Publication: The evaluation of citation distributions
Loading...
Identifiers
Publication date
2011-03
Defense date
Authors
Advisors
Tutors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Springer
Abstract
This paper reviews a number of recent contributions that demonstrate that
a blend of welfare economics and statistical analysis is useful in the evaluation of the
citations received by scientifi papers in the periodical literature. The paper begins by
clarifying the role of citation analysis in the evaluation of research. Next, a summary
of results about the citation distributions’ basic features at different aggregation levels
is offered. These results indicate that citation distributions share the same broad shape,
are highly skewed, and are often crowned by a power law. In light of this evidence,
a novel methodology for the evaluation of research units is illustrated by comparing
the high- and low-citation impact achieved by the US, the European Union, and the
rest of the world in 22 scientifi fields However, contrary to recent claims, it is shown
that mean normalization at the sub-fiel level does not lead to a universal distribution.
Nevertheless, among other topics subject to ongoing research, it appears that this lack
of universality does not preclude sensible normalization procedures to compare the
citation impact of articles in different scientifi fields
Description
The original publication is available at www.springerlink.com
Keywords
Citation analysis, Power law, Research performance, Poverty measurement, European paradox
Bibliographic citation
Series-Journal of the Spanish Economic Association, 2011, v. 3, n. 1-2, pp. 291-310