Bibliometrics and Scientometrics for Research Evaluation

Posted in: #CC/Academic List, #Health Interest List, #Health Sciences List, #Public/K-12 List, All Members

---

Christi Piper attended a Bibliometrics and Scientometrics for Research Evaluation course virtually for 4-day workshop that ran from November 15 through the 18^th. Funding for the course was provided by the NNLM Professional Development award. The course was provided by Leiden University’s Centre for Science and Technology Studies in collaboration with the Galter Health Sciences Library at Northwestern University, Feinberg School of Medicine. The course program dedicated one day to each of the following topics: data sources, indicators, visualizations, and advanced learning topics.

The introduction established the theories and best practices that would shape the content for the rest of the day, including defining key concepts and providing a framework for understanding research metrics: evidence, insights, and learning. Once the ground work was laid, the focus moved to identifying data sources available to provide research metrics, including specific tools and types of data. Discussion of data sources focused on new data types that have evolved, such as social media and policy impact. Information about tools, including subscription model and data sources, was provided for most of the data types suggested.

The content about indicators and analytics on Day 2 centered on responsible use of research metrics and indicators. Specific case studies were presented to demonstrate how different indicators can be used to meet specific goals. A significant amount of time was dedicated to understanding citation normalization and advanced citation indicators. The challenges with journal level indicators, such as JIF, were also discussed.

Day 3 moved into visualizations and advanced analytics. Advanced analytics again used a case study structure to demonstrate how to implement the proposed framework of applying strategic questions to guide the analyses used. The case studies were well developed and provided a number of challenges that would apply to many scenarios that the instructors then used to present fixes or recommended processes. Visualizations and their elements were presented as the final results of the case studies.

The last day concluded with information about networks and structures of data, and hands-on visualization practice using VOSviewer, an open access visualization tool. Multiple assignments were given to participants to work through using a data source of their choosing and VOSviewer.

The course advertises that it is most beneficial for participants that already have some basic knowledge of bibliometrics and citation analysis, however, the content provided would likely lend itself more useful to participants who also already have some bibliometrics infrastructure in place at their institution. The content of days 1 and 2 were useful for extending general knowledge, but past those days, the content advanced very quickly to the point of being irrelevant for participants who did not have the infrastructure to do in-depth research impact support at their institution. While many tools were mentioned, tool demonstrations, outside of VOSviewer, were not a part of the course. Finally, the case studies presented tended to focus on scenarios where entire countries or university systems were working with research impact on a high level to determine policy or funding, so the scenarios were not applicable to individuals getting started with bibliometrics.

If you are someone who has the opportunity to dive deep into research impact and metrics in your work, this workshop will likely be very beneficial for you. Participants were from all around the world and brought many interesting case scenarios and levels of experience, but those with a background and hands-on experience with scientometrics, beyond basic indicators, will benefit the most from this course.

 

Author biography:

Christi Piper is an Informationist at the Strauss Health Sciences Library on the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus.