Bollen, J; van de Sompel, H Usage Impact Factor: The effects of sample characteristics on usage-based impact metrics JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR INFORMATION SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, 59 (1): 136-149 JAN 1 2008

Tue Apr 15 14:56:41 EDT 2008

E-mail Address: jbollen at lanl.gov; herbertv at lanl.gov 

DOI: 10.1002/asi.20746

Author(s): Bollen, J (Bollen, Johan); van de Sompel, H (van de Sompel, 
Herbert) 

Title: Usage Impact Factor: The effects of sample characteristics on usage-
based impact metrics 

Source: JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR INFORMATION SCIENCE AND 
TECHNOLOGY, 59 (1): 136-149 JAN 1 2008 

Language: English 

Document Type: Article 

Keywords Plus: CITATION ANALYSES; DIGITAL LIBRARY; JOURNAL IMPACT; 
SCIENCE; PUBLICATION; INFORMATION; STATISTICS; READERSHIP; NONSENSE; 
SYSTEM 

Abstract: There exist ample demonstrations that indicators of scholarly 
impact analogous to the citation-based ISI Impact Factor can be derived 
from usage data; however, so far, usage can practically be recorded only 
at the level of distinct information services. This leads to community-
specific assessments of scholarly impact that are difficult to generalize 
to the global scholarly community. In contrast, the ISI Impact Factor is 
based on citation data and thereby represents the global community of 
scholarly authors. The objective of this study is to examine the effects 
of community characteristics on assessments of scholarly impact from 
usage. We define a journal Usage Impact Factor that mimics the definition 
of the Thomson Scientific ISI Impact Factor. Usage Impact Factor rankings 
are calculated on the basis of a large-scale usage dataset recorded by the 
linking servers of the California State University system from 2003 to 
2005. The resulting journal rankings are then compared to the Thomson 
Scientific ISI Impact Factor that is used as a reference indicator of 
general impact. Our results indicate that the particular scientific and 
demographic characteristics of a discipline have a strong effect on 
resulting usage-based assessments of scholarly impact. In particular, we 
observed that as the number of graduate students and faculty increases in 
a particular discipline, Usage Impact Factor rankings will converge more 
strongly with the ISI Impact Factor. 

Addresses: Los Alamos Natl Lab, Digital Lib Res & Prototyping Team, Los 
Alamos, NM 87545 USA 

Reprint Address: Bollen, J, Los Alamos Natl Lab, Digital Lib Res & 
Prototyping Team, Los Alamos, NM 87545 USA. 

E-mail Address: jbollen at lanl.gov; herbertv at lanl.gov 

Cited Reference Count: 42 

Times Cited: 0 

Publisher: JOHN WILEY & SONS INC 

Publisher Address: 111 RIVER ST, HOBOKEN, NJ 07030 USA 

ISSN: 1532-2882 

29-char Source Abbrev.: J AM SOC INF SCI TECHNOL 

ISO Source Abbrev.: J. Am. Soc. Inf. Sci. Technol. 

Source Item Page Count: 14 

Subject Category: Computer Science, Information Systems; Information 
Science & Library Science 

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