The three research questions representing the three case studies deal with three disciplines or fields of research. Case study 1 deals with business and management discipline, case study 2 deals with engineering disciplines in Malaysia and case study 3 deals with the field of ‘energy fuels’. The first two case studies focus on the structure, whereas the third case study emphasises both the structure and field (energy fuels). Apart from this, the third case study is also a comparative study between two OIC (Malaysia and Turkey)
nations. Hence, a research background in the field of ‘energy fuels’, OIC, Turkey and Malaysia becomes pertinent here.
Most of the world’s energy supplies come from fossil (i.e., coal, natural gas and crude oil) and nuclear energy sources (Dresselhaus & Thomas, 2001). However, due to fast depletion of fossil fuels reserves and thus escalating oil prices along with environmentally damaging effects, such as GHG (Greenhouse gas) emissions, fervent efforts have been made to find alternate sources of energy that would be cheaper, more sustainable and environmentally friendly (Sopian, Ali, & Asim, 2011). Renewable energy, such as hydroelectric power, wind power and solar power, do not produce CO2 or other
greenhouse emissions, although they have their own limitations. For example, wind power relies on wind farms that require expensive turbines that may interfere with radar in addition to leaving a negative ecological footprint (https://www.gov.uk/onshore-wind- part-of-the-uks-energy-mix). Biomass power is emerging as a promising renewable energy source. Biomass is produced by green plants (algae, trees and crops) where energy of sunlight is stored in chemical bonds (McKendry, 2002). Biofuels and hydrogen fuel cells are also being considered as powerful alternatives that could run our cars instead of oil. We cannot do away with conventional forms of energy. The right solution may be to make efficient use of conventional energy and expand the use of renewable technologies. This requires governments’ actions at various levels and international co-operation. I are amid energy crisis and the climatic concerns of global warming due to inefficient use of conventional energy is at its height.
In the recent times, quite a number of bibliometric studies have been carried out in the field of energy fuels, and these studies have looked at this field from various perspectives. Very recently, S. U. Hassan and Haddawy (2013) studied the field of energy while
Using publication and patents data to study the field of solar cells , Huang, Dong, and Chen (2013) found unbalanced performance and regional differences in research collaborations at individual and country-levels. International collaborations showed best performance in Huang’s study; however, Asian countries, such as Japan, Taiwan and China, had a high ratio of domestic collaboration, higher than the average ratio of international collaboration. A bibliometric study on Solar Photovoltaic industry in the U.S. identified early technology focus in different areas within this field and determined potential technology pathways in the renewable energy domain (Vidican, Woon, & Madnick, 2009). While investigating research collaboration networks in wind power and solar cells, two of the most promising technologies for “green” growth. Sakata, Sasaki, and Inoue (2011) found that geographical distance, international policies and maturity of technologies, among others, have a significant effect on research collaboration.
Glänzel and Thijs (2011) conducted the analysis on the broader field of Energy and fuels. In this study, the authors examined energy and fuels subject category based on core documents, extending this notion through the combination of citation-based and textual links. The authors detected seven clusters, including renewable energy, cover batteries and electricity storage, and theoretical aspects, such as mathematical modelling, among others. Other bibliometric studies have been carried out in energy fuels areas. Quite understandably, these have focused on renewable energy, such as solar power research (Dong, Xu, Luo, Cai, & Gao, 2012; Jang, Chen, Chen, & Chiu, 2013), hydrogen energy (Tsay, 2008), fuel cells (E. Hassan, 2005), wind power (Sanz-Casado, Garcia-Zorita, Serrano-López, Larsen, & Ingwersen) and biomass (Thomas, 1992).
OIC or Organisation of Islamic Co-operation is an association of 57 Muslim-majority nations. Although OIC nations hold about two-thirds of world reserves of crude oil and natural gas, they lack necessary technology and R&D to process these resources (Series,
2012). Turkey and Malaysia are two prominent OIC nations. Malaysia is about one-third the size of Turkey in terms of both geographical area and population, yet its per capita consumption of energy is significantly higher than that of Turkey. Malaysia had 2557.8 kgoe/a (kilogramme of oil equivalent per capita) in contrast to Turkey’s 1445.1 kgoe/a per capita consumption of energy (World Development Indicators, 2012). As many OIC nations are blessed with rich reserves of conventional energy, little effort has been made to harness renewable energy (Sopian et al., 2011). However, both Turkey and Malaysia are making impressive strides in harnessing renewable energy. Turkey, for example, is a leading OIC nation in the production of wind and hydroelectric power (Series, 2012), whereas Malaysia is a major producer of photovoltaic panels (Sopian et al., 2011).
Both Turkey and Malaysia have realized early that a highly skilled talent base or robust human capital, which lies at the core of innovation, is imperative for their country’s economic development. For example, under the Wawasan 2020 project, Malaysia has allocated significant financial resources to improve its R&D infrastructure and create first-class human resources. Research and development within OIC member countries are particularly important, as they help in gaining competitive advantage over other OIC member states. By creating new knowledge and technological innovation, research in Science and Technology provides is the key toward an innovation-driven economy (SESRIC, 2010). Both Turkey (0.74) and Malaysia (0.63) have above average R&D intensity % (R&D spending in %age to the GDP) among OIC nations, which is still much lower than the World average (1.78%) (SESRIC, 2010). The quantum of academic research is adequately reflected through scientific publications. As per WoS 2009 data, OIC nations produced 63,342 articles, of which Turkey and Malaysia contributed 31% and 6.2% respectively (SESRIC, 2010). The latest Web of Science SCI records showed that both countries are also undertaking significant research in the field of energy fuels. The subject area of energy fuels includes both conventional and non-conventional energy
sources and encompasses research in areas such as renewable energy, fuel, biomass, petroleum geology, global warming, and green energy, among several others. Given the interdisciplinary nature of research today, studies in energy fuels are relevant to other subject areas, from Mechanics and Thermodynamics to Mathematics and Public Administration.