Bibliometric methods of (research) assessment Themis Lazaridis Chemistry Department City College of New York/CUNY «Ο δρόμος για την αναγέννηση του ελλ. πανεπιστημίου», Κριτική, 2008

Bibliometry: measuring publications and citations in international databases* (more emphasis on citations) Basic hypothesis: importance/impact is reflected in the number of citations (impact ≠ quality) * Web of Science, Scopus, Google Scholar

For individual researchers: * Number of publications * Number of publications weighted by IF * Number of citations (or hetero-citations) * Citations/paper * h index (Hirsch 2005) Bibliometric indices For journals: * Impact factor (average number of citations per paper for the two preceding years)

h-index Number of publications with at least the same number of citations Combines productivity and impact Good for cumulative achievement Caveats * Major: does not account for number of co-authors * Self-citations (can be corrected) * Humanities, where people write books, not articles * Conference proceedings (e.g. computer science) * Non-internationalized disciplines, non-English bibliography (e.g. Greek literature, law) * Not useful for young researchers see also J. Panaretos, C. Malesios, Scientometrics, 81: 635 (2009)

Early bibliometric studies in Greece John Lambris, “Biomedical research in Greek universities and research centers”, 1982 Publications and citations of all Professors in Medicine and Biology departments HELLASNET (1998) Publications and citations of every Greek researcher from ISI Soon withdrawn after reactions G. Zachos, Research output evaluation in two university departments in Greece using bibliometric indicators, Scientometrics 21:195 (1991)

Recent exercises in bibliometric assessment in Greek academia: * Departments of Chemical Engineering (April 2006) * Departments of Materials Science (October 2006) * Departments of Chemistry (May 2007) * Departments of Physics (September 2007) (summarized in T. Lazaridis, Scientometrics, 82:211–216 (2010), all data available at * The research performance of Rectors (May 2006) * Ranking of Greek Universities based on research impact (Oct. 2007) - papers published between ranking according to citations/faculty - some correction for differences in fields of study

Ranking of Greek Universities based on research impact παραπομπές / ΔΕΠ (Διορθ.) Κρήτης52.06 Χαροκόπειο39.00 Πολ. Κρήτης35.85 Ιωαννίνων33.63 Γεωπονικό28.33 Μετσόβιο25.81 Πάτρας24.76 Αθηνών19.54 Αιγαίου16.01 ΕΑΠ14.86 ΑΠΘ13.43 Θεσσαλίας11.59 ΟΠΑ10.95 Θράκης9.44 Πειραιώς5.79 Πελοποννήσου4.59 Μακεδονίας2.85 Ιονίου1.70 Πάντειο1.01

Work by others in Greece: * John Ioannidis (U. Ioannina) : Essential Science Indicators (2007) * Ranking of computer science departments ( * Ranking of economics departments (

Essential Science Indicators (Thompson) Citations/paper in different fields in various countries compared to world average Greece below average on all fields except Agr. Sciences and Phycics BUT on publications we are doing better: 0.54 pub/1000 residents, 0.28 pub/faculty member, above average of 27 countries (Kathimerini, 17/4/10)

International uses of bibliometry: * Shanghai ranking of universities: ISI highly cited, # papers in WoS * Times Higher Education ranking: citations per faculty * Leiden University rankings ( * CHE excellence rankings * Research Excellence Framework (replacement of RAE in UK) * Upcoming ranking of US doctoral programs by NRC * Academic Analytics (Faculty Scholarly Productivity Index)

Βibliometry can be very useful in Greek Academia : * Reality check * Cheap * Objective ! * Identification of clusters of excellence -> innovation * Ranking of science, medicine, pharmacy and other departments stimulates competition. Especially with economic rewards. Also informs students … but : Nothing can replace honest, unbiased, but also TOUGH peer-review !

Some thoughts on “Quality Assurance” in Greece * The law must be enforced, BUT * The law by itself is not enough: follow-up on committee recommendations, consequences

Greek scientific diaspora (D. Kremmydas, Agr. Univ.)