Abramo, G; D'Angelo, CA; Di Costa, F. 2010. Citations versus journal impact factor as proxy of quality: could the latter ever be preferable?. SCIENTOMETRICS 84 (3): 821-833

[Eugene Garfield]

Abramo, G; D'Angelo, CA; Di Costa, F. 2010. Citations versus journal impact 
factor as proxy of quality: could the latter ever be preferable?. 
SCIENTOMETRICS 84 (3): 821-833.

Author Full Name(s): Abramo, Giovanni; D'Angelo, Ciriaco Andrea; Di Costa, 
Flavia
Language: English
Document Type: Article

Author Keywords: Research assessment; Bibliometrics; Citations; Impact 
factor; University
KeyWords Plus: RESEARCH PRODUCTIVITY

Abstract: In recent years bibliometricians have paid increasing attention to 
research evaluation methodological problems, among these being the choice of 
the most appropriate indicators for evaluating quality of scientific publications, 
and thus for evaluating the work of single scientists, research groups and 
entire organizations. Much literature has been devoted to analyzing the 
robustness of various indicators, and many works warn against the risks of 
using easily available and relatively simple proxies, such as journal impact 
factor. The present work continues this line of research, examining whether it 
is valid that the use of the impact factor should always be avoided in favour of 
citations, or whether the use of impact factor could be acceptable, even 
preferable, in certain circumstances. The evaluation was conducted by 
observing all scientific publications in the hard sciences by Italian universities, 
for the period 2004-2007. Performance sensitivity analyses were conducted 
with changing indicators of quality and years of observation.

Addresses: [Abramo, Giovanni; D'Angelo, Ciriaco Andrea; Di Costa, Flavia] Univ 
Roma Tor Vergata, Lab Studies Res & Technol Transfer, Sch Engn, Dept 
Management, I-00133 Rome, Italy; [Abramo, Giovanni] Natl Res Council Italy, 
Inst Syst Anal & Comp Sci, I-00185 Rome, Italy

Reprint Address: Abramo, G, Univ Roma Tor Vergata, Lab Studies Res & Technol 
Transfer, Sch Engn, Dept Management, Via Politecn 1, I-00133 Rome, Italy.

E-mail Address: abramo at disp.uniroma2.it; dangelo at disp.uniroma2.it; 
dicosta at disp.uniroma2.it
ISSN: 0138-9130
DOI: 10.1007/s11192-010-0200-1
URL (with fulltext): http://www.springerlink.com/content/jwp5x553575n214r/