Dale T, Goldfinch S "Article citation rates and productivity of Australasian political science units 1995-2002" AUSTRALIAN JOURNAL OF POLITICAL SCIENCE 40 (3): 425-434 SEP 2005

[Eugene Garfield]

Author(s): Dale T, Goldfinch S

Title: Article citation rates and productivity of Australasian political
science units 1995-2002

Source: AUSTRALIAN JOURNAL OF POLITICAL SCIENCE 40 (3): 425-434 SEP 2005

Document Type: Article   Language: English

Cited References: 13
Times Cited: 0

Addresses: Dale T (reprint author), Univ Canterbury, Dept Comp Sci &
Software Engn, Canterbury, New Zealand
Univ Canterbury, Dept Comp Sci & Software Engn, Canterbury, New Zealand
Univ Otago, Dept Polit Studies, Dunedin, New Zealand

Publisher: ROUTLEDGE JOURNALS, TAYLOR & FRANCIS LTD, 4 PARK SQUARE, MILTON
PARK, ABINGDON OX14 4RN, OXFORDSHIRE, ENGLAND
Subject Category: POLITICAL SCIENCE
IDS Number: 953NO
ISSN: 1036-1146

Cited References:
BOURKE P, 1996, SCIENTOMETRICS, V37, P473.
CROZIER M, 2001, AUST J POLIT SCI, V36, P7.
GOLDBLUM OM, 2001, DERMATOL ONLINE J, V7, P1.
GOLDFINCH S, 2003, POLIT SCI, V55, P39.
GOLDFINCH S, 2003, SCIENTOMETRICS, V57, P321.
HARGENS LL, 1990, SOC SCI RES, V19, P205.
HIX S, 2004, GLOBAL RANKING POLIT.
KUHN R, 2001, POLITICS DEP RELATED.
LOVELL D, 1994, DIRECTORY AUSTRALASI.
NELSON B, 2004, MEDIA RELEASE.
PAXTON P, 2003, SOCIOL EDUC, V76, P71.
PHELAN TJ, 1999, SCIENTOMETRICS, V45, P117.
SMITH A, 2002, CORRELATION RAE RATI.


Excerpt:
Citations have limitations as a direct measure of research quality
(Goldfinch and Bellamy 2001; Goldfinch, DeRouen, and Dale 2003).  Despite
this, they are used to compare the quality of journals, the quality of
departments and other organizations, and to pinpoint developing research
areas.  Citations are used for promotion, with 60percent of U.S. graduate
departments using citation counts when making decisions about hiring,
promotion and tenure. (Hargens and Schuman 1990).  Citations are also
strongly related to other types of peer recognition, including Nobel
prizes, awards and fellowships (Phelan 1999).  Other measures of research
performance, such as the British Research Assessment Exercise, are highly
correlated with citation measures  (Smith and Eysenck 2002).  In political
science, economics and sociology, citations per capita for departments have
a positive and significant effect on the perceived quality of research
units. (Paxton and Bollen 2003).

Quantitative measures of research productivity and quality are increasingly
important in Australasia where public funding and comparative ranking of
universities is tied to, amongst other things, the publication of peer
reviewed research.  The quantity of peer reviewed research accounts for 10
percent of funding provided under the Research Training Scheme in
Australia.  Quality issues have also increasingly entered the political
rhetoric (Nelson: 2004).  In New Zealand, the recently introduced British-
influenced Performance Based Research Fund includes article citations as
evidence of quality for its research assessment process, along with
prestige items such as fellowships that are themselves correlated with
citations.  Sixty percent of the fund is allocated on the basis of panel-
assessed research quality (Goldfinch 2003).  Quantity of peer reviewed
publications seems to have also influenced the New Zealand research
assessments, despite rhetoric otherwise.  Aside from direct funding
implications, various rankings usually impact on the type and number of
students that universities attract and so have indirect influences on
funding.  As such, whatever their limitations, citation and productivity
measures have joined the host of other evaluative and ranking measures that
have  become a (sometimes unpleasant) reality in modern university life.