A review of the characteristics of 108 author-level bibliometric indicators

An increasing demand for bibliometric assessment of individuals has led to a growth of new bibliometric indicators as well as new variants or combinations of established ones. The aim of this review is to contribute with objective facts about the usefulness of bibliometric indicators of the effects of publication activity at the individual level. This paper reviews 108 indicators that can potentially be used to measure performance on the individual author level, and examines the complexity of their calculations in relation to what they are supposed to reflect and ease of end-user application.Comment: to be published in Scientometrics, 201

Methodology for environmental assessment of agri-environment schemes: the Agri Environmental Footprint Index

End of project reportAgri-environment schemes pay farmers for the provision of environmental services. Such schemes tend to have multiple measures that deliver multiple environmental objectives, and there is a lack of consistent methodology with which to measure the environmental benefits of such schemes. Funded by EU FP6, the Agri-Environment Footprint project (www.footprint.rdg.ac.uk) aimed to address this challenge, and this report provides results from selected components of the project.European Unio

Water, Sanitation and Hygiene: Interventions and Diarrhoea - A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

This paper provides a formal systematic review and meta-analysis examining the evidence of the effectiveness of interventions intended to reduce illness through improvements in drinking water, sanitation facilities and hygiene practices. The comprehensive literature search and bibliographic review shows that in developing countries, water quality interventions, specifically point-of-use treatment, reduced diarrhea illness levels, but this effect was mainly seen with the provision of household connections and use of water without household storage. Hygiene interventions, especially those promoting hand-washing, were effective. Only limited data were available for sanitation interventions, but these suggested effectiveness in reducing diarrhea. Multifactorial interventions consisting of water supply, sanitation and hygiene education acted to reduce diarrhea but were not more effective than individual interventions

Stuttgart – a Livable City: The global Agenda 2030 at a local level Baseline study depicting the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

The United Nations adopted the Agenda 2030 in 2015. This was a basis for the transition to a world in which economic efficiency, ecological compatibility and social justice can be in accord with one another. The Agenda 2030 addresses all states (“every country is a developing country”) at an international, national and, just as much, at a regional and local level. An essential component of Agenda 2030 are the 17 goals for a sustainable development (Sustainable Development Goals, SDGs). To achieve the goals of Agenda 2030 the focus is on partnerships between various actors from administration, politics, business and civil society. In the further development of the Sustainable Development Strategy for Germany in 2017 the Federal Government oriented itself systematically towards the Agenda 2030 with the 17 SDGs. Many other German states also developed strategies geared towards the SDGs. In Baden-Württemberg the Advisory Council of the State Government prepared a proposal as to how the SDGs could be integrated into the state-specific guidelines for sustainable development. The municipalities, having a close relationship with the residents, play a particular role when it comes to implementing Agenda 2030. To map out the status of sustainable development on a quantitative basis of SDGs and at a local level, seven organisations started a nationwide project in 2017 “SDG indicators for municipalities” – proposals for SDGs at a local level: Association of German Cities, German County Association, German Association of Towns and Municipalities, German Institute for Urban Studies (Difu), Federal Institute for Building, Urban Affairs and Spatial Research, Service Agency Communities in One World of Engagement Global and the Bertelsmann Foundation. As one of the first municipalities in Germany the State Capital Stuttgart took on the challenging task of pilot-testing the “SDG indicators for municipalities” from June to October 2018. A second phase between July and September 2019 saw the update of the data. The baseline study was carried out in cooperation with the Bertelsmann Foundation and Difu. The SDG baseline study for the State Capital Stuttgart has two main objectives: first, to analyse the current status of the city on the basis of data in place as regards social, ecological and economic sustainability and to improve the possibilities of a target-oriented, strategic development of the city’s measures; second, with this SDG baseline study to make a methodological contribution to a target-oriented strategic, further development of SDG indicators for an appropriate and effective design for the SDG baseline-studies in municipalities. The different starting conditions make a comparison of cities neither possible nor envisaged – however, the municipalities will receive a toolbox so they can gauge their own development. A qualitative depiction of selected programmes and measures of the State Capital Stuttgart complements the quantitative baseline study. These descriptions give an impression of the spectrum of the measures which can be taken with a view to sustainability. This should also address the issue in other cities and communities. Stuttgart sees itself here as an impulse-giver, but also as a learner, in a national and international network of local actors. The SDGs offer a comprehensive target system for sustainability and, at the same time, they point out possible conflicts of interests. The implementation of strategic objectives requires continuous monitoring. The participative, cross-divisional process of the baseline study shows that the tried and tested SDG indicators for municipalities are a suitable instrument to be quantitatively supportive in realising the existing objectives and approaches of the State Capital Stuttgart for social, ecological and economic sustainability. It was constructive to discuss the SDG indicators methodologically on a cross-sectoral basis, and to select and expand on issues to do justice to the distinctiveness of a municipality. This way, the cross-divisional knowledge management and the understanding of the correlations between the individual sustainability measures could be strengthened. All divisions and departments of the City of Stuttgart worked with enormous commitment on this report. Based on SDG indicators, this baseline study has for the first time developed a cross-sectoral instrument for a regular, all-embracing monitoring of correlations of social, economic and ecological sustainability. This forms an important basis for future recommendations and an effective action on the part of politics, administration and urban society which will help to serve the further development of municipal objectives and measures of implementing the SDGs in the State Capital Stuttgart. The present executive summary provides an overview of the methodological approach, a compilation of the selected indicators as well as the main results with regards to the process and further development of SDG- indicators

Cementing Relationships: Vertical Integration, Foreclosure, Productivity, and Prices

This paper empirically investigates the possible market power effects of vertical integration proposed in the theoretical literature on vertical foreclosure. It uses a rich data set of cement and ready-mixed concrete plants that spans several decades to perform a detailed case study. There is little evidence that foreclosure is quantitatively important in these industries. Instead, prices fall, quantities rise, and entry rates remain unchanged when markets become more integrated. These patterns are consistent, however, with an alternative efficiency-based mechanism. Namely, higher productivity producers are more likely to vertically integrate and are also larger, more likely to survive, and charge lower prices. We find evidence that integrated producers' productivity advantage is tied to improved logistics coordination afforded by large local concrete operations. Interestingly, this benefit is not due to firms' vertical structures per se: non-vertical firms with large local concrete operations have similarly high productivity levels.