Rural informatization policy evolution in China: a bibliometric study

This paper investigates rural informatization policies in China using a bibliometric method. Co-wording, social networks, and citation analyses were used to research issue dates, content, issuing agencies and administrative impacts of policies. The results indicate that the number of rural informatization policies has significantly increased since 2006, and in three clusters in particular: information and communication infrastructure, information management and service, and information and agricultural technology, whereby the first cluster has been emphasized increasingly as the other two clusters are. Most policies were issued by a small number of agencies, and more agencies have come to participate in policy-making. The administrative impact of rural informatization policies is polarized. And the frequently cited policies focus on the development of science and technology and the construction of the new socialist countryside.