Citation counts for research evaluation: standards of good practice for analyzing bibliometric data and presenting and interpreting results

ESEP Ethics in Science and Environmental Politics Contact the journal RSS Mailing List Subscribe to our mailing list via Mailchimp HomeLatest VolumeAbout the JournalEditorsTheme Sections ESEP 8:93-102 (2008) - DOI: https://doi.org/10.3354/esep00084 Citation counts for research evaluation: standards of good practice for analyzing bibliometric data and presenting and interpreting results Lutz Bornmann1,*, Rüdiger Mutz1, Christoph Neuhaus1, Hans-Dieter Daniel1,2 1ETH Zurich, Professorship for Social Psychology and Research on Higher Education, Zähringerstr. 24, 8092 Zurich, Switzerland 2University of Zurich, Evaluation Office, Mühlegasse 21, 8001 Zurich, Switzerland *Email: [email protected] ABSTRACT: With the ready accessibility of bibliometric data and the availability of ready-to-use tools for generating bibliometric indicators for evaluation purposes, there is the danger of inappropriate use. Here we present standards of good practice for analyzing bibliometric data and presenting and interpreting the results. Comparisons drawn between research groups as to research performance are valid only if (1) the scientific impact of the research groups or their publications are looked at by using box plots, Lorenz curves, and Gini coefficients to represent distribution characteristics of data (in other words, going beyond the usual arithmetic mean value), (2) different reference standards are used to assess the impact of research groups, and the appropriateness of the reference standards undergoes critical examination, and (3) statistical analyses comparing citation counts take into consideration that citations are a function of many influencing factors besides scientific quality. KEY WORDS: Citation counts · Research evaluation · Citation distribution · Reference standards · Lorenz curve · Gini coefficient · Box plots Full text in pdf format PreviousNextCite this article as: Bornmann L, Mutz R, Neuhaus C, Daniel HD (2008) Citation counts for research evaluation: standards of good practice for analyzing bibliometric data and presenting and interpreting results. Ethics Sci Environ Polit 8:93-102. https://doi.org/10.3354/esep00084 Export citation RSS - Facebook - Tweet - linkedIn Cited by Published in ESEP Vol. 8, No. 1. Online publication date: June 03, 2008 Print ISSN: 1863-5415; Online ISSN: ISSN Copyright © 2008 Inter-Research.