A Rejoinder on Energy versus Impact Indicators

Citation distributions are so skewed that using the mean or any other central tendency measure is ill-advised. Unlike G. Prathap's scalar measures (Energy, Exergy, and Entropy or EEE), the Integrated Impact Indicator (I3) is based on non-parametric statistics using the (100) percentiles of the distribution. Observed values can be tested against expected ones; impact can be qualified at the article level and then aggregated.Comment: Scientometrics, in pres

E-resources usage and research productivity

The best performing laboratories in the CSIR from the point ofview of optimally accessing and using e-resources are identified using performance indicators derived from number of scientists in the laboratory, number of downloads during a prescribed window, number of publications during the same window and the total citations earned by these papers during a citation window of one year following the publications window

Evaluation of scientific status of endocrine, diabetes, and metabolism research centers in Iran using exergy method

The aim of this study was to determine the scientific status of endocrine, diabetes and metabolism research centers in Iran using exergy method in terms of scientific publications indexed in the Web of Science, Scopus, and Google Scholar database in 2013. This study is a cross-sectional one. The study population included 6 Iranian endocrine, diabetes and metabolism research centers. Data were collected by referring to the Iranian Ministry of Health and Medical Education personally and also using the above-mentioned citation databases. Data were analyzed using Microsoft Excel and descriptive statistics. The results revealed that endocrine, diabetes and metabolism research centers of Shahid Beheshti and Tehran University of Medical Sciences were top centers in Iran in terms of the quality of scientific publications. Diabetes Research Center of Ahvaz University of Medical Sciences was found to have the weakest performance. This article is the results of the first study in Iran, regarding the evaluation of research centers by exergy analysis

On the analogy between the evolution of thermodynamicand bibliometric systems: a breakthrough or justa bubble?

This paper presents an in depth study of an interesting analogy, recently proposed by Prathap (Scientometrics 87(3):515-524, 2011a), between the evolution of thermodynamic and bibliometric systems. The goal is to highlight some weaknesses and clarify some ‘‘dark sides'' in the conceptual framework of this analogy, discussing the formal validity and practical meaning of the concepts of Energy, Exergy and Entropy in bibliometrics. Specifically, this analogy highlights the following major criticalities: (1) the definitions of E and X are controversial, (2) the equivalence classes of E and X are questionable, (3) the parallel between the evolution of thermodynamic and bibliometric systems is forced, (4) X is a non-monotonic performance indicator, and (5) in bibliometrics the condition of ‘‘thermodynamic perfection'' is questionable. Argument is supported by many analytical demonstrations and practical example

Research productivity of Library and Information Science in India during 2010-2019: A Scientometric Study

The aim of this study is to analyze the Library & Information Science literatures available in the Web of Science database during 2010-2019 by the topic “Research productivity of Library and Information Science in India during 2010-2019: A Scientometric Study”. The required data is retrieved from Web of Science database using advanced Boolean search techniques. Total 778 numbers of literatures are retrieved from the database. The literatures mainly include journal articles, proceeding papers, editorial materials, etc. In the study, analysis of year wise growth rate, productive journals, articles, authors, etc are covered. Along with that three mostly used bibliometric laws, Bradford’s law, Lotka’s Law and Zipf’s law are examined with the help of the dataset. It is found that there is no constant growth rate of the published literature but the average annual growth rate is 12.64%. The study reveals that the most published literature form is article (88.95%) and “Scientometrics” with highest contribution of 98 is the most preferred journal on the subject

Bibliometric scoring of an individual’s research output in science and engineering

The relevance of various citation metrics used for parameterization of the research outputs of scientists is reviewed. The rationale of judging the performance of scientists on the basis of the total number of research papers published, the total citations received for these papers or the average citation reckoning per paper has often been criticized. The significance of impact factor of journals in which the papers have appeared has also been debated. The h-index introduced by Jorge E. Hirsch in 2005 has gained some acceptance in this regard but its value is highly dependent on the academic discipline concerned and also varies across sub-disciplines. Because citation practices exhibit wide variations among different fields, a scientist working in a particular discipline need not be disheartened with a low h-index as compared to fellow scientists of a different discipline. The h-index has been successful in assessing the performance of scientists of the same field and at the same stage of their careers. By appropriately scaling the discipline-dependence of h-index, it has also enabled comparison among those working in different disciplines, serving as a simplified, robust, intelligible measure. Several metrics proposed to overcome the flaws of h-index are briefly described

Bibliometrics and scientometrics in India: An overview of studies during 1995-2014Part II: Contents of the articles in terms of disciplines and their bibliometric aspects

This part of the study highlights the contents of the published articles in terms of various disciplines or sub-disciplines and the bibliometric aspects discussed in these articles. The analysis of 902 papers published by Indian scholars during1995-2014 indicates that the main focus of bibliometrics/scientometrics is on assessment of science and technology in India in different sub-disciplines including contributions by Indian states and other individual countries followed by bibliometric analysis of individual journals. Papers dealing with bibliometric laws received a low priority as compared to other subdisciplines of bibliometrics/scientometrics. The analysis of data indicates that the share of theoretical studies using mathematical and statistical techniques which were missing in the earlier period (1970-1994) has increased during 1995-2014. The field of medicine as a discipline received the highest attention as compared to other disciplines

The energy-exergy-entropy (or EEE) sequences in bibliometric assessment

Bibliometric research assessment has matured into a quantitative phase using more meaningful measures and analogies. In this paper, we propose a thermodynamic analogy and introduce what are called the energy, exergy and entropy terms associated with a bibliometric sequence. This can be displayed as time series (variation over time), or in event terms (variation as papers are published) and also in the form of phase diagrams (energy-exergy-entropy representations). It is exergy which is the most meaningful single number scalar indicator of a scientist’s performance while entropy then becomes a measure of the unevenness (disorder) of the publication portfolio