1. STIMULATE 5 Citation analysis and research performance Ronald Rousseau
Web page: users.telenet.be/ronald.rousseau

2. Talk based on: Introduction to Informetrics (Elsevier)
Leo Egghe and Ronald Rousseau

3. Citation analysis: Part I
History and development of the field
Structure of citation indexes
Use of citations in research evaluation
Problems

4. A reference list (example)
References
Drijvers, P. and Gravemeijer, K. (2004). Computer algebra as an instrument: examples of algebraic schemes. In: The didactical challenge of symbolic calculators: turning a computational device into a mathematical instrument, (D. Guin, K. Ruthven & L. Trouche, eds.). Kluwer: Dordrecht, pp
Feller, W. (1968). An introduction to probability theory and its applications. Vol.1 (third ed.). Wiley: New York.
Frandsen, T.F. and Rousseau, R. (2005). Article impact calculated over arbitrary periods. Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology 56(1),58-62.
Ingwersen, P., Larsen, B., Rousseau, R. and Russell, J. (2001). The publication-citation matrix and its derived quantities. Chinese Science Bulletin, 46(6), Also (in Chinese): Kexue Tongbao, 2001, 46(8),
Jiang, G., Rousseau, R., and Wu, Y. (2003). Proceedings of the 9th International Conference on Scientometrics and Informetrics. Dalian University of Technology Press, Dalian (P.R. China).

5. Citation analysis Leading scientist in the field: Eugene Garfield
Application areas:
Information search and retrieval
Quantitative evaluation of scientists, institutions, countries
Study of the historical development of science and technology

6. Citation indexing
A citation index is a structured list of all references in a given collection of documents
First in legal practice: Shepard’s citations
Science Citation Index (SCI), Social Science Citation Index (SSCI), Arts & Humanities Citation Index (A&HCI): Web of Science (WoS)

7. History of citation indexes
First one (SCI): covering 1961, published (in print) in 1963
Social Science Citation Index since 1972 (in print)
Online versions (DIALOG)
CD-ROM versions (since 1988)
Nowadays: on the Web
There also exist retrospective SCIs

8. Why is a citation index better than a subject index for retrieval?
Citation indexes indicate subject relationships
Authors make generally better judgments than indexers
They are independent of topic descriptors
Timeliness
Multidisciplinarity
Avoiding semantic difficulties

9. Citers’ motivations: ‘good’ reasons
Giving credit for related work
Identifying methodology, equipment, etc.
Identifying original publications in which an idea was discussed or introduced
Providing background reading
Correcting work of others or of oneself
Disputing priority claims

10. Citers’ motivations: ‘bad’ reasons
Hat-tipping citations
Citations can be selected to support one’s point of view
Self-serving citations
You scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours
Expectations: citing works because it is felt that it is expected to do so
Political considerations

11. Bad publication habits
Serial publications (LPU’s, or salami slicing)
Multiple publications
Publication of luxurious reports in order to attract attention
Searching out grant funding by publishing what is fashionable

12. Classification of citations
Moravcsik and Murugesan
conceptual vs. operational
organic vs. perfunctory
evolutionary vs. juxtapositional
confirmative vs. negational
+ redundancy

13. Citers’ motivations: the work of Brooks
Result: persuasiveness (Gilbert)
No negative credit

14. Assumptions for the proper use of citation analysis in research evaluation
Citation of a document implies use of that document by the citing author
Citation reflects merit
Citations are made to the best possible works
A cited document is related in content to the citing document

15. Objections and problems a
Self-citations
Multiple authorship
Homographs
Synonyms
Types of sources
Implicit citations
Fluctuations in time

16. Objections and problems b
Field variations
Incompleteness of the ISI-databases
Domination of English
American bias
Sex bias
Errors

17. Co-authorship First-author count (straight count) Normal count
Fractional or adjusted count
More elaborated counting schemes
Influence of alphabetical name ordering

18. Some remarks Ethics of citation practices Citation amnesia
Use of eponyms
Problem of superspecialization
Invisibility of work from developing countries

19. Conclusion
Citation analysis is not a substitute or shortcut for critical thinking.
It is a point of departure for those willing to explore the avenues to thorough evaluation.
Peer review is also necessary