Properties of journal impact in relation to bibliometric research group performance indicators

In this paper we present a compilation of journal impact properties in relation to other bibliometric indicators as found in our earlier studies together with new results. We argue that journal impact, even calculated in a sufficiently advanced way, becomes important in evaluation practices based on bibliometric analysis only at an aggregate level. In the relation between average journal impact and actual citation impact of groups, the influence of research performance is substantial. Top-performance as well as lower performance groups publish in more or less the same range of journal impact values, but top-performance groups are, on average, more successful in the entire range of journal impact. We find that for the high field citation-density groups a larger size implies a lower average journal impact. For groups in the low field citation-density regions however a larger size implies a considerably higher average journal impact. Finally, we found that top-performance groups have relatively less self-citations than the lower performance groups and this fraction is decreasing with journal impact.

[1]  Dag W. Aksnes,et al.  A macro study of self-citation , 2003, Scientometrics.

[2]  Per O. Seglen,et al.  The Skewness of Science , 1992, J. Am. Soc. Inf. Sci..

[3]  Thed N. van Leeuwen,et al.  Towards a new crown indicator: an empirical analysis , 2010, Scientometrics.

[4]  Anthony F. J. van Raan,et al.  Two-step competition process leads to quasi power-law income distributions , 2001 .

[5]  Anthony F. J. van Raan,et al.  Advanced bibliometric methods as quantitative core of peer review based evaluation and foresight exercises , 1996, Scientometrics.

[6]  Jerome K. Vanclay,et al.  Impact factor: outdated artefact or stepping-stone to journal certification? , 2011, Scientometrics.

[7]  Wolfgang Glänzel,et al.  The influence of author self-citations on bibliometric macro indicators , 2004, Scientometrics.

[8]  Wolfgang Glänzel,et al.  The influence of author self-citations on bibliometric meso-indicators. The case of european universities , 2006, Scientometrics.

[9]  P. Lawrence.  The politics of publication , 2003, Nature.

[10]  Per Ottar Seglen,et al.  Causal relationship between article citedness and journal impact , 1994 .

[11]  Henk F. Moed,et al.  Improving the accuracy of Institute for Scientific Information's journal impact factors , 1995 .

[12]  Thed N. van Leeuwen,et al.  Towards a new crown indicator: Some theoretical considerations , 2010, J. Informetrics.

[13]  Anthony F. J. van Raan.  Self-citation as an impact-reinforcing mechanism in the science system , 2008, J. Assoc. Inf. Sci. Technol..

[14]  Wolfgang Glänzel,et al.  A bibliometric approach to the role of author self-citations in scientific communication , 2004, Scientometrics.

[15]  Wolfgang Glänzel,et al.  Does co-authorship inflate the share of self-citations? , 2004, Scientometrics.

[16]  Anthony F. J. van Raan.  Performance-related differences of bibliometric statistical properties of research groups: Cumulative advantages and hierarchically layered networks , 2006, J. Assoc. Inf. Sci. Technol..

[17]  Anthony F. J. van Raan,et al.  Competition amongst scientists for publication status:Toward a model of scientific publication and citation distributions , 2001, Scientometrics.

[18]  T. V. Leeuwen,et al.  Impact factors can mislead , 1996, Nature.

[19]  Koenraad Debackere,et al.  A concise review on the role of author self-citations in information science, bibliometrics and science policy , 2006, Scientometrics.

[20]  Henk F. Moed,et al.  Handbook of Quantitative Science and Technology Research , 2005 .

[21]  Dag W. Aksnes,et al.  Does self-citation pay? , 2007, Scientometrics.

[22]  A. Raan.  Measuring Science: Capita Selecta of Current Main Issues , 2004 .

[23]  Anthony F. J. van Raan.  Scaling rules in the science system: Influence of field-specific citation characteristics on the impact of research groups , 2008, J. Assoc. Inf. Sci. Technol..

[24]  Anthony F. J. van Raan,et al.  Statistical properties of bibliometric indicators: Research group indicator distributions and correlations , 2006, J. Assoc. Inf. Sci. Technol..