DATABASES: CITATION INDEXING TOOLS :
REVIEWS :
DATABASE: INSTRUCTIONS AND TRAINING:
Citation Statistics: A report from the
International Mathematical Union (IMU)
in cooperation with the
International Council of Industrial and Applied Mathematics (ICIAM) and
the Institute of Mathematical Statistics (IMS)

AND

Learning More About Bibliometrics and Citation Indexing


WEBBIB0708


Joint Committee on Quantitative Assessment of Research.
Citation Statistics
A report from the International Mathematical Union (IMU) in cooperation
with the International Council of Industrial and Applied Mathematics
(ICIAM) and the Institute of Mathematical Statistics (IMS)
Robert Adler,
<http://www.mathunion.org/Publications/Report/CitationStatistics>



June 2008 Citation Statistics IMU-ICIAM-IMS

Executive Summary


This is a report about the use and misuse of citation data in the
assessment of scientific research. The idea that research assessment must
be done using "simple and objective" methods is increasingly prevalent
today. The "simple and objective" methods are broadly interpreted as
bibliometrics, that is, citation data and the statistics derived from
them. There is a belief that citation statistics are inherently more
accurate because they substitute simple numbers for complex judgments, and
hence overcome the possible subjectivity of peer review. But this belief
is unfounded.

Relying on statistics is not more accurate when the statistics are
improperly used. Indeed, statistics can mislead when they are misapplied
or misunderstood. Much of modern bibliometrics seems to rely on experience
and intuition about the interpretation and validity of citation
statistics.

While numbers appear to be "objective", their objectivity can be illusory.
The meaning of a citation can be even more subjective than peer review.
Because this subjectivity is less obvious for citations, those who use
citation data are less likely to understand their limitations.

The sole reliance on citation data provides at best an incomplete and
often shallow understanding of researchan understanding that is valid only
when reinforced by other judgments. Numbers are not inherently superior to
sound judgments.

Using citation data to assess research ultimately means using
citation-based statistics to rank thingsjournals, papers, people,
programs, and disciplines. The statistical tools used to rank these things
are often misunderstood and misused.

For journals, the impact factor is most often used for ranking. This is a
simple average derived from the distribution of citations for a collection
of articles in the journal. The average captures only a small amount of
information about that distribution, and it is a rather crude statistic.
In addition, there are many confounding factors when judging journals by
citations, and any comparison of journals requires caution when using
impact factors. Using the impact factor alone to judge a journal is like
using weight alone to judge a person's health.

For papers, instead of relying on the actual count of citations to compare
individual papers, people frequently substitute the impact factor of the
journals in which the papers appear. They believe that higher impact
factors must mean higher citation counts. But this is often not the case!
This is a pervasive misuse of statistics that needs to be challenged
whenever and wherever it occurs.

For individual scientists, complete citation records can be difficult to
compare. As a consequence, there have been attempts to find simple
statistics that capture the full complexity of a scientist's citation
record with a single number. The most notable of these is the h-index,
which seems to be gaining in popularity. But even a casual inspection of
the h-index and its variants shows that these are nave attempts to
understand complicated citation records. While they capture a small amount
of information about the distribution of a scientist's citations, they
lose crucial information that is essential for the assessment of research.
The validity of statistics such as the impact factor and h-index is
neither well understood nor well studied. The connection of these
statistics with research quality is sometimes established on the basis of
"experience." The justification for relying on them is that they are
"readily available." The few studies of these statistics that were done
focused narrowly on showing a correlation with some other measure of
quality rather than on determining how one can best derive useful
information from citation data.



Please go to the URL listed above to read more of this report.


For a basic starting point regarding citation indexing, one could try this
Wikipedia article and the sources it cites.

Citation Indexing

Citation index
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected from Citation indexing)
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citation_indexing>


as well as this Wikipedia article regarding Bibliometrics

Bibliometrics


Bibliometrics
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bibliometrics>


To view 99 discussions that involve bibliometrics, please visit this URL:

<http://www.pogofrog.com/results?cx=015250969076115358911%3A_
ctwnwkmr5m&cof=FORID%3A9&q=bibliometrics&as_qdr=all&sa=Search#931>


A shorter URL for the above link:


<http://tinyurl.com/4wb9ws>


and also try this web address:


<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Net-Gold/msearch?
query=Bibliometrics&submit=Search&charset=utf-8>



A shorter URL for the above link:


<http://tinyurl.com/3rpzte>


If you want to go deeper and more broadly as well, please continue on to
these URLs


Google
<http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=bibliometrics&btnG=Google+Search>


Google Scholar
<http://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&q=
bibliometrics&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=ws>


A shorter URL for the above link:


<http://tinyurl.com/5xvhgf>



Google Books
<http://books.google.com/books?tab=sp&sa=
N&hl=en&q=bibliometrics&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N>


A shorter URL for the above link:


<http://tinyurl.com/3ubc8k>


Google Government
<http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=bibliometrics&
btnmeta%3Dsearch%3Dunclesam=Search+Government+Sites>


A shorter URL for the above link:


<http://tinyurl.com/5fobl8>



Google Blogs
<http://blogsearch.google.com/blogsearch?hl=en&ie=
UTF-8&q=bibliometrics&btnG=Search+Blogs>


A shorter URL for the above link:


<http://tinyurl.com/6e2bmt>



<http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=
en&ie=UTF-8&q=bibliometrics&sa=N&tab=bg>


A shorter URL for the above link:


<http://tinyurl.com/6ntvo3>


Reading about bibliometrics may be enhanced with more knowledge of
citation indexing theories and ideas.


ISI: Web of Science
<http://scientific.thomsonreuters.com/products/wos/>

History of ISI Web of Knowledge
<http://isiwebofknowledge.com/currentuser_wokhome/cu_wokhistory/>


Citation Indexing on Net-Gold
<http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=
UTF-8&rls=DAUS,DAUS:2006-11,DAUS:en&q=%22citation+
indexing%22+and+%22net%2dgold%22>


A shorter URL for the above link:


<http://tinyurl.com/492ef8>


Citation Indexing from Google

<http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&rls=DAUS%2CDAUS%
3A2006-11%2CDAUS%3Aen&q=%22citation+indexing%22&btnG=Search>


A shorter URL for the above link:


<http://tinyurl.com/4avej6>


Citation Indexing from Google Scholar
<http://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&rls=DAUS,DAUS:2006-11,
DAUS:en&q=%22citation%20indexing%22&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=ws>


A shorter URL for the above link:


<http://tinyurl.com/4yk85e>


Google Books
<http://books.google.com/books?tab=sp&sa=N&hl=en&rls=DAUS,
DAUS:2006-11,DAUS:en&q=%22citation+indexing%22&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N>


A shorter URL for the above link:


<http://tinyurl.com/4bes6l>



Google Government
<http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=%22citation+indexing%
22&btnmeta%3Dsearch%3Dunclesam=Search+Government+Sites>


A shorter URL for the above link:


<http://tinyurl.com/48jxrq>



Google Blogs
<http://blogsearch.google.com/blogsearch?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&q=
%22citation+indexing%22&btnG=Search+Blogs>


A shorter URL for the above link:


<http://tinyurl.com/3mc2pk>



Google Groups
<http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&q=
%22citation%20indexing%22&sa=N&tab=bg>


A shorter URL for the above link:


<http://tinyurl.com/4anx87>



And if you are looking for the big picture in regard to these matters,
these two URLs might be interesting places to go. They may even add power
to any points you may make in lectures regarding bibliometrics and / or
citation indexing.


Citation Indexing
<http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&ie=
UTF-8&q=%22citation%20indexing%22&sa=N&tab=gi>


A shorter URL for the above link:


<http://tinyurl.com/59u65t>



Bibliometrics
<http://images.google.com/images?hl=
en&q=%22bibliometrics%22&btnG=Search+Images>


A shorter URL for the above link:


<http://tinyurl.com/6kq52p>



To keep up with news about these concepts including late breaking
developments, try these four web addresses.


What is Newest in Bibliometrics?
<http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&q=
%22bibliometrics%22&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=in>


A shorter URL for the above link:


<http://tinyurl.com/69596h>


What is Newest in Citation Indexing?
<http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&tab=in&q=
%22citation+indexing%22&btnG=Search>

Nothing at the time of this search.


What Has Been Reported in the News Regarding Bibliometrics?

<http://news.google.com/archivesearch?tab=
sn&hl=en&q=bibliometrics&um=1&ie=UTF-8>


A shorter URL for the above link:


<http://tinyurl.com/5tkab9>



What Has Been Reported in the News Regarding Citation Indexing
<http://news.google.com/archivesearch?hl=
en&tab=in&q=%22citation+indexing%22&ie=UTF-8>


A shorter URL for the above link:


<http://tinyurl.com/63felp>



Also of possible interest



DATABASE: SEARCHING: TECHNIQUES :
DATABASES :
INTERNET: SEARCH: MEDIA SPECIFIC TOOLS AND RESOURCES:
World War II, Celebrities, Wealth and Databases vs. Internet Search Tools
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Net-Gold/message/23903>



MEDICAL RESOURCES :
HEALTH: RESOURCES:
BIOLOGY: RESOURCES : AGRICULTURE: RESOURCES :
Intute: Health and Life Sciences
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Net-Gold/message/23864>



EDUCATION: COLLEGE: ADMINISTRATION :
LAW: RESOURCES :
LEGAL: RESEARCH:
Legal Links for College and University Attorneys
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Net-Gold/message/23860>



PERIODICALS: ELECTRONIC ONLINE FULL TEXT :
LIBRARY SCIENCE: PERIODICALS:
D-Lib Magazine
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Net-Gold/message/23858>



REFERENCE: ENCYCLOPEDIAS:
The Encyclopaedia Britannica Mends Its Wikied Ways
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Net-Gold/message/23852>



HEALTH: CONSUMER HEALTH :
LIBRARIES: PUBLIC LIBRARIES:
Promoting Consumer Health Information Resources in Public Libraries
A Brief Selected List of Sources
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Net-Gold/message/23850>



INTERNET: WIKIS :
BIBLIOGRAPHIES :
BOOKS:
The Book on Wikis
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Net-Gold/message/23833>



GUIDELINES :
STANDARDS:
MEDICAL: PRACTICE:
National Guideline Clearinghouse (NGC)
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Net-Gold/message/23828>



WRITING AND WRITERS: PLAGIARISM DETECTION:
Selected Publications and Internet Resources About the Detection of
Plagiarism
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Net-Gold/message/23771>





Sincerely,
David Dillard
Temple University
(215) 204 - 4584
jwne@...
<http://daviddillard.businesscard2.com>
Net-Gold
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/net-gold>
<http://listserv.temple.edu/archives/net-gold.html>
<http://groups.google.com/group/net-gold?hl=en>
<http://net-gold.jiglu.com/>
General Internet & Print Resources
<http://guides.temple.edu/general-internet>
<http://guides.temple.edu/general-country-info>
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Net-Gold/message/20309>
<http://guides.temple.edu/tourism>
<http://www.edu-cyberpg.com/ringleaders/davidd.html>
Educator-Gold
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Educator-Gold/>
K12ADMINLIFE
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/K12AdminLIFE/>
Nina Dillard's Photographs on Net-Gold
<http://tinyurl.com/36qd2o>
Net-Gold Membership Required to View Photos