Short Bio
Massimo Aria
I am a Full Professor in Statistics for Social Sciences at the Department of Economics and Statistics of the University of Naples Federico II. I hold a Ph.D. in Computational Statistics.
I have been teaching Statistics and Machine Learning in bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral programs for over 20 years. The courses I currently teach include Statistics for Social Sciences, Advanced Statistical Methods for Social Research, Sampling Surveys, and the Lab of Machine Learning in R.
My main research fields include bibliometrics, science mapping, systematic literature reviews, statistical survey methodology, machine learning, and text mining. I have led numerous statistical surveys and data science projects related to economic, social, ethological, and healthcare phenomena.
Scientific Activities
I have authored more than 150 peer-reviewed scientific articles, of which 36 have been classified as “A” in scientific area 13 (Economics and Statistics) by ANVUR (Italian Agency of University Research Evaluation).
I am the K-Synth Academic Spin-off, a science-centric information and intelligence start-up focused on the extraction and analysis of knowledge from large volumes of heterogeneous data using quantitative, statistical, and data science methods.
I am the Scientific Coordinator of the Summer School in Science Mapping (SSSM) and a faculty member of the European Summer School of Scientometrics (ESSS).
Academic and Institutional Roles
- Board member of the Naples Ph.D. Program in Economics
- Board member for over 20 years of the Ph.D. programs in Computational Statistics and Social Sciences and Statistics
- Since 2019, board member of the Master’s degree in Data Science and in Economics (curriculum: Data Scientist for Economics)
- Since 2010, I have coordinated, together with Prof. C. Cuccurullo, the research group in bibliometrics and science mapping at the University of Naples Federico II and the University of Campania L. Vanvitelli (www.bibliometrix.org)
- I have coordinated or participated in 5 European projects, 3 PNRR projects, 5 PRIN projects, 1 FIRB project, and 11 national or regional projects
- Since 2007, I have been a scientific committee member of the Statistical Algorithms and Software Specialized Team, ERCIM Working Group on Computational and Methodological Statistics
- I am currently responsible for the Research Quality Assessment (VQR) of the Department of Economics and Statistics
Scientific Societies
I am a senior member of the following scientific societies:
- Società Italiana di Statistica (SIS)
- Associazione Italiana Studi di Popolazione (AISP)
- Associazione di Statistica Applicata (ASA)
- International Statistical Institute (ISI)
- International Association for Statistical Computing (IASC)
Scientific Results and Awards
To date, my publications have received over 19,000 citations, and my H-index is 36.
In the last five years alone, my publications have been cited more than 16,000 times, with an H-index of 33 (source: Google Scholar, April 2025).
My article “bibliometrix: An R-tool for comprehensive science mapping analysis” (2017, Journal of Informetrics, IF 5.107) is:
- The most cited article ever in the journal (source: Scopus: 7,000 citations; Google Scholar: 13,000+)
- One of the top downloaded articles on ScienceDirect (source)
Social Impact of My Research Activities
Bibliometrix and its Shiny web app Biblioshiny are recognized as the most comprehensive and user-friendly software for science mapping.
In a widely cited review of bibliometric tools, Moral-Muñoz et al. (2020) wrote:
Today, Bibliometrix is one of the most used science mapping tools worldwide, with:
In the past four years, I have delivered over 60 seminars in many Italian doctoral schools (Universities of Bergamo, Brescia, Calabria, Genoa, Polytechnic of Milan, Naples, Pisa, Rome, Salento, among others) and international ones (Universities of Bodø – Norway, Edinburgh, Granada, London, Melbourne, Paris).