van Leeuwen, TN; Visser, MS; Moed, HF; Nederhof, TJ; van Raan, AFJ "Holy Grail of science policy: Exploring and combining bibliometric tools in search of scientific excellence " SCIENTOMETRICS 57 (2). 2003. p.257-280

[Eugene Garfield]

T.N. van Leeuwen : leeuwen at cwts.leidenuniv.nl


TITLE:          Holy Grail of science policy: Exploring and combining
                bibliometric tools in search of scientific excellence
(Article, English)
AUTHOR:         van Leeuwen, TN; Visser, MS; Moed, HF; Nederhof, TJ; van
                Raan, AFJ
SOURCE:         SCIENTOMETRICS 57 (2). 2003. p.257-280 KLUWER ACADEMIC
                PUBL, DORDRECHT

ABSTRACT:       Evaluation studies of scientific performance conducted
during the past years more and more focus on the identification of
research of the 'highest quality', 'top' research, or 'scientific
excellence'. This shift in focus has lead to the development of new
bibliometric methodologies and indicators. Technically, it meant a shift
from bibliometric impact scores based on average values such as the
average impact of all papers published by some unit to be evaluated
towards indicators reflecting the top of the citation distribution, such
as the number of 'highly cited' or 'top' articles.

In this study we present a comparative analysis of a number of standard
and new indicators of research performance or 'scientific excellence',
using techniques applied in studies conducted by CWTS in recent years. It
will be shown that each type of indicator reflects a particular dimension
of the general concept of research performance. Consequently, the
application of one single indicator only may provide an incomplete
picture of a unit's performance. It is argued that one needs to combine
the various types of indicators in order to offer policy makers and
evaluators valid and useful assessment tools.

AUTHOR ADDRESS: TN van Leeuwen, Leiden Univ, Ctr Sci & Technol Studies, POB
                9555, NL-2300 RB Leiden, Netherlands