Table 1 A chronological list of definitions of bibliometrics, based on the historical development of the term and its definitions

Otlet [33, 34]

1934

The measurement of all aspects related to the publication and reading of books and documents

Pritchard [35]

1969

The application of mathematics and statistical methods to books and other media of communication

Fairthorne^a

1969

Quantitative treatment of the properties of recorded discourse and behavior appertaining to it

Donohue^a

1972

Quantitative analysis of gross bibliographical units such as books, journal article’s, and the like

Hawkins^a

1977

Quantitative analyses of the bibliographic features of a body of literature

Nicholas and Ritchie^a

1978

Bibliometrics is the statistical or quantitative description of a literature—“literature” taken here to mean, simply, a group of related documents

Potter^a

1981

Bibliometrics is, simply put, the study and measurement of the publication patterns of all forms of written communication and their authors

Schrader^a

1981

The scientific study of recorded discourse

Machlup and Mansfield^a

1983

Statistical studies of the growth and distribution of the literature (e.g., the area known as bibliometrics)

ALA Glossary of Library and Information Science^a

1983

The use of statistical methods in the analysis of a body of literature to reveal the historical development of subject fields and patterns of authorship, publication, and use

Harrod’s Librarians Glossary^a

1984

The study of the use made of books and other media within and between library systems

Boyce and Kraft^a

1985

Bibliometrics is the quantitative study of written communication through its physical realization

De Glas^a

1986

Generally speaking bibliometrics could be defined as the search for systematic patterns in comprehensive bodies of literature

Meanwhile, Garfield, Malin and Smal^a

1987

Bibliometrics can be defined as the quantification of bibliographic information for use in analysis

Hawkins [36]

2001

The quantitative analysis of the bibliographic features of a body of literature

De Bellis [37]

2009

Analyze, quantify, and measure communication phenomena, to build accurate formal representations of their behavior for explanatory, evaluative, and administrative purposes