Bifrost®: bibliometrics for quick and clear interpretation

Bifrost® is a tool for analysing research publications. It collects, analyses and presents information about publishing and collaboration, and is used by higher education institutions and researchers to gain a clearer picture of their research activity. More than 150 reports are currently publicly available at bifrost.kau.se.

Co-authorship network: researchers as nodes, collaborations as edges, grouped into coloured clusters. — Co-authorship network (Kerstin von Brömssen)

World map with international collaborations drawn as arcs between countries. — The co-authorship network, geographically (Nordidactica)

What does Bifrost® do?

Collects information:
- SwePub: Swedish research publications with subject classification according to UKÄ and information on open access status.
- DiVA: institution-specific publications, including doctoral and licentiate dissertations as well as information on individual researchers.
- OpenAlex: international publication data with broad coverage.
Enriches data:
- OpenAlex: citations, open access status (via Unpaywall) and per-author geodata.
- NPI (Kanalregisteret): journals' quality level (1 or 2).
- SCImago (SJR): journals' international quartile ranking.
Analyses and compiles data:
- Publication trends over time, including growth rates and detection of subject bursts.
- Co-authorship networks: who collaborates with whom, internally and externally.
- Subject and keyword analysis with visualisation of co-occurrences.
- Journal profiles based on NPI level and SJR quartile.
- Open access status per publication type.
- Citation data and FWCI (Field-Weighted Citation Impact, a field-normalised citation metric; read more here).
Presents the results:
- Generates interactive HTML reports with tables, charts and networks that can be shared and used directly in the browser, with no special software required.
- Whole reports can also be exported as PDF for archiving or printing.
- Publication lists can be downloaded in RIS and BibTeX format for import into reference managers (e.g. Zotero, EndNote, Mendeley).
- Tables and publication lists can be downloaded as Excel files for further processing.
- Reports can serve as a basis for research overviews, strategic decisions and evaluations.

Bar chart of publications per year with a trend line and rolling averages. — Publication trend (Department of Political, Historical, Religious and Cultural Studies)

Stacked bar chart of open access types per year: gold, green, hybrid, diamond, bronze and closed. — Open access status over time (Karlstad University)

Why use Bifrost®?

Overview: Get a clear picture of research activity.
Insight: Identify trends and successful research areas.
Efficiency: Saves time through automated processes.

Bifrost® makes it easier to understand and use bibliometric information.

For those who…

…work as a librarian or bibliometrician. Bifrost provides in-depth analyses of publication patterns, open access share and collaboration structures in a single coherent report. Tables can be exported and the method is transparent. See Data sources and Method.
…are a researcher or research group leader. Get a picture of your group's publishing, your most frequent collaboration partners and which subject areas you actually work within, based on your own publications.
…sit in institutional management or are a head of department. Trend overviews and comparative material for strategic discussions. Which subject areas are growing? What does collaboration with external partners look like?
…work as a research administrator. Structured compilations for annual reports and agency reporting. Tables with correct headings that can be exported directly to Excel.
…are a doctoral student or interested in bibliometrics. Map a research field ahead of a literature review. See which keywords dominate, which journals publish the most and how the field has changed over time.

Keyword cloud where more common terms appear larger and colour-coded by frequency. — Keyword cloud (Nordina)

Heatmap matrix of how often keywords co-occur in the publications. — Keyword co-occurrence (Centre for Social Science Didactics)

Examples

Bifrost produces reports for several different types of search. Which data source is used depends on the purpose: SwePub gives broad national coverage, DiVA is used for institution-specific analyses (dissertations, theses, person or organisation IDs), and OpenAlex for international coverage and citation analysis. See data sources for a full comparison, or more examples and descriptions.

Subject searches, national (SwePub): Social studies education: maps a subject-didactic field, who publishes and how the field has developed.
Subject searches, international (OpenAlex): Flooding in Earth and Related Environmental Sciences: maps a field globally, including citation data.
Organisation searches: Centre for Social Science Didactics (2025): a research group's publication patterns and collaboration network, with focus-year analysis.
Institution searches (DiVA): Karlstad University 2025: an overview of an entire institution's publishing, with focus-year analysis.
Person searches: Kerstin von Brömssen: an individual researcher's publishing, collaborations and subject areas. (The analysis has also been published as a book chapter.)
Journal profiles: Nordidactica: analysis of an individual journal's publications.
Student theses: Student theses in social studies education at KAU (until 2025): subject mapping of thesis output.

Contact Kristian Niemi <kristian.niemi@kau.se> for more information!