sign in sign up
<<
Home , Publons, Scientific writing, Scientometrics (journal)

Scientometrics and the Digital Existence of Scientist(s): Methodology, Myth(s) & Reality

Vijay Kothari Ph.D.

Ahmedabad [email protected] [email protected]

State Level Symposium at SRKI Surat October 3, 2015 Who are you?

What is your contribution ?

Vijay Kothari [An example of a scientometric introduction] Vijay Kothari

• Google Schloar link: http://scholar.google.co.in/citations?user=KtRl6p4AAAAJ Statistics

• ResearchGate: http://www.researchgate.net/profile/Vijay_Kothari Publications 51 (39 papers/ chapters, 12 ) plus 13 general articles • ORCID ID: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1035-7217 h -index 8

• author ID: 36608305900 Downloads > 42,000 Reads > 12,000 • Researcher ID: http://www.researcherid.com/rid/E-3212-2014 273 (as of Sept. 29, 2015)

• VIDWAN Expert Database ID: 44171 RG Score 14.80 40 merit • Publons verified record: https://publons.com/a/536628

Vijay Kothari : What ?

• Scientometrics is concerned with the quantitative features and

characteristics of and scientific research.

• It involves investigations in which the and mechanism of

science is studied by statistical/ mathematical methods.

Vijay Kothari Scientometrics: Why ?

• Quantifying scientific contribution • Making comparisons among individuals • Ranking of institutes of higher education • Ranking nations for their scientific output • A tool of packaging and marketing your resume • Statistical data helping administrators/funding agencies to take decisions • Strengthening your grant / promotion/ job application • Can form part of your e-mail signature • Can act as mood-enhancer (motivation factor) • For fun !

Vijay Kothari Types of measures available

For an individual: For a journal: • h index • (IF) • i 10 index • h index • count • Indexing • RG score • IC value • Downloads • Publons reviewer merit • Cumulative IF • Patents • Number of dissertations guided

Vijay Kothari Vijay Kothari h-index: one among the many available bibliometric measures • In 2005, physicist Jorge E. Hirsch developed the h-index as a process for quantifying the output of an individual researcher. • Hirsch argues: “I propose the index h, defined as the number of papers with citation number ≤ h, as a useful index to calculate the scientific output of a researcher” (2005).

______Hirsch, J. E. (2005). An index to quantify an individual's scientific research output. Proceedings of the National Academy of of the United States of America, 102(46), 16569-16572. doi:10.1073/pnas.0507655102

Vijay Kothari 84% of Nobel Laureates had h index ≥ 30

Vijay Kothari From where one can get computed h-index and citation count? Vijay Kothari Vijay Kothari Vijay Kothari Vijay Kothari Which parameter to rely on?

Vijay Kothari • It has become common practice to judge a researcher’s work by looking at the Impact Factor of the journals in which she/he has published papers.

• While this approach could give a general idea about quality of research, it leads to a variety of complications when applied to situations—including recruitment, promotions, etc.—for which it is not that suitable.

Vijay Kothari • The Impact Factor is, basically, an indirect measure of quality. It indicates the average citations received by an article published in a particular journal.

• Needless to say, every article in a given journal does not receive citations equal to the Impact Factor of that journal. So the Impact Factor really says more about the journal than the individual papers published in it.

Vijay Kothari • Citations may be a more realistic measure of the impact (or value) of an individual researcher.

• To evaluate the contribution made by the researcher, her/his total citation count (over her/his entire career or over the time period under evaluation) could be considered.

• In addition to total citation count, one can also compute citations per paper, h index, etc.

Vijay Kothari • When two researchers compete for a particular fellowship or promotion, it is not uncommon for the applicant with the higher Impact Factor to be favored, even when they both have the same total citation count, implying that their papers are referred to at same frequency by their peers. One of them loses out despite having made, arguably, the same scientific impact.

• Similarly, in eligibility criteria for various academic benefits, we often read that only people with a total Impact Factor of 5 or 10 (or some such number) can apply. Is it not erroneous to assume that papers published in high impact journals will automatically receive more citations?

Vijay Kothari • Currently, many journals are operating in mode, making their content openly available to a wider audience. Increased access to scientific papers is changing the way they are referred to as well as cited.

• Papers are increasingly cited based on their relevance and content, rather than the reputation or Impact Factor of the journals in which they are published.

• If this trend of open access to research was to grow stronger, we can logically assume that if a paper is not good or interesting enough, then it will not get cited, irrespective of the journal in which it has been published.

Vijay Kothari • Intention here is not to put an argument against use of the Impact Factor. It is not a bad parameter, when applied with due consideration of its limitations. But it is, really, better for evaluating journals than individual researchers.

• Unlike Impact Factors, which are translated from a journal to the papers it contains, citations are to be earned by each individual paper on its own merit.

• These days it is easy to generate the citation count from , Scopus, and other sources. It would be for the betterment of science if policymakers/decision-making authorities replaced Impact Factor with Citation Count as the parameter of evaluating the scientific excellence of a researcher and her/his contribution.

• Citation Count can also be a good and reliable parameter for ranking of research institutes and universities.

• Let us move towards a more direct and realistic evaluation, based on a more reasonable and effective parameter.

Vijay Kothari Other lesser used measures

• Immediacy index

• Cited/citing half-life

• Academic Performance Index (API) / PBAS

• New metrices are waiting to be formulated !

Vijay Kothari Applications of Scientometrics Few Examples Journal rankings for the year 2014 http://www.scimagojr.com/journalrank.php Vijay Kothari Country rankings (1996-2014) http://www.scimagojr.com/countryrank.php Vijay Kothari Digital Platforms for Scientists

• ResearchGate Why to be on them? • Researcher ID • Valid sources of statistics • ORCID • If you do not exist on Google, • Publons you do not exist at all ! • Google Scholar • For a researcher it is more important to be on scientific • Scopus networking platforms than to be • Vidwan on social networking platforms

Vijay Kothari What one can do on these digital platforms?

• Requesting full-text(s) • Finding/ posting jobs • Question-answering • Follow the stalwarts of the field • Showcasing one’s expertise • Finding potential collaborators • Finding experts for RPC / Ph.D. viva • Exporting professionely formatted resume

Vijay Kothari Vijay Kothari Vijay Kothari Vijay Kothari Vijay Kothari Vijay Kothari Interesting issues of importance to ponder on

• Current publication model is highly skewed towards the houses • Self-citation • Impact is more important than impact factor • Good science remains independent of the journal in which it is published. (?) • No scientometric measure can be immune to misuse and ill-interpretation. • Scientometrics: a career option • Dedicated journals for scientometrics • In-house UG/PG dissertations as a tool for enhancing scientometric reputation of the institute • Scientometric scores for generating pride-of-place Vijay Kothari Vijay Kothari Vijay Kothari Open access

• Open access and citation probability

• Open access fee versus paid (predatory) journals

• The open access model: Merits & Downsides

Vijay Kothari Scientific Excellence

Networking with Scientific Peers

Increase in Scientometric Scores

Scientific & Publications

Establishing/ Managing Lab and Students Vijay Kothari Vijay Kothari How to select a suitable journal

• ISSN • SJR: SCImago journal & country rank • Indexing (IC/Scopus/Pubmed-Medline/RG/GoogleScholar/DOAJ) • NAAS rating • Beware of fake IF • Preparing a list of valid journals as per UGC guidelines ?

Vijay Kothari Vijay Kothari Vijay Kothari Vijay Kothari Scientometric scores will move ahead only when the researcher and his/her work moves ahead.

Building-up of scientometric profile is a dynamic process.

Some essential facets of this dynamic process are displayed in next few slides.

Vijay Kothari Vijay Kothari Vijay Kothari Vijay Kothari Vijay Kothari Vijay Kothari Issues specific to a teaching professional

• Your lectures are not going to be counted.

• Your efforts for teaching and administration are not going to build your scientometric profile, still you have to perform that.

• You may have to compete with the full-time researchers.

• Research has to be done, but when and how are to be answered by you only.

Vijay Kothari Acknowledgements

• Nirma Education and Research Foundation (NERF)

• All M.Sc. dissertation (2007-2015) students who have been part of my research journey.

• Chinmayi Joshi (Ph.D. student)

• Pooja Patel (Ph.D. student)

Vijay Kothari Vijay Kothari Thanks

Best wishes to all for

achieving high scientometric

scores.

Vijay Kothari