The trench warfare of gender discrimination:evidence from academic promotions to full professor in Italy

In this paper we aim to understand if gender makes a difference in the path to promotion to full professor in Italian universities, drawing on data from 2013 to 2016. The new promotion system pursuant Gelmini Law (210/2010) in Italy implies to go through two steps. First, they have to obtain the national ASN system (fit-for-the-role national filter), based on merit measured via bibliometric and non-bibliometric indicators. This step does not mean to get a position, it only means to be able to apply for it at institutional level. We believe that discrimination based on gender may happen especially at institutional level as in comparison to ASN there is less transparency and more autonomy at institutional level. It is also hypothesised that discrimination based on gender may differ according to the percentage of women already at full professor rank by disciplinary field. We investigate gender inequality using a binary variable (promoted or not promoted along 2013 until 2016) controlling by scientific productivity, normalised number of available vacancies, result of national research evaluation (VQR—department of candidate’s affiliation), age, current rank-and-file position. Multilevel logistic regression demonstrates that among those who obtained the ASN and at parity of other conditions, men have around 24% more probability to be promoted at parity of scientific production, which reveals a relevant gender discrimination. Our findings have implications on theory about inequality regimes and might serve to reflect on how to improve practices at institutional level

The Gender-Sensitive University

The Gender-Sensitive University explores the prevailing forces that pose obstacles to driving a gender-sensitive university, which include the emergence of far-right movements that seek to subvert advances towards gender equality and managerialism that promotes creeping corporatism. This book demonstrates that awareness of gender equality and gender sensitivity are essential for pulling contemporary academia back from the brink. New forms of leadership are fundamental to reforming our institutions. The concept of a gender-sensitive university requires re-envisioning academia to meet these challenges, as does a different engagement of men and a shift towards fluidity in how gender is formulated and performed. Academia can only be truly gender-sensitive if, learning from the past, it can avoid repeating the same mistakes and addressing existing and new biases. The book chapters analyse these challenges and advocate the possibilities to ‘fix it forward’ in all areas. Representing ten EU countries and multiple disciplines, contributors to this volume highlight the evidence of persistent gender inequalities in academia, while advocating a blueprint for addressing them. The book will be of interest to a global readership of students, academics, researchers, practitioners, academic and political leaders and policy makers who share an interest in what it takes to establish gender-sensitive universities

Informetrics for librarians: Describing their important role in the evaluation process

Librarians are playing a secondary role in the process of evaluating research activities, usually as auxiliary providers of raw data extracted from pre-selected sources. Given the subjective nature of the decision committees, there is a strong need for unbiased and objective procedures guaranteed by independent professionals. A neutral, comprehensive, modern, quantitative approach guided by academic librarians is proposed, including closeness to applicants, anonymity of their identities in the reports, contextualization (academic age, gender, and discipline) of data, usage of relative non-central values with indication of thresholds, and incorporation of new bibliometric and non-bibliometric sources

Individual bibliometric assessment at University of Vienna: From numbers to multidimensional profiles

Se muestra cómo se puede implementar la evaluación bibliométrica a nivel individual, lo que se ha hecho con éxito en la Universidad de Viena, a cargo del Departamento Bibliometría y Estrategias de Publicación de la Biblioteca. De acuerdo con la filosofía del Departamento, la bibliometría no es más que un instrumento de evaluación útil con el fin de complementar el sistema de revisión por pares. También se entiende como una brújula para los investigadores en el dilema “publicar o perecer” con el fin de aumentar su visibilidad y para optimizar las estrategias de publicación. La evaluación individual se compone de una entrevista con el investigador evaluado, de la elaboración de un informe bibliométrico de las publicaciones del investigador, de una reunión y de una validación de los resultados obtenidos con el investigador, así como análisis adicionales opcionales. El informe bibliométrico se entrega al investigador, pues así éste conoce los aspectos cuantitativos de los resultados de su investigación. Adicionalmente, también se utiliza como base para discutir con él sus estrategias de publicación. Eventualmente, tal informe sirve para realizar la revisión por pares del investigador con más conocimiento de causa, y por lo tanto se reenvía a Aseguramiento de la calidad, a la oficina del Rector y finalmente a los pares. La característica más importante del informe bibliométrico es su carácter multidimensional e individual. Se fundamenta en varios indicadores básicos y otros parámetros de control con el fin de mejorar la interpretación. Tanto los investigadores, como el personal administrativo y los evaluadores han confirmado la utilidad de este enfoque bibliométrico, por lo que se ha producido una creciente demanda de los mismos. Hasta el momento se han entregado 33. Por otra parte, también se han realizado con gran éxito informes similares para la evaluación bibliométrica de dos facultades. AbstractThis paper shows how bibliometric assessment can be implemented at individual level. This has been successfully done at the University of Vienna carried out by the Department for Bibliometrics and Publication Strategies of the Vienna University Library. According to the department’s philosophy, bibliometrics is not only a helpful evaluation instrument in order to complement the peer review system. It is also meant as a compass for researchers in the ‘publish or perish’ dilemma in order to increase general visibility and to optimize publication strategies. The individual assessment comprises of an interview with the researcher under evaluation, the elaboration of a bibliometric report of the researcher’s publication output, the discussion and validation of the obtained results with the researcher under evaluation as well as further optional analyses. The produced bibliometric reports are provided to the researchers themselves and inform them about the quantitative aspects of their research output. They also serve as a basis for further discussion concerning their publication strategies. These reports are eventually intended for informed peer review practices, and are therefore forwarded to the quality assurance and the Rector’s office and finally sent to the peers. The most important feature of the generated bibliometric report is its multidimensional and individual character. It relies on a variety of basic indicators and further control parameters in order to foster comprehensibility. Researchers, administrative staff and peers alike have confirmed the usefulness of this bibliometric approach. An increasing demand is noticeable. In total, 33 bibliometric reports have been delivered so far. Moreover, similar reports have also been produced for the bibliometric assessment of two faculties with great success

Individual bibliometric assessment at University of Vienna: From numbers to multidimensional profiles

Se muestra cómo se puede implementar la evaluación bibliométrica a nivel individual, lo que se ha hecho con éxito en la Universidad de Viena, a cargo del Departamento Bibliometría y Estrategias de Publicación de la Biblioteca. De acuerdo con la filosofía del Departamento, la bibliometría no es más que un instrumento de evaluación útil con el fin de complementar el sistema de revisión por pares. También se entiende como una brújula para los investigadores en el dilema “publicar o perecer” con el fin de aumentar su visibilidad y para optimizar las estrategias de publicación. La evaluación individual se compone de una entrevista con el investigador evaluado, de la elaboración de un informe bibliométrico de las publicaciones del investigador, de una reunión y de una validación de los resultados obtenidos con el investigador, así como análisis adicionales opcionales. El informe bibliométrico se entrega al investigador, pues así éste conoce los aspectos cuantitativos de los resultados de su investigación. Adicionalmente, también se utiliza como base para discutir con él sus estrategias de publicación. Eventualmente, tal informe sirve para realizar la revisión por pares del investigador con más conocimiento de causa, y por lo tanto se reenvía a Aseguramiento de la calidad, a la oficina del Rector y finalmente a los pares. La característica más importante del informe bibliométrico es su carácter multidimensional e individual. Se fundamenta en varios indicadores básicos y otros parámetros de control con el fin de mejorar la interpretación. Tanto los investigadores, como el personal administrativo y los evaluadores han confirmado la utilidad de este enfoque bibliométrico, por lo que se ha producido una creciente demanda de los mismos. Hasta el momento se han entregado 33. Por otra parte, también se han realizado con gran éxito informes similares para la evaluación bibliométrica de dos facultades. AbstractThis paper shows how bibliometric assessment can be implemented at individual level. This has been successfully done at the University of Vienna carried out by the Department for Bibliometrics and Publication Strategies of the Vienna University Library. According to the department’s philosophy, bibliometrics is not only a helpful evaluation instrument in order to complement the peer review system. It is also meant as a compass for researchers in the ‘publish or perish’ dilemma in order to increase general visibility and to optimize publication strategies. The individual assessment comprises of an interview with the researcher under evaluation, the elaboration of a bibliometric report of the researcher’s publication output, the discussion and validation of the obtained results with the researcher under evaluation as well as further optional analyses. The produced bibliometric reports are provided to the researchers themselves and inform them about the quantitative aspects of their research output. They also serve as a basis for further discussion concerning their publication strategies. These reports are eventually intended for informed peer review practices, and are therefore forwarded to the quality assurance and the Rector’s office and finally sent to the peers. The most important feature of the generated bibliometric report is its multidimensional and individual character. It relies on a variety of basic indicators and further control parameters in order to foster comprehensibility. Researchers, administrative staff and peers alike have confirmed the usefulness of this bibliometric approach. An increasing demand is noticeable. In total, 33 bibliometric reports have been delivered so far. Moreover, similar reports have also been produced for the bibliometric assessment of two faculties with great success

Research trends in forensic science:A scientometric approach to analyze the content of the INTERPOL reviews

The use of forensic evidence has become indispensable in many countries and jurisdictions around the world, however the dissemination of research advancements does not necessarily directly or easily reach the forensic science community. Reports from the INTERPOL International Forensic Science Managers Symposium outline major areas that are of interest to forensic practitioners across the INTERPOL member countries. The information contained in the INTERPOL reports is extensive but can be challenging to process. The purpose of this research is to provide a comprehensive overview of the evolution of trends within the INTERPOL reports over an 18 year period. References relating to 10 evidence types retrieved from the 14th to 19th INTERPOL IFSMS reports (2004-2019) were processed and compared with data exports from the citation database Scopus covering the same evidence types. The results from this work are summarised by investigating the relationships between the 10 evidence types. To explore the outputs a user-friendly R-Shiny application was developed and is freely available at: https://uod.ac.uk/lrcfsinterpolreportsexplorer

Evaluation of Researchers: A Life Cycle Analysis of German Academic Economists

In this paper we ague that any meaningful bibliometric evaluation of researchers needs to take into account that research productivity follows distinct life cycles. Using an encompassing data set portraying the research behavior of German academic economists, we first show that research productivity crucially depends on career age and vintage. Based on the identified effects, we develop a simple formula that shows how a researcher’s performance compares to that of his or her peers. This kind of information may serve as an input for performance-related remuneration and track-record based allocation of research grants. We then go on to investigate the persistence of individual productivity. The Persistence issue is of special importance in the academic labor market because of the irrevocable nature of tenure. Finally, we show how life cycle considerations can be used in evaluations of university departments in order to render the resulting rankings insensitive to the age structure of the evaluated faculties.research productivity, performance evaluation, life cycles, rankings