Goodall, AH Should top universities be led by top researchers and are they? A citations analysis JOURNAL OF DOCUMENTATION, 62 (3): 388-411 2006

[Eugene Garfield]

E-mail Address: amanda at amandagoodall.com 

Author(s): Goodall, AH 

Title: Should top universities be led by top researchers and are they? A 
citations analysis 

Source: JOURNAL OF DOCUMENTATION, 62 (3): 388-411 2006 
 
Language: English 

Document Type: Article 

Author Keywords: referencing; leadership; universities; research work 

Keywords Plus: ASSESSMENT EXERCISE RATINGS; COUNTS; IMPACT; ARCHAEOLOGY; 
LIBRARY 

Abstract: Purpose - This paper seeks to address the question: should the 
world's top universities be led by top researchers, and are they?
Design/methodology/approach - The lifetime citations are counted by hand 
of the leaders of the world's top 100 universities identified in a global 
university ranking. These numbers are then normalised by adjusting for the 
different citation conventions across academic disciplines. Two 
statistical measures are used - Pearson's correlation coefficient and 
Spearman's p.
Findings - This study documents a positive correlation between the 
lifetime citations of a university's president and the position of that 
university in the global ranking. Better universities are run by better 
researchers. The results are not driven by outliers. That the top 
universities in the world - who have the widest choice of candidates L 
systematically appoint top researchers as their vice chancellors and 
presidents seems important to understand. This paper also shows that the 
pattern of presidents' life-time citations follows a version of Lotka's 
power law.
Originality/value - There are two main areas of contribution. First, this 
paper attempts to use bibliometric data to address a performance-related 
question of a type not seen before (to the author's knowledge). Second, 
despite the importance of research to research universities - as described 
in many mission-statements - no studies currently exist that ask whether 
it matters if the head of a research university is himself or herself a 
committed researcher. Given the importance of universities in the world, 
and the difficulty that many have in appointing leaders, this question 
seems pertinent. 

Addresses: Univ Warwick, Warwick Business Sch, Coventry CV4 7AL, W 
Midlands, England 

Reprint Address: Goodall, AH, Univ Warwick, Warwick Business Sch, Coventry 
CV4 7AL, W Midlands, England. 

E-mail Address: amanda at amandagoodall.com 

Cited Reference Count: 33 

Times Cited: 3 

Publisher: EMERALD GROUP PUBLISHING LIMITED 

Publisher Address: 60/62 TOLLER LANE, BRADFORD BD8 9BY, W YORKSHIRE, 
ENGLAND 

ISSN: 0022-0418 

DOI: 10.1108/00220410610666529 

29-char Source Abbrev.: J DOC 

ISO Source Abbrev.: J. Doc. 

Source Item Page Count: 24 

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

ISI Document Delivery No.: 048FV 

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