Abstract
Bibliometrics is a system that examines and addresses the most diverse forms and formats of science output. It plays a mediating and supporting role by researching and analysing how and in what form science output can and should look like in the future. In this way, it increasingly acquires a normative moment in the discussion about mass science and its (publication) consequences. The future of bibliometrics is directly dependent on the development of scholarly communication, but it also determines its development and prioritization in a normative way by providing a wide range of metrics. Under the keyword “analytics”, it is increasingly possible to collect and analyse the largest and most diverse amounts of data. Profiling will complement bibliometrics and even a single personal “scientist score” could be imagined as the climax of bibliometrics. Whether this is desirable is another question.
