The Role of Citations in Warwick

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The Role of Citations in Warwicks Strategy and
Improving Them

• Nicola Owen (Academic Registrar)
• Professor Mark Smith (PVC Research Science and
  Medicine)

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Introduction

• What are citations ?
• Citation indices impact factors
• ISI Highly Cited Researchers
• Why improve citations ?
• How do we improve citations ?

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What are Citations ?

• A citation is a reference to a book, article or
  web page or other published item that can be
  uniquely identified.
• Citations are used in scholarly works to give
  credit to or acknowledge the influence of
  previous works.
• Thomson ISI, part of Thomson-Reuters Corp. is
  the Worlds leading bibliometric data compiler.
  ISI created by Eugene Garfield

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Citation Indices

• SCI Science Citation Index
• SSCI Social Science Citation Index
• AHCI - Arts and Humanities Citation Index

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Impact Factor
E.g. Journal impact factor for 2003. A the
number of times articles published in 2001-2 were
cited in indexed journals during 2003 B the
number of "citable items" (usually articles,
reviews, letters, proceedings or notes not
usually editorials, comments and
letters-to-the-Editor) published in 2001-2 2003
impact factor A/B
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The highest cited journals
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Consider impact by field
Economics
Biochemistry Molecular Biology
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Consider impact by field

• We have seen that citation rates and impact vary
  by field and sub-field of research
• We must set citations metrics in context
• Citations less relevant in the arts and
  humanities

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Highly Cited Researchers

• Thomson ISIHighlyCited.com
• 21 broad subject categories in life sciences,
  medicine, physical sciences, engineering and
  social sciences.
• Individuals listed are the most highly cited
  within each category for the period 1981-1999,
  comprise less than 0.5 of all publishing
  researchers - an extraordinary accomplishment.
• Does not include the arts humanities
• Universities recognised as the best in the World
  have many HiCi researchers

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Nobel Laureates

• Eugene Garfield on Nobel Laureates
• they publish five times the average number of
  papers
• their work is cited 30 to 50 times the average
• they will invariably publish several Citation
• Classics
• most have high h-Indexes
• many also appear on ISIs HighlyCited index
• We cant all be Nobel Laureates though !

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Where Are We Now Highly Cited?
Comparative positions include (SJTU rankings in
brackets)

• 2 Cambridge University 49
• 10 Oxford University  40
• 23 Imperial College 29
• 26 UCL 23
• 62 Bristol 16
• 50 Manchester 14
• 90 Birmingham 7
• 246 Warwick 5

1 Harvard University 80 3 Stanford
University 93 4 UC Berkley 82 5 MIT
74 8 Princeton University 60 11 Yale
University 34 12 Cornell University  51 85
Brown University 15
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Citation impact for Institutions in 5 year
overlapping periods
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Why might this be?

• Young institution?
• Young medical school?
• Culture of playing safe?
• Insufficient international networks?
• Lack of awareness
• Publishing cultures?
• Some disciplines and sub-disciplines cite more
  than others.

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Why are we doing this?

• Strategically
• Boost research quality by regular benchmarking
  to world, rather than UK, standards.
• Reputation (underselling ourselves) international
  esteem
• THES World Rankings citations per faculty
  (20)
• Future funding
• Research Assessment of Science, Technology,
  Engineering Medicine (STEM) subjects from 2009
  (likely to be weighted 30)

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What can we do?

• Primary focus on research quality across Warwick
  (i.e. not just a science/social science issue)
• Citations is one measure draw up measures in
  discipline context
• Need to start measuring
• Whats your own h-index?
• What do Warwick academics publish each year?

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How do we improve citations ?

• Attempt to publish in top journals for the field
  or sub-field of research
• Dont take the comfortable option of submitting
  articles first to middle ranking journals
• Be prepared to face rejection
• Achieve maximum publicity for your research
• Ensure that the correct address is used !

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What can we do? (cont.)

• Supporting early career staff
• Taking risks
• Mentoring
• Identifying journals/publishers
• Co-editing
• Networking
• Open access publishing? (Southampton experience)