence, map research fields or evaluate researchers. H-index A researcher's largest number h such that h of their papers have each been cited at least h times. Journal impact factor (JIF) A measure of how often a journal's articles are cited on average, used as a proxy for the journal's prestige. Open access Making research publications freely available to read online, without a subscription or paywall. Assay data analysis Processing and interpreting the results of a biological or chemical test to determine a measurable outcome. Differential expression analysis Statistically identifying which genes are expressed at significantly different levels between two or more conditions. Environmental DNA (eDNA) Genetic material shed by organisms into water, soil or air, sampled and sequenced to detect which species are present. Genomics analysis Computational analysis of DNA sequence data to identify genes, variants and patterns linked to traits or disease. Phylogenetic analysis Inferring the evolutionary relationships between organisms or gene sequences and representing them as a branching tree. Proteomics The large-scale study of the proteins present in a cell, tissue or organism, including their identity and abundance. Sequence alignment Arranging DNA, RNA or protein sequences to identify regions of similarity that may reflect shared function or ancestry. Single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) Measuring gene expression in individual cells separately, rather than as an average across a tissue sample. Variant calling Identifying positions where a sequenced sample's DNA differs from a reference genome. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) Using numerical simulation to predict how gases and liquids flow and interact with surfaces. Density functional theory (DFT) A quantum mechanical method that predicts a material's properties from electron density rather than tracking every electron. Finite element analysis (FEA) A numerical technique that divides a complex structure into small elements to simulate stress, heat or other physical behavior. Molecular dynamics (MD) Simulating the physical movement of atoms and molecules over time to study how a molecular system behaves. Astronomical survey data The large, systematically collected datasets produced by telescopes that repeatedly scan wide areas of the sky. Light curve A graph of an astronomical object's brightness measured repeatedly over time, used to detect transits, flares or pulsation. Photometry Measuring the brightness or intensity of light from an object, most commonly a star or other astronomical source. Remote sensing Collecting data about the Earth's surface or atmosphere from satellites, aircraft or drones without physical contact. Satellite imagery analysis Extracting information such as land cover, change or object detection from images captured by orbiting satellites. Design of experiments (DOE) A structured, statistical approach to planning experiments so the effect of each factor can be estimated efficiently. Electronic lab notebook (ELN) Software that replaces the paper lab notebook, letting researchers record experiments, protocols and observations digitally. High-performance computing (HPC) Using clusters of powerful, tightly linked computers to run computations far larger than a single machine can handle. Laboratory information management system (LIMS) Software that tracks samples, tests and results through a laboratory's workflow, from intake to reporting. Cultural analytics Applying computational and statistical methods to large collections of cultural material to study patterns over time. Distant reading Analyzing patterns across a large collection of texts computationally instead of closely reading each individual work. Historical GIS Applying geographic information systems to historical data to map how places, boundaries and populations changed over time. Stylometry Using quantitative features of writing style, such as word frequency and sentence length, to identify or compare authors. Text Encoding Initiative (TEI) An XML standard for encoding literary and historical texts so their structure and scholarly annotations are machine-readable. Data provenance The documented history of where a dataset came from and every transformation applied to it before its current state. FAIR data principles Guidelines stating that research data should be Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable. Preregistration Publicly documenting a study's hypotheses, methods and analysis plan before collecting or examining the data. Reproducibility The ability of an independent researcher to obtain the same results using the original data, code and methods. Research data management (RDM) The practices and policies for organizing, storing, documenting and preserving data throughout a research project. Research software engineering Applying professional software engineering practice to code written for scientific research, not just quick one-off scripts. Scientific workflow An automated, documented sequence of computational steps that takes research data from raw input to final result.