Butler, L; Henadeera, K, Is there a role for novel citation measures for the social sciences and humanities in a national research assessment exercise?PROCEEDINGS OF ISSI 2007: 11TH INTERNATIONAL OF THE ISSI, VOLS I AND II. 2007. p.170-178

[Eugene Garfield]

Email: linda.butler at anu.edu.au

Author(s): Butler, L (Butler, Linda); Henadeera, K (Henadeera, Kumara) 

Title: Is there a role for novel citation measures for the social sciences 
and humanities in a national research assessment exercise? 

Editor(s): TorresSalinas, D; Moed, HF 

Source: PROCEEDINGS OF ISSI 2007: 11TH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE OF THE 
INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY FOR SCIENTOMETRICS AND INFORMETRICS, VOLS I AND II 
170-178, 2007 

Language: English 
Document Type: Article 

Conference Title: 11th International Conference of the International-
Society-for-Scientrometrics-and-Informetrics
 
Conference Date: JUN 25-27, 2007 

Conference Location: Madrid, SPAIN 

Conference Sponsors: Int Soc Scientrometr & Informetr, CSIC, Minist Educ & 
Ciencia, FECYT, Comunidad Madrid, Eugene Garfield Fdn, Thomson Sci, 
Elsevier, Journal Informetr, Scopus, Ayuntamiento Madrid, Sci Metrix, Univ 
Carlos III Madrid 

Author Keywords: citations to books; social sciences; humanities; research 
assessment
 
Abstract: Australia is about to move to a new system of distributing 
government block grants for research among universities, with the 
introduction of a process similar to Britain's Research Assessment 
Exercise. In the Australian model, peer judgements will be informed by 
quantitative performance measures, including citation analysis. However, 
standard bibliometric measures are widely acknowledged to be inappropriate 
for most disciplines in the social sciences and humanities. In an attempt 
to identify a more suitable alternative, two recently completed pilot 
studies have trialled new approaches to bibliometrics, testing their 
applicability for the assessment of research in political science and 
history. The new methodology, which extended citation data to included 
citations to books, book chapters and journals outside the citation 
databases, was endorsed at discipline workshops by senior academics from 
the two disciplines. They found that this new approach to bibliometrics 
could be a valuable tool for both disciplines, with some caveats attached. 
The chief reservation related to the role of quantitative measures-there 
was consensus that they should be used to inform peer review, rather than 
drive the assessment process. 

Addresses: Australian Natl Univ, Res Evaluat & Policy Project, Canberra, 
ACT 0200 Australia. 

Cited Reference Count: 9 

Publisher Name: INT SOC SCIENTOMETRICS & INFORMETRICS-ISSI 
Publisher Address: KATHOLIEKE UNIV LEUVEN, FACULTEIT E T E W, DEKENSTRAAT 
2, LEUVEN, B-3000, BELGIUM 

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