How to evidence & improve research impact?

The fourth book in my "Crafting your career in academia" series

Anne-Wil Harzing - (updated Thu 17 Aug 2023 16:03)

Given the emphasis on publishing, academics would be forgiven for thinking publication is the "end product" of doing research. However, if research funding can be seen as an "input" measure, publication is a "throughput" measure, with the ultimate purpose of our research being impact. If our published work doesn’t have an impact, why publish? 

This book provides you with an understanding of the multi-faceted nature of impact and a roadmap through the maze of impact measures. It focuses on academic impact, usually measured as citations, but many of its lessons are equally relevant for societal impact. Uniquely, it also places impactful research processes centre stage. Both impact novices and those with considerable knowledge of the concept will benefit from this book.

This book is part of the series Crafting your career in academia. Books in this series are reasonably priced, making them accessible for individual academics and universities who would like to bulk-buy books for their staff members. 

Publication details

Harzing, A.W. (2023) Measuring and improving research impact: Crafting your career in academia, Published by Tarma Software Research Ltd, London, United Kingdom.

  • Black & white paperback, 126pp. ISBN 978-1-7396097-5-7.
    • $8.95,  Amazon US, £7.95  Amazon UK
    • also available on other national Amazon stores.
  • Kindle edition, 161pp. ISBN 978-1-7396097-8-8.
    • $6.95,  Amazon US, £5.95  Amazon UK
    • also available on other national Amazon stores.

Book description

Want to progress in academia? I provide you with step-by-step guidance on measuring, evidencing, and improving research impact, leaving you better prepared to climb the academic career ladder. You will learn about the multi-faceted nature of impact, how to measure, evidence, and improve it, but also about impactful research processes, with the values of equity, openness, collegiality, soundness, and community. Using plenty of examples, this guide will help to demystify the role of research impact in academia and provide you with the tools to be successful in your own efforts to improve your impact.

Introduction

When starting their career, many academics are mainly interested in getting their work published. However, publishing your work should not be seen as the “end product” of doing research. If research funding can be seen as an “input” measure, publication is a “throughput” measure, with the ultimate purpose being impact. If our published work doesn’t have impact, why publish?

This short book provides you with a lay introduction to measuring and improving research impact. Chapter 1 focuses on the concepts, discussing what research impact is, and how it differs by academic role. We will also delineate it from related concepts such as research quality and research evaluation. Chapter 2 focuses on measuring research impact. It provides you with a crash course, discussing both traditional and new data sources and metrics. It also shows you how to establish your citation record with the free Publish or Perish software.

Subsequently, we move on from measuring impact to presenting and evaluating research impact. Chapter 3 demonstrates how to make your case for research impact, whereas Chapter 4 looks at the role of metrics versus peer review in evaluating research impact. The next two chapters focus on improving your own research impact, discussing the four Cs of getting cited (in an ethical way!) in Chapter 5, and outlining a 7-step process to improve your research impact in Chapter 6.

Chapter 7 concludes this short book by emphasising the importance of impactful research processes that complement impactful research outcomes. It discusses the five key values of the HuMetrics initiative that should underlie an impactful research process: equity, openness, collegiality, soundness, and community.

I hope this short guide will help to demystify the topic of research impact in academia for you, and will provide you with the tools to be successful in creating your own research impact. I would love to hear from you if you feel this book has helped you.

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Copyright © 2023 Anne-Wil Harzing. All rights reserved. Page last modified on Thu 17 Aug 2023 16:03

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.

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