The Problem of “Where”: the Passport Sign!

Abstract

For many scientometrics studies, say to assess contribution of nations to science production, it is not only important to figure out who did what, but is also important to determine where one is from. While providing answer to this question is not difficult for contemporary researchers, the origin of some ancient scholars is sometimes not completely clear for many reasons including historical obscurity. Several factors including the birth place, burial place, language, etc. are among important factors to be considered in determining the origin of a person, but we show that none of these factors are very helpful. We believe that the key factor to be considered is the self-expressed answer of the person if he would have been asked “where are you from?”—the passport sign!