Impact Factor in Brazil

[Aparna Basu]

Dear Gretchen,

I agree with Marie-Angele de looze, that the ISI tools have had a
pathbreaking effect in several areas of research. I would welcome
collaboration with the ISI to look at science journals in India. If several
countries enter into this exercise one could create an Extra-SCI.  I believe
this has been suggested earlier by others as well.

Aparna Basu
----- Original Message -----
From: de looze Marie-Angèle <delooze at GRENOBLE.INRA.FR>
To: <SIGMETRICS at listserv.utk.edu>
Sent: Tuesday, September 12, 2000 8:38 PM
Subject: Re: [SIGMETRICS] Impact Factor in Brazil


Sorry for the quality of my English, but I feel engaged in this debate!

Eugène Garfield created a fantastic tool during the sixties, called the SCI
.

This tool generated other tools (like the JCR for example), which are used
today everywhere in the world for multiple objectives :evaluation of
researchers, core of science, evolution of field of research, prospective,
history etc. "a citation culture" told us Paul Wouters in his thesis.
But nobody is perfect and the SCI unfortunately is sharing this
imperfection! But its bases and the results it produces are very very
useful. The question is not thus to speak about imperialism, but rather
about knowing how it would be possible  to better use the tool or  to
improve this tool.


   Until now, as far as I know, nobody had the dynamism to create a
competitor tool for European research...Even if a lot of money has been
spent in the European research programs on IST and so one...
For a long time I dreamed of a better representation of the European
journals, of research of the Third World in the SCI, of women works, etc...

  Isn't it thus possible to have a constructive collaboration with the ISI
to make this tool evenmore useful to our countries, our specialists of
information, the community of the researchers, the firms ...?

kind regards





16:30 10/09/2000 +0200, vous avez écrit :
>Since not everybody on the list might be concerned with the use of
>citations and IF in research evaluation in countries and fields which do
>not belong to the big league, I'd  rather refer to the work of the late
>Mike Moravcsick and follow up efforts as reflected in the following
>publications:
>
>Moravcsik, M. J., (ed.).  "Strengthening the coverage of
>Third World Science. The bibliographic indicators of the Third
>World's contribution to science. Deliberations, conclusions and
>initiatives of an ad-hoc international task force for assessing the
>scientific output of the Third World. Eugene, OR., Institute of
>Theoretical Science, University of Oregon, 1986.
>
>Arvanitis, Rigas; Gaillard, Jacques, (eds.). Les indicateurs de science
>pour les pays en developpement. Science indicators for developing
>countries. Proceedings of the International conference on science
>indicators for developing countries;  Paris, 15-19 October 1990. Paris,
>ORSTOM Editions, 1992.
>
>The leap on the issue of imperialism simply referred to the fact that when
>a measure is built on the basis of the achievements, needs and choices of
>the more powerful, applying it indiscriminately to all others, including
>the less served, is an imposition.
>This is why the production of local resources is so important. A good
>example is SciELO (www.scielo.br)
>
>At 15:38 09/09/00 -0400, Gene Garfield wrote:
>
>>Here is the list of 17 journals from Brazil covered in the 1999 Journal
>>Citation Reports. But I don't quite understand its relevance to the
>>comments that follow. In general, the more local low impact  journals that
>>are included in the calculation of impact, the lower will be the overall
>>impact of that country's impact. snip
>Sure. Thus Botswana will lag far behind Norway, even in Forestry. So what?
>Do they play in the same league? Do they have the same individual
>objectives and social role? If at least country rankings would be corrected
>on the basis of the number of active scientists, with some coefficient for
>their budgets.
>
>>snip
>
>Michel
>
>PS By the way, it is fair to mention that ISI supported part of the
>activities undertaken by the task force assembled by Mike Moravcsik. We
>even had a party at Gene's place.
>
>
Marie-Angèle de Looze
Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique
INRA/SERD (Sociologie et Economie de la Recherche Développement)
Université Pierre Mendès France
BP 47
38040 Grenoble Cedex 9
France

Tel : 33 4 76 82 54 41
Fax : 33 4 76 82 54 55

http://www.upmf-grenoble.fr/adest/
http://www.upmf-grenoble.fr/inra/

e-mail personnel delooze at asi.fr