The Role of Citations in Warwick’s Strategy and Improving Them

Nicola Owen (Academic Registrar)

Professor Mark Smith (PVC Research: Science and Medicine)

IntroductionIntroduction

What are citations ? Citation indices & impact factors ISI Highly Cited Researchers Why improve citations ? How do we improve citations ?

What are Citations ?What are Citations ?

A citation is a reference to a book, article or web page or other published item that can be uniquely identified. Citations are used in scholarly works to give credit to or acknowledge the influence of previous works. Thomson ISI, part of Thomson-Reuters Corp. is the World’s leading bibliometric data compiler. ISI created by Eugene Garfield

Citation IndicesCitation Indices

SCI – Science Citation Index SSCI – Social Science Citation Index AHCI - Arts and Humanities Citation Index

Impact FactorImpact Factor

E.g. Journal impact factor for 2003….

A = the number of times articles published in 2001-2 were cited in indexed journals during 2003

B = the number of "citable items" (usually articles, reviews, letters, proceedings or notes; not usually editorials, comments and letters-to-the-Editor) published in 2001-2

2003 impact factor = A/B

The highest cited journalsThe highest cited journalsRank J ournal Title

Total Cites

Impact Factor

Articles

1 J BIOL CHEM 410,903 5.808 4336

2 NATURE 390,690 26.681 962

3 P NATL ACAD SCI USA 371,057 9.643 3306

4 SCIENCE 361,389 30.028 885

5 J AM CHEM SOC 275,769 7.696 3256

6 PHYS REV LETT 268,454 7.072 3758

7 PHYS REV B 212,714 3.107 5631

8 NEW ENGL J MED 177,505 51.296 303

9 ASTROPHYS J 162,136 6.119 2707

10 J CHEM PHYS 157,334 3.166 2811

11 APPL PHYS LETT 140,050 3.977 6153

12 LANCET 133,932 25.800 301

13 CELL 132,528 29.194 352

14 CIRCULATION 126,019 10.940 682

15 J IMMUNOL 117,464 6.293 1846

16 CANCER RES 112,911 7.656 1493

17 J GEOPHYS RES 111,451 2.800 2251

18 BLOOD 108,180 10.370 1189

19 J NEUROSCI 103,022 7.453 1415

20 ANGEW CHEM INT EDIT 102,854 10.232 1556

Consider impact by fieldConsider impact by field

Rank J ournal Title Impact Factor

1 J ECON LIT 4.667

2 Q J ECON 3.938

3 J ACCOUNT ECON 3.360

4 J ECON GROWTH 3.240

5 J POLIT ECON 3.194

6 J ECON PERSPECT 2.833

7 WORLD BANK RES OBSER 2.700

8 J ECON GEOGR 2.519

9 J FINANC ECON 2.494

10 ECONOMETRICA 2.402

Economics

Rank J ournal Title Impact Factor

1 ANNU REV BIOCHEM 36.525

2 CELL 29.194

3 NAT MED 28.588

4 ANNU REV BIOPH BIOM 16.921

5 PLOS BIOL 14.101

6 MOL CELL 14.033

7 TRENDS BIOCHEM SCI 13.863

8 NAT CHEM BIOL 12.409

9 PROG LIPID RES 12.235

10 MOL PSYCHIATR 11.804

Biochemistry & Molecular Biology

Consider impact by fieldConsider impact by field

We have seen that citation rates and impact vary by field and sub-field of research We must set citations metrics in context Citations less relevant in the arts and humanities

Highly Cited ResearchersHighly Cited Researchers

Thomson ISIHighlyCited.com 21 broad subject categories in life sciences, medicine, physical sciences, engineering and social sciences. Individuals listed are the most highly cited within each category for the period 1981-1999, comprise less than 0.5 % of all publishing researchers - an extraordinary accomplishment. Does not include the arts & humanities Universities recognised as the best in the World have many HiCi researchers

Nobel Laureates… Nobel Laureates…

Eugene Garfield on Nobel Laureates… they publish five times the average number of papers their work is cited 30 to 50 times the average they will invariably publish several CitationClassics most have high h-Indexes many also appear on ISI’s HighlyCited index

We can’t all be Nobel Laureates though !

Where Are We Now – Highly Cited?

[2] Cambridge University = 49[10] Oxford University = 40[23] Imperial College = 29[26] UCL = 23[62] Bristol = 16[50] Manchester = 14[90] Birmingham = 7[246] Warwick = 5

[1] Harvard University = 80[3] Stanford University = 93[4] UC Berkley = 82[5] MIT = 74[8] Princeton University = 60[11] Yale University = 34[12] Cornell University = 51[85] Brown University =15

Comparative positions include (SJTU rankings in brackets):

Citation impact for Institutions in 5 year Citation impact for Institutions in 5 year overlapping periodsoverlapping periods

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1.0

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9.0

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5 Year Period

DURHAM UNIV-all fields

UNIV BIRMINGHAM-all fields

UNIV CAMBRIDGE-all fields

UNIV LEICESTER-all fields

UNIV MANCHESTER-all fields

UNIV NOTTINGHAM-all fields

UNIV OXFORD-all fields

UNIV WARWICK-all fields

UNIV YORK-all fields

Why might this be?

• Young institution?• Young medical school?• Culture of playing safe?• Insufficient international networks?• Lack of awareness• Publishing cultures?• Some disciplines and sub-disciplines cite more

than others.

Why are we doing this?

• Strategically: Boost research quality by regular

benchmarking to world, rather than UK, standards.

• Reputation (underselling ourselves) international esteem

THES World Rankings citations per faculty (20%)

• Future funding– Research Assessment of Science, Technology,

Engineering & Medicine (STEM) subjects from 2009 (likely to be weighted 30%)

What can we do?

• Primary focus on research quality across Warwick (i.e. not just a science/social science issue)

• Citations is one measure – draw up measures in discipline context

• Need to start measuring– What’s your own h-index?

– What do Warwick academics publish each year?

How do we improve How do we improve citations ?citations ?

Attempt to publish in top journals for the field or sub-field of research Don’t take the comfortable option of submitting articles first to middle ranking journals Be prepared to face rejection Achieve maximum publicity for your research Ensure that the correct address is used !

What can we do? (cont.)

• Supporting early career staff – Taking risks– Mentoring– Identifying journals/publishers– Co-editing– Networking

• Open access publishing? (Southampton experience)