Assessment of the applied orientation of a researcher's production: An informetric approach based on a content analysis

One way of making the distinction between pure and applied research was introduced by Donald Stokes (Stokes, 1997) who defined a two dimensions chart, "the Pasteur's Quadrant". It is a label given to a class of scientific research developments that both seek fundamental understanding of scientific problems, and, at the same time, seek to be eventually beneficial to society. The works of Louis Pasteur, a French chemist and physicist, pioneer of the microbiology, are thought to exemplify this type of method, which bridges the gap between "basic" and "applied" research. The Pasteur's Quadrant characterizes three distinct classes of research: - pure basic research, illustrated by the work of Niels Bohr, early 20th century atomic Danish physicist; - pure applied research, exemplified by the work of Thomas Edison, North-American inventor and businessman; - use-inspired basic research, described as "Pasteur's Quadrant