papers of interest to SIG Metrics

[Eugene Garfield]

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TITLE:          Research contributions of Spanish Psychiatry (2004-2009):
                A bibliometric analysis of a University department (Article, English)
AUTHOR:         Diaz-Moran, S; Tobena, A
SOURCE:         ACTAS ESPANOLAS DE PSIQUIATRIA 39 (5). SEP-OCT 2011.
                p.294-301 JUAN JOSE LOPEZ-IBOR FOUNDATION, MADRID

SEARCH TERM(S):  HIRSCH JE          P NATL ACAD SCI USA   102:16569 2005;
                 BIBLIOMETR*  item_title;
                 ACTAS ESP PSIQUIATRI  source_abbrev_20

KEYWORDS:       Bibliometrics; Scientific output; Impact index; Citation
                analysis; Psychiatry
KEYWORDS+:       SCIENCE; OUTPUT; INDEX

ABSTRACT:       Psychiatric research in Spain went through a notorious
increase in quality and quantity of peer-reviewed papers during the last decade of the previous century, in parallel with other medical disciplines. Although there have been systematic studies of scientific production, they are inadequate from the perspective of the research groups and particularly from university departments. We considered this bibliometric study, in order to analyze the scientific production of the Department of Psychiatry and Forensic Medicine, at the Autonomous University of Barcelona, UAB [DPsML].

Methodology. In a cross-sectional survey of independent groups (n = 57, 54% men), indicators were applied to production, quality, visibility/distribution and sustained popularity.

Results. DPsML research groups, published 314 articles and/or reviews
(216 international) between 2004 2009, reaching a total of 974 quotations in the period (16 quots./basic researcher and 11.3 quots./clinical researcher). Contributions at the Thomson Scientific Index [TSI], come from clinical groups (56.48%), and basic groups: 43.52%. The basic groups showed on average impact factor of 5.12 and clinical groups of 2.

Conclusions. DPsML published 11.84% of most cited papers in Spanish psychiatry, 20% in the field of drug addiction and 20.84% in the field of behavioral science,1 the inconsistent results with other bibliometric
studies2 on the same researchers, shows the need for more tight and demanding indicators and mapping of production encompassing, both research groups as molar units (university departments).

AUTHOR ADDRESS: S Diaz-Moran, Univ Autonoma Barcelona, Inst Neurociencias,
                Dept Psiquiatria & Med Legal, Fac Med, Barcelona, Spain
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TITLE:          Impact factor, its variants and its influence in academic
                promotion (Article, Spanish)
AUTHOR:         Puche, RC
SOURCE:         MEDICINA-BUENOS AIRES 71 (5). 2011. p.484-489 MEDICINA
                (BUENOS AIRES), BUENOS AIRES

SEARCH TERM(S):  HIRSCH JE          P NATL ACAD SCI USA   102:16569 2005;
                 IMPACT FACTOR*  item_title

KEYWORDS:       bibliometrics; impact factor; scientometrics

ABSTRACT:       Impact factor, its variants and its influence in academic
promotion. Bibliometrics is a set of methods used to study or measure texts and information. While bibliometric methods are most often used in the field of library and information science, bibliometrics variables have wide applications in other areas. One popular bibliometric variable is Garfield's Impact Factor (IF). IF is used to explore the impact of a given field, the impact of a set of researchers, or the impact of a particular paper. This variable is used to assess academic output and it is believed to affect adversely the traditional approach and assessment of scientific research. In our country, the members of the evaluation committees of intensive research institutions, e.g. the National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET) use IF to assess the quality of research. This article revises the exponential growth of bibliometrics and attempts to expose the overall dissatisfaction with the analytical quality of IF. Such dissatisfaction is expressed in the number of investigations attempting to obtain a better variable of improved analytical quality.

AUTHOR ADDRESS: RC Puche, Fac Ciencias Med, Lab Biol Osea, RA-2000 Rosario,
                Santa Fe, Argentina
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TITLE:          A review of comparative studies of spatial interpolation
                methods in environmental sciences: Performance and impact factors
                (Article, English)
AUTHOR:         Li, J; Heap, AD
SOURCE:         ECOLOGICAL INFORMATICS 6 (3-4). JUL 2011. p.228-241
                ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV, AMSTERDAM

SEARCH TERM(S):  IMPACT FACTOR*  item_title

KEYWORDS:       Spatial interpolator; Geostatistics; Kriging; Data
                variation; Sample density
KEYWORDS+:       SOIL PROPERTIES; GEOSTATISTICAL ANALYSIS; PREDICTION
                METHODS; SNOW DISTRIBUTION; AIR-TEMPERATURE; KRIGING
                METHODS; EXTERNAL DRIFT; POINT DATA; REGRESSION;
                PRECIPITATION

ABSTRACT:       Spatial interpolation methods have been applied to many
disciplines. Many factors affect the performance of the methods, but there are no consistent findings about their effects. In this study, we use comparative studies in environmental sciences to assess the performance and to quantify the impacts of data properties on the performance. Two new measures are proposed to compare the performance of the methods applied to variables with different units/scales. A total of
53 comparative studies were assessed and the performance of 72 methods/sub-methods compared is analysed. The impacts of sample density, data variation and sampling design on the estimations of 32 methods are quantified using data derived from their application to 80 variables.
Inverse distance weighting (IDW), ordinary kriging (OK), and ordinary co- kriging (OCR) are the most frequently used methods. Data variation is a dominant impact factor and has significant effects on the performance of the methods. As the variation increases, the accuracy of all methods decreases and the magnitude of decrease is method dependent. Irregular- spaced sampling design might improve the accuracy of estimation. The effect of sampling density on the performance of the methods is found not to be significant. The implications of these findings are discussed.
Crown Copyright (C) 2010 Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

AUTHOR ADDRESS: J Li, Geosci Australia, Marine & Coastal Environm, PMD, GPO
                Box 378, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia

 
 
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