Citation Success: What does it mean & how do you achieve it? Graham H. Pyke School of the Environment University of Technology Sydney

I dedicate this lecture to my parents, Tom and Margery Pyke

Citation Success: My message today Citations matter, both to individuals and their institutions, hugely now & even more in future; I have (credibly) worked out the ‘secrets’ to citation success; I plan to provide some further guidance in the future.

However … I am not claiming that counting citations is the only, or the best, thing to do That might be a topic for some other occasion

What are citations? A reference within a presentation (written or oral) to another presentation Reference identifies author(s) & location of presentation Points to another presentation that provides relevant material (supporting, inspiring, incorrect, disliked etc) => Importance of citations

Importance of Citations Citations are fundamentally important because ….  Each citation indicates an influence of the original presentation on another And hence  The accumulated number of citations to a particular presentation provides a measure of its total influence

Citations vs Contribution to literature Citations & Influence (i.e., Contribution, Impact etc) are generally correlated BUT Specific to different areas (e.g., Ecology\ Environment vs Medicine) Poorly correlated in some areas (e.g., Systematics\ Taxonomy)

Citations: Today’s focus vs Other things Research (not other scholarly activities) Publications of articles in journals and books (not other presentations) However … Much of what I have to say is relevant to all kinds of scholarly activity and presentation

Keeping count of citations: Initially a research tool Eugene Garfield – from ~1960 Institute for Scientific Information (ISI) Scientific Citation Index (SCI) =>Later other citation indices Current Contents  Tables of contents for journals (initially several hundred for biology & medicine)  Author contact details  Keyword index  ‘Citation Classics’  Manual to computer-based

Counting Citations: Some basic issues Publication venues Date period for original published articles Date period for citations =>Different approaches Self-citations (author, institution, country) Disambiguation of names (authors, journals, institutions) =>General approaches

Citation Information: What are the sources? Scopus Web of Knowledge (includes ISI indices & others) Google Scholar  All scholarly publications  Time periods without limit =>Hence …  Includes highest % of published articles (~95% in my case vs ~60% for others)  Gives highest citation counts (~6500 in my case vs about ~5000 for the others)

Evaluations using Citations Article Journal Author Institution

Citation evaluation: Articles Time course of citations Evaluation criteria  Total  Immediacy  Recent  ‘Highly-cited’

Citation evaluation: Journals Impact Factor = Average number of citations per recent article Ranking  Authors & institutions target journals with highest impact factors Very High ~20 Science Nature High~10 Others

Citation evaluation: Authors Total citations Avg citations per published article Hirst- or H-index = Number N such that author has published N articles with at least N citations each =>Total citations & H-index increasingly reported & used

Citation evaluation: Authors Position Tenure/ Promotion Funding (e.g., grants)

Citation evaluation: Institutions Indices & rankings influence student enrolments, funding, donations & bequests Both international & national They all include citations

Shanghai Jiao Tong Index (aka Academic Ranking of World Universities) Innocent beginnings, now big business Criteria:  Nobel Prizes/ Fields Medals (30%)  Highly-cited Researchers (20%)  Articles in Nature & Science (20%)  Science Citation Index & Social Sciences Citation Index (20%)  Per capita academic performance re citations (10%)

UTS & the SJT Index UTS World Rank according to SJT :  Up till >500   Highly-cited authors

# highly-cited authors: Putting it in perspective UTS4 Macquarie Uni5 Uni of Sydney 7 Uni of Melb 10 ANU 17 Harvard / Stanford ~100

Citation Success: Who cares? Universities Other Agencies (e.g., Funding) Colleagues Individuals  Citations matter, for everyone, now and will matter increasingly in the future

Citations: A fundamental conclusion Both individual authors, and their institutions, will need to pay increasing attention to citations and adopt strategies aimed at enhancing them. Such strategies should reinforce one another.

Citations: A strategy for individual success? The good news is that …. There is a strategy, suitable for anyone, that should lead to enhanced citation success

Citation Success: Why listen to me? Relevant experience & achievements BUT … Vaguely aware in past, but paid negligible attention Thinking/ talking about it since Nov 2011 Commenced analysing my own citations just a few days ago SO … My past was independent of any consideration of citation success or how to achieve it

Citation Success: Why listen to me? #’s Citations  ~ 6,500 in total  ‘ISI Highly-cited’ Author

Citation Success: Why listen to me? #’s citations per published article  Consistently high  H-index 34

Citation Success: Why listen to me? Co-authored articles with other highly- cited authors Four highly-cited authors  Ric Charnov  Paul Ehrlich  Ron Pulliam  Nick Waser Senior author for 3 of 4 articles (excl. book reviews etc)

Citation Success: Why listen to me? Other ‘highly-cited’ authors as colleagues Other Universities UTS –  Geoff Anstis (Materials Science)  John Geweke (Economics/ Business)  Matt Wand (mathematics)

Citation Success: Why listen to me? Personal experience Comparing notes with others Limited analysis All these lead to the same conclusions

Citations: The ‘secrets’ to success My ‘Secrets’ should lead to both:  Enhanced citation success  Enhanced contribution to literature My ‘Secrets’ are not profound (obvious, straightforward, universally applicable) and yet highly profound at the same time (rarely well adopted)

Citation Success: Format for what follows For each ‘secret’ …  Recipe  Example from my research

Citation Success: Secret #1 - Recipe SIGNIFICANCE re issue or question (Prospective vs. retrospective) Choose an issue or question (prospective) or set your work within a context (retrospective) of high significance (i.e., importance, relevance, usefulness) … the higher the better … but need to credible

Citation Success: Secret #1 - Example Question: Why do animals (& other organisms) forage (or feed) the way they do?

Citation Success: Secret #1 - Example Significant because …  All organisms ‘forage’;  Foraging is important to individual organisms;  Foraging often a major activity re time & energy;  Including foraging is necessary for understanding other phenomena & patterns (e.g., other aspects of behaviour, population dynamics, inter-species interactions, structure of communities, patterns of co-evolution).

Citation Success: Secret #2 - Recipe INFLUENCE of publication or presentation (Looking forward or looking back) Seek to have as much influence as possible, through changing how people think, what they say, and what they do.

Citation Success: Secret #2 - Example Question: Why do animals (& other organisms) forage the way they do? Approach advocated: Optimal Foraging Theory Influence sought: Adopt the approach

Citation Success: Secret #3 - Recipe PRESENTATIONS (Looking backwards) Give presentations that are captivating, compelling & memorable.

Citation Success: Secret #3 - Example My publications re Optimal Foraging Theory This lecture?

Citation Success: Secret #4 - Recipe SUSTAIN the approach Don’t just do it; keep doing it.

Citation Success: Secret #4 - Example My citations

Citation Success: Secret #4 - Example

Citation Success: The Secrets in Summary SIPS …  Significance  Influence  Presentation  Sustained Really … Approach or Mindset What else …. Tools Mentoring or Advice

Citation Success: Tools #1 - Significance Identify questions &/or issues Hierarchy Evaluate

Citation Success: Tools #1 - Example Why do animals forage the way they do? Do animals forage in ways that are consistent with Optimal Foraging Theory (OFT)? Do bumblebees forage in ways that maximise Net Rate of Energy Intake? Is the foraging behaviour of bumblebee species X, while taking nectar from flowers of plant sp Y, in location Z, consistent with this hypothesis? Different aspects of foraging behaviour (e.g., choice, departure, movement)

Citation Success: Tools #1 - Significance Evaluation criteria  Level  Interest  Achievable  Simple & Clear  Credible Scoring system => Hierarchical Context with Significance Max at each Level

Citation Success: Tool #1 – The end result Issues/ questions of high significance to either pursue or use as context for work already undertaken

Citation Success: Tools #2 - Influence Who? What? How?

Citation Success: Tools #2 - Example Question: Why do organisms forage the way they do? Who? All ecologists & behaviourists & ??

Citation Success: Tools #2 - Influence Question: Why do organisms forage the way they do? What influence? Adopt the OFT approach.

Citation Success: Tools #2 - Influence Question: Why do organisms forage the way they do? How? Review the literature, critically & constructively, & provide examples of successful application of OFT approach

Citation Success: Tool #2: Influence – The end result Plan with targeted audience, goal in terms of influence, methods for achieving goal

Influence: What about it? Seeking to influence is the most important aspect of achieving citation success Influence requires a mission, passion, arrogance & confidence

Citation Success: Tool #3 - Presentation Standard approach …  Logical  KISS  Short  Concise Plus extras …  Captivating  Compelling  Memorable

Presentation: Graham’s Standard Approach to writing Logical order of simple points These are lead sentences of separate paragraphs One point per paragraph  Applies to articles, reviews, grant proposals, reports etc  Test & Consequences

Writing: Test & Consequences Test  Combine lead sentences of each paragraph into single body of text.  Convey ‘story’ simply & completely  Understandable to almost anyone.

Writing: Test & Consequences Consequences  Basis for abstract or summary (Emphasise introduction, discussion & conclusion)  Basis for being captivating, compelling & memorable

Citation Success: Presentations – The Extra Stuff Captivating Focus on reader  Attention  Read on Progression  Title  Abstract/ Summary  Introduction

Citation Success: Presentations – The Extra Stuff Compelling & Memorable What … Convey …  Significance  Influence How …  Brainstorm – title, major points  Show to colleague, friend etc

Citation Success: Presentations Present story that is captivating, compelling and memorable, in a simple, concise and logical manner.

Citation Success: Tools #4 - Sustaining what it takes Work position & environment Determination & passion Balance in life

Citation Success: The strategy so far Approach (SIPS) = Mindset Tools =>Mentoring

Citation Success: Mentoring Seek the best possible mentoring & take advantage of any resulting advice or other assistance Work in pairs or groups

Citation Success: Strategy at a glance Adopt the SIPS approach  Significance  Influence  Presentation  Sustain Within an overall ATM strategy  Approach  Tools  Mentoring

Citation Success: No better alternative

Citation Success: Graham’s further advice & assistance Who?  From stage of developing first research project to still wishing to have influence  I.e., Postgrad students to Professors (including myself!)

Citation Success: Graham’s further advice & assistance How?  Mentoring  Train the trainer  Workshops  Written step-wise program

Citation Success: Graham’s further advice & assistance When? =>New year ≥ Feb or Mar Notification =>New year ≥ Jan or Feb

Citation Success vs Quality of research (or other scholarly activity) Significance Influence Presentation Sustain =>Improved quality of research (or other scholarly activity) => Other endeavours?

Citation Success: Final Comment Adopting the recommended approach & tools should lead to both enhanced citation success and improved research quality =>Therefore worth doing regardless of how academic landscape may change in the future

Citation Success: Balance in Life