Abs&Comment, Sen, Symbols and formulas for a few bibliometric concepts

[Gretchen Whitney]

Sen, B.K. " Symbols and formulas for a few bibliometric concepts"
JOURNAL OF DOCUMENTATION  55: (3) 325-334 JUN 1999

The article by B.K. Sen (currently bksen at ndb.vsnl.net.in)  contained a
deceptively brief abstract.  In particular, I believe that we should have
highlighted his description of the Normalized Impact Factor (NIF) which I
believe will be extremely useful to journal editors.

The NIF is described on page 330-1 and gives a numerical ranking from 0 to
10 for journals in a particular category.

The NIF for a journal is simply the Impact Factor (IF) x 10 divided by the
highest IF in the category for the year or period studied.

Sen illustrates from the field of andrology where the Journal of Andrology
has an IF of 2.219 but its NIF is 10.00 as the highest in the category.  The
IF for the International Journal of Andrology is 1.424 and its NIF is 6.417,
the result of 1.424 x 10 / 2.219.  Andrologia with IF of 0.693 has a NIF of
3.123.  The features of NIF are summarized as follows:

"The normalised impact factor has got several features common with the IF or
as can be seen from the following:

(  i)   it is a number, and is not expressed in terms of any unit;
( ii)   it is also year specific as it is dependent on the impact factor;
(iii)   the value of the normalised impact factor always lies between 0 and
10
(iv)    generally review periodicals tend to have greater normalised impact
factors than research periodicals
(v)     irrespective of subject category, the normalised impact factor of a
journal provides an indication of its rank.  If the normalised impact factor
is in the vicinity of 10, then the journal definitely belongs to very high
rank.  On the other hand, if it is in the vicinity of 0, then decidedly the
rank of the journal is very low."
----------------------------------------
E. Garfield

TI      : Symbols and formulas for a few bibliometric concepts
AU      : Sen BK
JO      : JOURNAL OF DOCUMENTATION  55: (3) 325-334 JUN 1999

 Document type: Article    language: English    Cited References: 13
Times Cited: 0


Abstract:
Symbols for concepts like 'half life', 'impact factor', 'normalised impact
factor' and 'immediacy index' are proposed and
formulas for the determination of their values are provided. The features of
the concepts are also highlighted.

Addresses:
Sen BK, Univ Malaya, Fac Comp Sci & Informat Technol, Kuala Lumpur 50603,
Malaysia.
Univ Malaya, Fac Comp Sci & Informat Technol, Kuala Lumpur 50603, Malaysia.

Publisher:
ASLIB, LONDON

IDS Number:
200MA

ISSN:
0022-0418

Cited Author            Cited Work                              Volume
Page      Year

 ALVAREJ P             P 5 INT C INT SOC SC                             2
1995
 BHATTACHARYYA S       HDB LIBR ARCH INF CT     13     274      1996
 BURTON RE             AM DOC                                         11
18      1960
 GARG KC               J SCI IND RES INDIA                     51       329
1992
 GOI SS                MALAYSIAN J LIBR INF                       2
80      1997
 KOENIG M              P 5 INT C INT SOC SC
1995
 LINE MB               J DOC
26        46      1970
 MARSHAKOVASHAIKI      P 5 INT C INT SOC SC               324      1995
 NISONGER TE           P 5 INT C INT SOC SC                             8
1995
 OSAREH F              P 5 INT C INT SOC SC                            407
1995
 PESTANA A             P 5 INT C INT SOC SC                           430
1995
 ROYLE PL              P 5 INT C INT SOC SC                             477
1995
 SURIYA M              P 5 INT C INT SOC SC                              545
1995

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