Bibliometrics in the Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences
Reports on my presentation at a workshop in March 2017 organised by the UK LIS-Bibliometrics group
On the 24th of March the LIS-Bibliometrics group organised a full-day workshop at the University of Westminster. This group maintains a mailing list designed to support the Library and Research Community in UK Higher Education as well as a blog: the Bibliomagician. The team had designed an exciting program, supported by local organizers Andrew Gray (Goldsmiths) and Jenny Evans (Westminster). I had the honour tot present two sessions [pictures courtesy of Sahar Abuelbashar]
Citation metrics across disciplines
In the morning I presented an overview of my research on comparing data-bases and citation metrics across five key disciplines: Life Sciences, Sciences, Engineering, Social Sciences, and Humanities.
- Harzing, A.W. (2017) Citation metrics across disciplines: Google Scholar, Scopus and the the Web of Science, presented at the Bibliometrics in Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences conference. Available online...
The full presentation can be found here. Its key conclusions are:
Will the use of citation metrics disadvantage the Social Sciences and Humanities?
- No, not if you use a database that includes publications important in those disciplines (e.g. books, national journals)
- No, not if you correct for differences in co-authorships
Is peer review better than metrics for the Social Sciences and Humanities?
- Yes, in a way…. The ideal version of peer review (informed, dedicated, and unbiased experts) is better than a reductionist version of metrics
- However, an inclusive version of metrics is probably better than the likely reality of peer review (hurried semi-experts, potentially influenced by journal outlet and affiliation)
Use cases for Publish or Perish
In the afternoon I did a practical session reviewing key use cases of Publish or Perish that might be particularly relevant for librarians.
- Harzing, A.W. (2017) Practice with PoP: Key use cases, presented at the Bibliometrics in Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences conference. Available online...
The full presentation can be found here with screenshots of all searches. These are the use cases I discussed:
- Track someone’s citation metrics, including ISI and Scopus
- Help an academic to make their case for promotion or grant application
- Help with literature reviews
- Help with cleaning GS Profiles
- Exporting bibliographic details
- Doing bibliometrics research
Additional use cases
On my various blog posts I have described a whole range of use cases for Publish or Perish in detail.
- Making your case for impact
- Looking for John Smith: disambiguate authors in Google Scholar
- Preparing a case for tenure or promotion
- Deciding where to submit your next paper
- Having a meeting with your academic hero?
- Impressing your academic interview panel
- Doing a literature review
- Evaluating your research group/department/school
- And many many more… [PoP: a Swiss army knife]
Related YouTube video
Copyright © 2022 Anne-Wil Harzing. All rights reserved. Page last modified on Tue 19 Apr 2022 09:24
Anne-Wil Harzing is Emerita Professor of International Management at Middlesex University, London. She is a Fellow of the Academy of International Business, a select group of distinguished AIB members who are recognized for their outstanding contributions to the scholarly development of the field of international business. In addition to her academic duties, she also maintains the Journal Quality List and is the driving force behind the popular Publish or Perish software program.
