WUSM Scholarly Communications Initiative Blog

The Blog for the WUSM Scholarly Communications Initiative


Serendipity and Assessment of Research Impact

July 17th, 2012 by Cathy

Interesting reading and refreshing perspective on assessment of research impact:

Measuring the Impact of Research—The Context for Metric Development. The Group of Eight Backgrounder, September 2011.

“. . .identifying and quantifying the impact of research is difficult, that any estimate is at best a very rough guide and that the results of any assessment can vary widely. . .”

Furthermore,

“. . .it is necessary to consider that by its very nature research is dealing with what we do not know, so that the significance of its outputs are to a greater or lesser degree unpredictable – which is why serendipity is always important.”

 

No matter how methodological the evaluation process is, serendipity is a key ingredient as it is difficult to know all possible outcomes, when they may occur, or where to locate evidence of such.

For more readings on research impact, see the Zotero folder: Research Impact.

The author of this blog welcomes suggestions for additional readings.

 

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2011 Thomson Reuters Journal Citation Reports Available

July 11th, 2012 by Cathy

Thomson Reuters announced the release of the 2011 edition of Journal Citation Reports. Journal Citation Reports offers a systematic, objective means to critically evaluate journals using quantifiable, statistical information based on citation data. A number of new titles have been added to the 2011 JCR edition.

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Making Research Count

July 9th, 2012 by Cathy

Higher Education Strategy Associates recently released a report that provides a review of bibliometrics.

“It’s time for applications of bibliometrics to become more sensitive to publication culture. Just as importantly, users of bibliometrics need to be aware of the dramatic biases that publication culture can generate. We hope that this paper inspires both scholars and professionals to use accurate and normalized measures when applying bibliometrics to their research, assessment, and decision-making activities.”

Jarvey, P., Usher, A. and McElroy, L. 2012. Making Research Count: Analyzing Canadian Academic Publishing Cultures. Toronto: Higher Education Strategy Associates.

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Assessing Productivity and Impact Using Publication Data

June 28th, 2012 by Cathy

How to assess productivity and impact using publication data is reviewed in the February 2012 newsletter, Navigating Knowledge, published by the Association of Academic Health Sciences Libraries. Learn about sample metrics, caveats about publication data and resources available to use.

Assessing Productivity and Impact Using Publication Data

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Understanding Research Impact

June 28th, 2012 by Cathy

“No single metric is sufficient for measuring performance, quality, or impact by an author; indeed, the discovery of a scholar’s most impactful work may be gleaned only through qualitative forms of assessment that do not rely solely on publication data.”

To learn more about understanding research impact, see the article, Understanding Research Impact, in the ASN Kidney News newsletter (May 2012) , p. 10-11.

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AuthorAID: Supporting Developing Country Researchers in Publishing Their Work

May 31st, 2012 by Cathy

AuthorAID is a free international online research community that helps researchers in developing countries publish and disseminate their work. It includes:

  1. A community space for discussion with other researchers
  2. Documents and presentations on best practice in writing and publication
  3. A feature to locate researchers for possible collaboration and mentoring–there are more than 4,800 researchers from 169 countries

Of particular interest is the Documents and Presentations section.  The section contains over 500 materials on topics related to writing and publication, applicable to all researchers, world-wide.

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Changing Performance Metrics and How to Measure What Matters

May 3rd, 2012 by Cathy

Interesting Perspective from New England Journal of Medicine:

“Performance metrics must also be changed. Clinicians today are assessed according to the number of tests and procedures performed and the number of patients seen. Researchers are judged by the numbers of grants won and articles published. Neither set of metrics clearly leads to improved health outcomes. Integrated, “learning” health systems would result in novel metrics that focus on improving patient-centered outcomes, but they would also focus on active participation in research by multiple stakeholders to advance the same goals. Clinical departments, collaborating with community-based physicians and patient-advocacy groups, would have to prioritize entering patients in trials, and the value of research would have to be recognized in promotion decisions. This alignment of goals, incentives, and metrics would lead to better, more patient-centered clinical research and boost participation among both patients and clinicians, facilitating further improvements in health status.”

Annetine C. Gelijns, Ph.D., and Sherine E. Gabriel, M.D. Looking beyond Translation — Integrating Clinical Research with Medical Practice. N Engl J Med 2012; 366:1659-1661. May 3, 2012.

The issue is how to measure what matters, a point raised by Wells and Whitworth:

“It is no longer enough to measure what we can – we need to measure what matters.”

Robert Wells and Judith Whitworth. Assessing Outcomes of Health and Medical Research: Do We Measure What Counts or Count What We Can Measure? Australia and New Zealand Health Policy 2007, 4:14 doi:10.1186/1743-8462-4-14.

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Evaluation Metrics Manual

April 10th, 2012 by Cathy

The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences – National Institutes of Health recently published a manual related to evaluation metrics titled: The Partnerships for Environmental Public Health (PEPH) Evaluation Metrics Manual. The manual contains examples of tangible metrics related to PEPH research outcomes. This manual is an outstanding easy-to-read resource, and includes definitions, examples of metrics, tips/recommendations, and a review of evaluation principles.

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F1000 Posters

March 26th, 2012 by Cathy

Looking for a place for your conference posters or oral presentation slides? If your institution does not have a repository, consider F1000 Posters.  F1000 Posters is an open access repository of conference papers and oral presentation slides in biology and medicine. According to F1000,  a number of publishers/journals do not consider deposit of posters or slides as “previous publication.” See Journal Responses for more information. As with research articles, materials deposited in F1000 Posters may also be selected for evaluation by F1000.

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Becker Model: Revised

March 22nd, 2012 by Cathy

The Becker Model has been extensively revised along with a new website.

The Becker Medical Library Model for Assessment of Research Impact model is a framework for tracking diffusion of research outputs and activities to locate indicators that demonstrate evidence of biomedical research impact. It is intended to be used as a supplement to publication analysis. Using the Becker Model in tandem with publication analysis provides a more robust and comprehensive perspective of biomedical research impact. The Becker Model also includes guidance for quantifying and documenting research impact as well as resources for locating evidence of impact.

Feedback is welcome.

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