Lewison G, Carding P "Evaluating UK research in speech and language therapy" INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF LANGUAGE & COMMUNICATION DISORDERS 38 (1): 65-84 JAN 2003

[Eugene Garfield]

E-mail: Professor Grant Lewison :  g.lewison at soi.city.ac.uk


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Title :    Evaluating UK research in speech and language therapy
Author:    Lewison G, Carding P
Journal:   INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF LANGUAGE & COMMUNICATION DISORDERS
           38 (1): 65-84 JAN 2003

 Document type: Article  Language: English
 Cited References: 16    Times Cited: 0


Abstract:
Background : There has been a steady growth in recent years in British
higher-degree training in speech and language therapy. But what is the
standing of UK research in the subject and its component areas which should
underpin and inform such training? How can such research be evaluated?

Aims : The intention was to compare UK publications relevant to speech and
language therapy with those of other countries, both quantitatively and
qualitatively. We sought then to examine the UK papers in more detail to
analyse their sources of funding, their geographical distribution and the
ways in which they could appropriately be evaluated.

Methods & Procedures : Papers were selectively retrieved from the Science
Citation Index and the Social Sciences Citation Index for 1991-2000 by means
of a filter based on journal names and paper title words. They were
subsequently checked to remove many false positives. The papers were
classified into one of seven subject areas and by their research level (from
clinical to basic). Their importance was estimated through their potential
impact on other researchers, as determined by the citation score of their
journals, by the numbers of citations they actually received and by the
subjective esteem in which the various journals were held by UK speech and
language researchers.

Outcomes & Results : World output of speech and language therapy papers has
averaged 1000 papers per year during the 1990s, and has grown by half over
the period. UK output has been about 12% of the total, compared with 10% in
biomedicine, and is published in high impact journals relative to the norm
for the field, which is quite a low rate compared with biomedicine overall.
Almost half the UK papers had no funding acknowledgements, with the
private-non-profit and industrial sectors playing less of a role than in
other biomedical areas. Papers in seven subject areas showed substantial
differences in their performance on the four criteria selected.

Conclusions : The state of British speech and language research appears to
be satisfactory, with an above average output in both quantity and quality.
However, it is not attracting funding from some types of sponsors and is not
being published in general medical journals where it might have a wider
influence on general clinical practice.
It is also not clear how best such research can be evaluated, although
conventional citation counts may be relevant for some subject areas.

Author Keywords:
bibliometrics, citations, evaluation, funding, research

KeyWords Plus:
BIOMEDICAL-RESEARCH, SUBFIELDS

Addresses:
Lewison G, City Univ London, Dept Informat Sci, Bibliometr Res Grp,
Northampton Sq, London EC1V 0HB, England
City Univ London, Dept Informat Sci, Bibliometr Res Grp, London EC1V 0HB,
England
Univ Newcastle Upon Tyne, Dept Surg Otolaryngol, Newcastle Upon Tyne NE1
7RU, Tyne & Wear, England
Freeman Rd Hosp, Newcastle Upon Tyne NE7 7DN, Tyne & Wear, England

Publisher:
TAYLOR & FRANCIS LTD, ABINGDON

IDS Number:
641ZG

ISSN:
1368-2822