the role of citations in warwick’s strategy and improving them nicola owen (academic registrar)...
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The Role of Citations in Warwick’s Strategy and Improving Them
Nicola Owen (Academic Registrar)
Professor Mark Smith (PVC Research: Science and Medicine)
IntroductionIntroduction
What are citations ? Citation indices & impact factors ISI Highly Cited Researchers Why improve citations ? How do we improve citations ?
What are Citations ?What are Citations ?
A citation is a reference to a book, article or web page or other published item that can be uniquely identified. Citations are used in scholarly works to give credit to or acknowledge the influence of previous works. Thomson ISI, part of Thomson-Reuters Corp. is the World’s leading bibliometric data compiler. ISI created by Eugene Garfield
Citation IndicesCitation Indices
SCI – Science Citation Index SSCI – Social Science Citation Index AHCI - Arts and Humanities Citation Index
Impact FactorImpact Factor
E.g. Journal impact factor for 2003….
A = the number of times articles published in 2001-2 were cited in indexed journals during 2003
B = the number of "citable items" (usually articles, reviews, letters, proceedings or notes; not usually editorials, comments and letters-to-the-Editor) published in 2001-2
2003 impact factor = A/B
The highest cited journalsThe highest cited journalsRank J ournal Title
Total Cites
Impact Factor
Articles
1 J BIOL CHEM 410,903 5.808 4336
2 NATURE 390,690 26.681 962
3 P NATL ACAD SCI USA 371,057 9.643 3306
4 SCIENCE 361,389 30.028 885
5 J AM CHEM SOC 275,769 7.696 3256
6 PHYS REV LETT 268,454 7.072 3758
7 PHYS REV B 212,714 3.107 5631
8 NEW ENGL J MED 177,505 51.296 303
9 ASTROPHYS J 162,136 6.119 2707
10 J CHEM PHYS 157,334 3.166 2811
11 APPL PHYS LETT 140,050 3.977 6153
12 LANCET 133,932 25.800 301
13 CELL 132,528 29.194 352
14 CIRCULATION 126,019 10.940 682
15 J IMMUNOL 117,464 6.293 1846
16 CANCER RES 112,911 7.656 1493
17 J GEOPHYS RES 111,451 2.800 2251
18 BLOOD 108,180 10.370 1189
19 J NEUROSCI 103,022 7.453 1415
20 ANGEW CHEM INT EDIT 102,854 10.232 1556
Consider impact by fieldConsider impact by field
Rank J ournal Title Impact Factor
1 J ECON LIT 4.667
2 Q J ECON 3.938
3 J ACCOUNT ECON 3.360
4 J ECON GROWTH 3.240
5 J POLIT ECON 3.194
6 J ECON PERSPECT 2.833
7 WORLD BANK RES OBSER 2.700
8 J ECON GEOGR 2.519
9 J FINANC ECON 2.494
10 ECONOMETRICA 2.402
Economics
Rank J ournal Title Impact Factor
1 ANNU REV BIOCHEM 36.525
2 CELL 29.194
3 NAT MED 28.588
4 ANNU REV BIOPH BIOM 16.921
5 PLOS BIOL 14.101
6 MOL CELL 14.033
7 TRENDS BIOCHEM SCI 13.863
8 NAT CHEM BIOL 12.409
9 PROG LIPID RES 12.235
10 MOL PSYCHIATR 11.804
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Consider impact by fieldConsider impact by field
We have seen that citation rates and impact vary by field and sub-field of research We must set citations metrics in context Citations less relevant in the arts and humanities
Highly Cited ResearchersHighly Cited Researchers
Thomson ISIHighlyCited.com 21 broad subject categories in life sciences, medicine, physical sciences, engineering and social sciences. Individuals listed are the most highly cited within each category for the period 1981-1999, comprise less than 0.5 % of all publishing researchers - an extraordinary accomplishment. Does not include the arts & humanities Universities recognised as the best in the World have many HiCi researchers
Nobel Laureates… Nobel Laureates…
Eugene Garfield on Nobel Laureates… they publish five times the average number of papers their work is cited 30 to 50 times the average they will invariably publish several CitationClassics most have high h-Indexes many also appear on ISI’s HighlyCited index
We can’t all be Nobel Laureates though !
Where Are We Now – Highly Cited?
[2] Cambridge University = 49[10] Oxford University = 40[23] Imperial College = 29[26] UCL = 23[62] Bristol = 16[50] Manchester = 14[90] Birmingham = 7[246] Warwick = 5
[1] Harvard University = 80[3] Stanford University = 93[4] UC Berkley = 82[5] MIT = 74[8] Princeton University = 60[11] Yale University = 34[12] Cornell University = 51[85] Brown University =15
Comparative positions include (SJTU rankings in brackets):
Citation impact for Institutions in 5 year Citation impact for Institutions in 5 year overlapping periodsoverlapping periods
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5 Year Period
DURHAM UNIV-all fields
UNIV BIRMINGHAM-all fields
UNIV CAMBRIDGE-all fields
UNIV LEICESTER-all fields
UNIV MANCHESTER-all fields
UNIV NOTTINGHAM-all fields
UNIV OXFORD-all fields
UNIV WARWICK-all fields
UNIV YORK-all fields
Why might this be?
• Young institution?• Young medical school?• Culture of playing safe?• Insufficient international networks?• Lack of awareness• Publishing cultures?• Some disciplines and sub-disciplines cite more
than others.
Why are we doing this?
• Strategically: Boost research quality by regular
benchmarking to world, rather than UK, standards.
• Reputation (underselling ourselves) international esteem
THES World Rankings citations per faculty (20%)
• Future funding– Research Assessment of Science, Technology,
Engineering & Medicine (STEM) subjects from 2009 (likely to be weighted 30%)
What can we do?
• Primary focus on research quality across Warwick (i.e. not just a science/social science issue)
• Citations is one measure – draw up measures in discipline context
• Need to start measuring– What’s your own h-index?
– What do Warwick academics publish each year?
How do we improve How do we improve citations ?citations ?
Attempt to publish in top journals for the field or sub-field of research Don’t take the comfortable option of submitting articles first to middle ranking journals Be prepared to face rejection Achieve maximum publicity for your research Ensure that the correct address is used !