A review of the literature on citation impact indicators

Citation impact indicators nowadays play an important role in research evaluation, and consequently these indicators have received a lot of attention in the bibliometric and scientometric literature. This paper provides an in-depth review of the literature on citation impact indicators. First, an overview is given of the literature on bibliographic databases that can be used to calculate citation impact indicators (Web of Science, Scopus, and Google Scholar). Next, selected topics in the literature on citation impact indicators are reviewed in detail. The first topic is the selection of publications and citations to be included in the calculation of citation impact indicators. The second topic is the normalization of citation impact indicators, in particular normalization for field differences. Counting methods for dealing with co-authored publications are the third topic, and citation impact indicators for journals are the last topic. The paper concludes by offering some recommendations for future research

A critical cluster analysis of 44 indicators of author-level performance

This paper explores the relationship between author-level bibliometric indicators and the researchers the "measure", exemplified across five academic seniorities and four disciplines. Using cluster methodology, the disciplinary and seniority appropriateness of author-level indicators is examined. Publication and citation data for 741 researchers across Astronomy, Environmental Science, Philosophy and Public Health was collected in Web of Science (WoS). Forty-four indicators of individual performance were computed using the data. A two-step cluster analysis using IBM SPSS version 22 was performed, followed by a risk analysis and ordinal logistic regression to explore cluster membership. Indicator scores were contextualized using the individual researcher's curriculum vitae. Four different clusters based on indicator scores ranked researchers as low, middle, high and extremely high performers. The results show that different indicators were appropriate in demarcating ranked performance in different disciplines. In Astronomy the h2 indicator, sum pp top prop in Environmental Science, Q2 in Philosophy and e-index in Public Health. The regression and odds analysis showed individual level indicator scores were primarily dependent on the number of years since the researcher's first publication registered in WoS, number of publications and number of citations. Seniority classification was secondary therefore no seniority appropriate indicators were confidently identified. Cluster methodology proved useful in identifying disciplinary appropriate indicators providing the preliminary data preparation was thorough but needed to be supplemented by other analyses to validate the results. A general disconnection between the performance of the researcher on their curriculum vitae and the performance of the researcher based on bibliometric indicators was observed.Comment: 28 pages, 7 tables, 2 figures, 2 appendice

Tracing scientific influence

Scientometrics is the field of quantitative studies of scholarly activity. It has been used for systematic studies of the fundamentals of scholarly practice as well as for evaluation purposes. Although advocated from the very beginning the use of scientometrics as an additional method for science history is still under explored. In this paper we show how a scientometric analysis can be used to shed light on the reception history of certain outstanding scholars. As a case, we look into citation patterns of a specific paper by the American sociologist Robert K. Merton.Comment: 25 pages LaTe

Weighted citation: An indicator of an article's prestige

We propose using the technique of weighted citation to measure an article's prestige. The technique allocates a different weight to each reference by taking into account the impact of citing journals and citation time intervals. Weighted citation captures prestige, whereas citation counts capture popularity. We compare the value variances for popularity and prestige for articles published in the Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology from 1998 to 2007, and find that the majority have comparable status.Comment: 17 pages, 6 figure

Applied Evaluative Informetrics: Part 1

This manuscript is a preprint version of Part 1 (General Introduction and Synopsis) of the book Applied Evaluative Informetrics, to be published by Springer in the summer of 2017. This book presents an introduction to the field of applied evaluative informetrics, and is written for interested scholars and students from all domains of science and scholarship. It sketches the field's history, recent achievements, and its potential and limits. It explains the notion of multi-dimensional research performance, and discusses the pros and cons of 28 citation-, patent-, reputation- and altmetrics-based indicators. In addition, it presents quantitative research assessment as an evaluation science, and focuses on the role of extra-informetric factors in the development of indicators, and on the policy context of their application. It also discusses the way forward, both for users and for developers of informetric tools.Comment: The posted version is a preprint (author copy) of Part 1 (General Introduction and Synopsis) of a book entitled Applied Evaluative Bibliometrics, to be published by Springer in the summer of 201