1. SCIENTIFIC SOLUTIONS Searching for Value in a Changing Research Environment Patricia Brennan Academic & Government Product Development Thomson Scientific NISO Usage Data Forum November 2, 2007 Dallas, TX

2. Copyright 2007 Thomson SCIENTIFIC SOLUTIONS Searching for value… How do we assess value? The changing research environment – what does it look like? What data best serve the needs of the key stakeholders? Researcher Librarian Publisher Viable metrics and consistent data for work-flow decisions Where do standards fit?

3. Copyright 2007 Thomson SCIENTIFIC SOLUTIONS Searching for value… How do we assess value? –Role of citations, citation metrics –Possibilities with new metrics – Usage Factor, H Index, –Recognize the changing nature of the research environment

4. Copyright 2007 Thomson SCIENTIFIC SOLUTIONS Searching for value… Science has grown faster than our ability to keep up Estimated 20,000 papers published daily Today’s scientific research is evolving in a global and multidisciplinary context Selectivity is a must: Which articles should a researcher read? Which journals should a library subscribe to? Which projects and researchers should be funded? Data based decision making increasingly important

5. Copyright 2007 Thomson SCIENTIFIC SOLUTIONS Scholarship is Global >5 countries Source: Web of Science®

6. Copyright 2007 Thomson SCIENTIFIC SOLUTIONS …and Collaborative Source: Web of Science®

7. Copyright 2007 Thomson SCIENTIFIC SOLUTIONS Collaboration is Getting Broader Source: Web of Science®

8. Copyright 2007 Thomson SCIENTIFIC SOLUTIONS …even Enormous! Largest Collaboration in 2006: 2512 authors, a “collaboration of collaborations”

9. Copyright 2007 Thomson SCIENTIFIC SOLUTIONS Searching for value… Research is also… Communicative at ever higher velocities Collaborative, as a fundamental research practice Competitive, at many levels, and Creative in new ways --multiple formats and venues (objects, databases, software)

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12. Copyright 2007 Thomson SCIENTIFIC SOLUTIONS Searching for value… The researcher/research group needs to: –Keep up to date on new and developing science Access to reliable and timely sources –Nurture new talent through grants and funding Identify rising stars Build your brand –Provide timely, objective and informed synopses for decision makers Output reports –Measure the impact of scientific efforts

13. Copyright 2007 Thomson SCIENTIFIC SOLUTIONS Field strengths: Most cited paper Collaborative effort on the hot topic of Obesity & Disease. The top 5 cited papers focus on Medical topics. Citation performance graph

14. Copyright 2007 Thomson SCIENTIFIC SOLUTIONS Where are the thought leaders at your institution? Top 10 in Plant ScienceTop 10 Many top cited authors are focusing in a mix of medical areas. Where does management want to focus the traditional agricultural- related research? Top 10 in Biochemistry & Mol. Biology

15. Copyright 2007 Thomson SCIENTIFIC SOLUTIONS Individual strengths: Most cited Author The most cited authors in the papers are involved in homocysteine research Total Papers = 196, Total Cites = 7,392 Average times Cited = 37.71, Median times Cited = 11 H-index = 44. Selhub has 44 papers with at least 44 citations. C-index = 2.01. The baseline is 1. This value is the total cites divided by the total expected cites. Average Percentile = 20.55. On average, Selhub’s papers were in the top 20% of papers. Disciplinarity = 0.07. Ranging from 0 to 1, the lower the number, the greater the multidisciplinarity. Selhub’s work is very interdisciplinary.

16. Copyright 2007 Thomson SCIENTIFIC SOLUTIONS Individual strengths: Most prolific Author Dr. Dubey has worked on Toxoplasma gondii and Neospora caninum. Collaborates with Virginia Tech, USDA colleagues, Auburn as well as Brazil, and France Total Papers = 368, Total Cites = 5,435 Average times Cited = 14.77, Median times Cited = 6 H-index = 32. Dubey has 32 papers with at least 32 citations. C-index = 1.71. The baseline is 1. This value is the total cites divided by the total expected cites. Average Percentile = 35.39. On average, Dubey’s papers were in the top 1/3. Disciplinarity = 0.41. Ranging from 0 to 1, the lower the number, the greater the multidisciplinarity

17. Copyright 2007 Thomson SCIENTIFIC SOLUTIONS Collaborating countries Canada and other G-8 countries are the main collaborating countries. But it is the collaborations in Northern Europe that have the highest impact.

18. Copyright 2007 Thomson SCIENTIFIC SOLUTIONS Citing Organizations These are the top foreign citing organizations, by citation are: INRA, France Wageningen University, the Netherlands Chinese Academy of Science, PRC Agriculture & Agricultural Food, Canada CSIC, Spain CSIRO, Australia Top 5 INRA papers citing USDA research What countries or institutions would USDA want to collaborate with in the future?

19. Copyright 2007 Thomson SCIENTIFIC SOLUTIONS Recently cited Work and specific topic areas This is a portion of research written in 2005-2007. Here the fields are Agronomy and Plant Science, not medical fields. These could be papers and projects to watch. Topic areas: Biofuels 175 organizations cite this biofuels research. Could there be opportunities for new research collaborations? Of a sample of 100 biofuel papers, there were 26 collaborating organizations on these papers.

20. Copyright 2007 Thomson SCIENTIFIC SOLUTIONS Searching for value… Decision Support in the Library Community –Meeting Researcher Needs –Building collections

21. Copyright 2007 Thomson SCIENTIFIC SOLUTIONS Searching for value… What librarians need: –Systems that enable collection management librarians to work with and validate journal usage and about what journals our academics are publishing in.” –Confidence in demonstrating that the subscribed journal packages are giving value for money. –library is fully integrated in evaluation of University's publication output –collection management in multi-tiered acquisition structures (consortia, partnerships, special libraries) –collection development (relation between library holdings and researcher's publication activity) –“we need to demonstrate we are truly supporting the current research focus of the institution.”

22. Copyright 2007 Thomson SCIENTIFIC SOLUTIONS Searching for value… What tools do librarians have? Input from Faculty Understanding of the Discipline Understanding the needs of the Community Journal Citation Reports (IFs) Citation Analyses Usage Data Cost/Funds (special $$ allocations) Pertinence to Local Focus Reviews Overlap Analyses Tools

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24. Copyright 2007 Thomson SCIENTIFIC SOLUTIONS Searching for value… Within the new world of 21st century scholarship, new sets of questions about value emerge: –Who of the many researchers listed on this paper is next “hot shot”? –Isn’t the person who built the database underlying the research as deserving of credit as the person who wrote up the research? – Isn’t this database a valuable research product in its own right, and perhaps more valuable in the real network of scholarly communications today than the article that incarnates the conclusions of a point-in-time discovery made using it? –What portion of the scholarly network of value has actually been captured by the journal, and what is thus subject to any “journal-level” metric?

25. Copyright 2007 Thomson SCIENTIFIC SOLUTIONS Consider whether available data can address the question Choose publication types, field definitions, and years of data Decide on whole or fractional counting Judge whether data require editing to remove “artifacts” Compare like with like Use relative measures, not just absolute counts Obtain multiple measures Recognize the skewed nature of citation data Confirm data collected are relevant to question Ask whether the results are reasonable Following Best Practices

26. Copyright 2007 Thomson SCIENTIFIC SOLUTIONS Searching for value… Usage Applications Characteristics of community Understanding the community of users –Who are they ? –Where are they likely to come from? Systems and processes to support ongoing data gathering, analyses, interpretation, and application Collaborative efforts

27. Copyright 2007 Thomson SCIENTIFIC SOLUTIONS Searching for value… Opportunities for standards? –Item Definitions –Performance Measurement –Global Repositories –Standard Applications –Data Transfer Protocols

28. Copyright 2007 Thomson SCIENTIFIC SOLUTIONS Searching for value… Thank You!