1. Bibliometrics and the research enterprise
Berenika M. Webster, PhD
University Library System
14 March 2017

2. “the application of mathematics and statistical methods to books and other media of communication” in order to“shed light on the processes of written communication and of the nature and course of development of a discipline” (Pritchard, 1969)
Scopus, 2017

3. Bibliometrics can shed light on
Who or what?
Cognitive: disciplines
networks
Organisational: individuals
groups
departments
institutions
regions
countries
Social: co-authorship
Why?
science policy
assessment of impact
collections development
information retrieval

4. Matthew effect
For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath (Matthew xiii.7)
“Success breeds success” characterises many bibliometric phenomena
an article in a journal that has been cited many times already is much more likely to be cited again than a rarely cited article;
a more distinguished author will receive disproportionally more recognition for their contributions (e.g. citations) than authors who are less known;
an author of many papers is much more likely to publish again than one who is less prolific.

5. What can citation counts tell us about research outputs
how visible that research is
how relevant that research is
something about the reputation of its author(s)
how impactful that research is
Not about its quality

6. cognitive and social structures

7. Wyndham Hulme’s statistical bibliography
The development of modern civilisations can be measured by the volume of their published outputs and levels of diversifications within scholarly disciplines.
(Hulme, 1923).

8. Derek de Solla Price and a scientific approach to describing science
[…] science can itself be studied “scientifically” -- that is, by careful measurement, description, and classification of regularities in the occurrence of certain real-world events, such as the engagement of a person in a scientific task, their appointment to a scientific job, their publication of a scientific paper, their collaboration with another.
(de Solla Price)

9. Eugene Garfield and “Association of Ideas Index”
All these activities were significantly boosted in the late 1960s by the development of the first citation indices. These multidisciplinary, international in coverage indexing services developed by Eugene Garfield and his Institute for Scientific Information (ISI) in Philadelphia, in addition to basic bibliographic details of published papers, provide full lists of references in these papers and links to papers which cite them. These “association-of-ideas indexes” allowed for retrieval based on citation links rather than traditional subject retrieval relying on indices, thesauri or key words. Moreover, subscribing to Merton’s theory of the normative structure of science, given and received citations can be regarded as markers of influence.

10. All disciplines are not equal
Butler, 2006

11. Why do researchers publish
Kyvik, 2005

12. Bibliometric distributions are skewed: Samuel C Bradford’s law of scattering
In 1934 Samuel C Bradford described a pattern that shows the exponentially diminishing returns of extending a search for references in science journals. Bradford’s distribution is very similar to the Pareto distribution and shows that 80% of all publications (and citations) in a subject area can be found in 20% of journals. (Bradford, 1934) Bradford’s law of scattering, as it became known, proved pivotal in the thinking of Eugene Garfield when he proposed the creation of the first citation index nearly 30 years later.
Bradford, 1934

13. Bibliometric distributions are skewed
In 2010 [papers], nearly half of the citation impact is
accounted for by the 10% most-frequently cited papers.
Bornmann, 2016

14. Bibliometric distributions are skewed
80% of citations found
in 15% of papers
Webster, 2017

15. All disciplines are not equal: 2011-2016 CPP rates
Scopus, 2016

16. Scopus 2016

17. Aging of literatures (cited half-life)
Journal Citation Reports, 2010

18. What impact: from an idea to better care and less illness
Academic
Social
Environmental
Economic
After Lewison, 1999

19. From bench top to economic impact

20. Applied vs basic
Mapping the Science, 2005

21. Maps of science

22. Evolution of chemistry research
Interdisciplinarity
(co-citations)

23. Journal Scientometrics co-citation network
2015/16 Scientometrics paper co-citation analysis VosViewer visualisation

24. Co-authorship networks
Collaboration patterns (co-authorship)
Success predictions (betweenness centrality)

25. organisational and workforce structures

26. James McKeen Cattell and American Men of Science
The beginnings of bibliometric-type research are attributed to an American psychologist and an editor of Science, James McKeen Cattell, who in launched a publication called American Men of Science. Updated every 5 years it provided the first systematic analysis of the volume and quality of scientific research in the US. Cattell was the first one to collect both quantitative and qualitative information about research outputs. The quantitative data was simply numbers of publications; the qualitative part of analysis was based on peer rankings. (Godin, 2006)

27. Global, national, local perspectives
Scopus/SciVal data, 2016
NSF Science and Engineering Indicators, 2016

28. Global, national, local perspectives
Scopus/SciVal data, 2016
NSF Science and Engineering Indicators, 2016

29. Measures of impact US Share of papers in top 1%, by institution
Scopus/SciVal data, 2016
US Share of papers in top 1%, by institution
NSF Science and Engineering Indicators,2016

30. Research contribution to development of inventions
Pitt publications cited on patents,
Scopus/SciVal data, 2016
NSF Science and Engineering Indicators, 2016

31. Population characteristics: ethnic diversity
Minorities were underrepresented in HE employment in relation to size of populations.
Representation varied by disciplines
Webster, 2003

32. Population characteristics: women
The proportion of women among researchers and
inventors is increasing over time.
Women publish fewer research papers on average
than men, but there is no evidence that this affects
how their papers are cited or downloaded.
Women are less likely than men to collaborate
internationally on research papers.
Webster, 2001
Women are slightly less likely than men to
collaborate across the academic and corporate
sectors on research papers.
Women are in junior positions (teaching and admin)
Publish in local journals
Less intl collaboration
Fewer publications than men
underrepresented in basic physical sciences
She Figures: Underrepresented as corresponding authors but on par in intl collab.
In general, women’s scholarly output includes a
slightly larger proportion of highly interdisciplinary
research than men’s.
Among researchers, women are generally less
internationally mobile than men
Gender research is growing in terms of size and
complexity, with new topics emerging over time.

33. Workforce: how to find a rising star
Bibliometric predictors of impact:
Early publications (pre-PhD) lead to greater ongoing productivity
Rapid citation rates (in comparison to baselines) correlate with subsequent impact
Publications in top ranking journals correlate to subsequent impact
Early indications of influence within a co-authorship networks correlate with subsequent impact

34. Come and learn about Leiden Manifesto and role of metrics in faculty evaluation
Senate Plenary 29 March, pm Assembly Room, WPU