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on Sociology of Economics |
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Issue of 2011‒08‒15
two papers chosen by Jonas Holmström Swedish School of Economics and Business Administration |
| By: | Silvia Ferrini; Marco P. Tucci |
| Abstract: | The Impact Factor (IF) “has moved ... from an obscure bibliometric indicator to become the chief quantitative measure of the quality of a journal, its research papers, the researchers who wrote those papers, and even the institution they work in” ([2], p. 1). However, the use of this index for evaluating individual scientists is dubious. The present work compares the ranking of research units generated by the Research Factor (RF) index with that associated with the popular IF. The former, originally introduced in [38], reflects article and book publications and a host of other activities categorized as coordination activities (e.g., conference organization, research group coordination), dissemination activities (e.g., conference and seminar presentations, participation in research group), editorial activities (e.g., journal editor, associate editor, referee) and functional activities (e.g., Head of Department). The main conclusion is that by replacing the IF with the RF in hiring, tenure decisions and awarding of grants would greatly increase the number of topics investigated and the number and quality of long run projects. |
| Keywords: | scientific research assessment, Impact Factor, bibliometric indices, feasible Research Factor |
| JEL: | A11 A12 |
| Date: | 2011–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:usi:wpaper:614&r=sog |
| By: | Finardi Ugo (Università di Torino - Dipartimento di Chimica I.F.M. and NIS - Centre of Excellence) |
| Abstract: | Patent citations have been widely used in order to study inter-technology and science-technology relations. The present work aims at: i) exploring time relations and distance between technical/innovative activities and scientific knowledge, using journal articles citations in patents as a proxy; ii) exploring the origin of the knowledge cited in patents. The study is performed on a field particularly relevant both on the scientific and technological side, that of nanosciences and nanotechnologies. In parallel a field less on the edge of research (polymers) is studied in order to compare results and shed better light on what is happening in nanotech. Studied items show a common behaviour and a higher rate of citations and a shorter time lag between citing patents and cited articles for nanotechnologies rather than for polymers. Knowledge cited in patents shows in many cases a common origin with that of citing documents. Conclusions on these behaviours are drawn. |
| Keywords: | Patent-research relations, Patent, Journal Article, Nanoscience, Nanotechnologies, Polymers, Technological trajectories, Data mining, Innovation, Knowledge diffusion |
| JEL: | L6 O31 O33 |
| Date: | 2010–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:csc:cerisp:201007&r=sog |