Bibliometric Services in Research Evaluation: A New Task Area Strengthening the Jurisdiction of Academic Librarians (original) (raw)
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Quantitative metrics in research assessment are proliferating all over the world. The demand has led to an increase in bibliometric practitioners and service providers. Their professional roles and competencies have not yet been subject to systematic study. This paper focuses on one important service provider in evaluative bibliometrics – academic librarians – and analyzes their professional competencies from a sociology of professions perspective. To this end, expert interviews with 25 British and German information professionals and several documents have been analyzed qualitatively. Academic librarians compete with other occupations for professional jurisdiction in quantitative research assessment. The main currency in this competition is their expert knowledge. Our results show that academic librarians rely strongly on the know-how gained in their academic Library and Information Science (LIS) training and develop a specific jurisdictional claim towards research assessment, consisting primarily in training, informing and empowering users to proficiently manage the task of evaluating scientific quality themselves. Based on these findings, and informed by the theoretical framework of Andrew Abbott, our conceptual proposal is to adapt formal training in bibliometrics to the various specific professional approaches prevalent in the jurisdictional competition surrounding quantitative research assessment.
Bibliometrics and the Changing Role of the University Libraries
Abstract: Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to discuss the background and potential consequences of bibliometrics being incorporated as a part of librarianship tasks and competencies. Approach: The discussion is based on previous literature as well as a questionnaire sent out to Swedish libraries with organized bibliometric activities. Findings: Incorporating bibliometrics into academic librarianship is part of a redefinition and widening of the professional role. This is motivated by ambitions to provide more complete services in the scholarly communication process, as well as to increase the visibility and status of libraries, not the least in relation to central university management. Underlying reasons are professional competencies such as metadata and bibliographic database management; and bibliometrics being strong within library and information science. Implications: Incorporating bibliometrics is a widening of the professional profile of librarianship, and may well increase the visibility of the libraries in relation to their wider academic environment, not the least in times when bibliometrics is getting increasingly important in terms of research evaluation. The new role should, however, also be considered from the viewpoint of potential changes in how libraries are perceived when incorporating a monitoring function through bibliometric analyses of research performance to the previous service oriented functions. Originality/value of the paper: Bibliometrics as a complementary path for librarianship has been discussed previously; however, not in terms how the role may be changed and how libraries are perceived. There are limitations to be considered: the questionnaire is limited to Swedish libraries; and no efforts are made into investigating how this change is viewed upon by scholars and university management.
1 Bibliometrics and the Changing Role of the University Libraries
2014
Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to discuss the background and potential consequences of bibliometrics being incorporated as a part of librarianship tasks and competencies. Approach: The discussion is based on previous literature as well as a questionnaire sent out to Swedish libraries with organized bibliometric activities. Findings: Incorporating bibliometrics into academic librarianship is part of a redefinition and widening of the professional role. This is motivated by ambitions to provide more complete services in the scholarly communication process, as well as to increase the visibility and status of libraries, not the least in relation to central university management. Underlying reasons are professional competencies such as metadata and bibliographic database management; and bibliometrics being strong within library and information science. Implications: Incorporating bibliometrics is a widening of the professional profile of librarianship, and may well increase the vi...
How implementation of bibliometric practice affects the role of academic libraries
2012
Abstract This article discusses the potential consequences of implementing bibliometrics as an institutionalized practice in academic libraries. Results are reported from a survey distributed among academic libraries in Sweden with organized bibliometric activities. Incorporating bibliometric activities is seen as a way of redefining and widening of the role of the library.
The University Library as a Key Player in the Research Evaluation Process
The University Library holds a long-established place as a key part of academic research infrastructure. For centuries, the library has been responsible for acquiring and providing access to records of the world’s scholarship. The advent of electronic information resources has brought profound change to the idea of the university library. The curatorial and mediation functions of library staff with respect to formally published knowledge are increasingly marginalised. Librarians, however, have been educated in a body of professional knowledge that is central to many aspects of research and scholarship in an electronic world. Understanding the research process, mapping the published outputs of research and modelling citation patterns are all fundamental aspects of a research librarian’s armoury. In this paper the opportunity for librarians to be central players in the research valuation process will be set out, and a new vision for the future of the research library will be described.
Bibliometrics and Research Evaluation: Uses and Abuses [Book Review]
Journal of Librarianship and Scholarly Communication, 2019
Measuring the impact of research and publications (bibliometrics) has become increasingly common for libraries, academic institutions, and scholars. Libraries use bibliometric measures, such as citation analysis, when considering which journals to acquire and retain. Faculty use them to demonstrate the value of their research in the tenure process. Academic institutions are beginning to use them to demonstrate institutional ranking and prestige (Pagell, 2014; Chen & Liao, 2012). In today’s data driven environment, bibliometrics play a critical role. As with any type of metric, bibliometrics are not without their challenges and issues. Bibliometrics and Research Evaluation: Uses and Abuses aims to explore this topic in detail.
Bibliometrics and Research Data Management Services: Emerging Trends in Library Support for Research
Library Trends, 2013
Developments in network technologies, scholarly communication, and national policy are challenging academic libraries to find new ways to engage with research communities in the economic downturn. Librarians are responding with service innovations in areas such as bibliometrics and research data management. Previous surveys have investigated research data support within North America and other research services globally with small samples. An online multiple-choice questionnaire was used to survey bibliometric and data support activities of 140 libraries in Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, and the United Kingdom, including current and planned services, target audiences, service constraints, and staff training needs. A majority of respondents offered or planned bibliometrics training, citation reports, and impact calculations but with significant differences between countries. Current levels of engagement in data management were lower than for bibliometrics, but a majority anticipated future involvement, especially in technology assistance, data deposit, and policy development. Initiatives were aimed at multiple constituencies, with university administrators being important clients and partners for bibliometric services. Gaps in knowledge, skills, and confidence were significant constraints, with near-universal support for including bibliometrics and particularly data management in professional education and continuing development programs. The study also found that librarians need a multilayered understanding of the research environment.
Analysis of Bibliometrics Research in Library Philosophy and Practice from 1998-2021
2021
This study aimed to analyse the trend of bibliometrics research articles on Library Philosophy and Practice (LPP) journal from the year 1998 to 2021. There are 651 bibliometrics articles in the LPP journal. Bibliometrics articles were first published in the LPP in 2000 and the number of bibliometrics research\ has been increasing over the last 10 years, particularly in 2019-2020, and this year is expected to increase further. The bibliometric article received the most contributions from India, followed by Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, Pakistan, and Iran. The topics covered in bibliometric studies include library and information science, coronavirus, artificial intelligence, machine learning, deep learning, social sciences and physics. The dataset used were mostly were from Scopus and Web of Science, with a few from DOAJ and Google Scholar. Citation analysis, productivity analysis, and collaborative analysis are three types of analysis that are commonly used in bibliometric articles in the ...
Scientometrics, 2016
Bibliometric indicators such as journal impact factors, h-indices, and total citation counts are algorithmic artifacts that can be used in research evaluation and management. These artifacts have no meaning by themselves, but receive their meaning from attributions in institutional practices. We distinguish four main stakeholders in these practices: (1) producers of bibliometric data and indicators; (2) bibliometricians who develop and test indicators; (3) research managers who apply the indicators; and (4) the scientists being evaluated with potentially competing career interests. These different positions may lead to different and sometimes conflicting perspectives on the meaning and value of the indicators. The indicators can thus be considered as boundary objects which are socially constructed in translations among these perspectives. This paper proposes an analytical clarification by listing an informed set of (sometimes unsolved) problems in bibliometrics which can also shed l...