Why bibliometrics is useful for understanding the global dynamics of science but generate perverse effects when applied inappropriately in research evaluation and university rankings. The research evaluation market is booming. “Ranking,” “metrics,” “h-index,” and “impact factors” are reigning buzzwords. Government and research administrators want to evaluate everything—teachers, professors, training programs, universities—using quantitative indicators. Among the tools used to measure “research excellence,” bibliometrics—aggregate data on publications and citations—has become dominant. Bibliometrics is hailed as an “objective” measure of research quality, a quantitative measure more useful than “subjective” and intuitive evaluation methods such as peer review that have been used since scientific papers were first published in the seventeenth century. In this book, Yves Gingras offers a spirited argument against an unquestioning reliance on bibliometrics as an indicator of research quality. Gingras shows that bibliometric rankings have no real scientific validity, rarely measuring what they pretend to. Although the study of publication and citation patterns, at the proper scales, can yield insights on the global dynamics of science over time, ill-defined quantitative indicators often generate perverse and unintended effects on the direction of research. Moreover, abuse of bibliometrics occurs when data is manipulated to boost rankings. Gingras looks at the politics of evaluation and argues that using numbers can be a way to control scientists and diminish their autonomy in the evaluation process. Proposing precise criteria for establishing the validity of indicators at a given scale of analysis, Gingras questions why universities are so eager to let invalid indicators influence their research strategy.

Bibliometrics and altmetrics are increasingly becoming the focus of interest in the context of research evaluation. The Handbook Bibliometrics provides a comprehensive introduction to quantifying scientific output in addition to a historical derivation, individual indicators, institutions, application perspectives and data bases. Furthermore, application scenarios, training and qualification on bibliometrics and their implications are considered.

Libraries and Key Performance Indicators: A Framework for Practitioners explores ways by which libraries across all sectors can demonstrate their value and impact to stakeholders through quality assurance and performance measurement platforms, including library assessment, evaluation methodologies, surveys, and annual reporting. Whilst several different performance measurement tools are considered, the book's main focus is on one tool in particular: Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). KPIs are increasingly being used to measure the performance of library and information services, however, linking KPIs to quality outcomes, such as impact and value can prove very difficult. This book discusses, in detail, the concept of KPIs in the broader context of library assessment and performance measurement. Through reviewing some of the applied theory around using KPIs, along with harvesting examples of current best practices in KPI usage from a variety of different libraries, the book demystifies library KPIs, providing a toolkit for any library to be used in setting meaningful KPIs against targets, charters, service standards, and quality outcomes. - Provides an overview of performance measurement tools for libraries - Discusses KPIs in a broad context - Offers an understanding of reporting, monitoring, and acting upon KPI data - Provides best practice examples of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) in libraries - Includes practical and reusable examples of KPIs that can be applied in local contexts (a toolkit approach)

Researchers are becoming increasingly concerned with tracking the impact and reach that their research has on the academic community. Through the implementation of altmetrics, they can now better measure the value that their research has through the analysis of citing behavior and citation-based research evaluation. Measuring and Implementing Altmetrics in Library and Information Science Research is a critical research book that focuses on how altmetrics can help researchers to uncover evidence of societal engagement, influence, and broader impacts that demonstrate the value of their research. It builds a more complete picture of the visibility and profile of individual researchers and observes real-time social media updates that provide insight into how faculty’s research is being shared from the moment it is published. Featuring a range of topics such as citations, big data, and social media, this book is essential for researchers, educators, librarians, professionals, academicians, administrators, and students.

With the perpetual advancements of technology, library and information science professionals are tasked with understanding these technologies and providing accurate and comprehensive information to other potential users. These professionals must develop best practices for understanding these technologies in order to best serve other users. The Handbook of Research on Emerging Trends and Technologies in Library and Information Science is a critical research book that examines advancing technologies and new innovations and their influences on library and information sciences for improved best practices. Featuring an array of topics such as digital libraries, distance education, and information literacy, this publication is essential for librarians, knowledge managers, information retrieval specialists, library and information science professionals, information scientists, researchers, web librarians, academicians, educators, IT specialists, and managers.

Academic libraries are facing uncertain times. The international higher education environment is very volatile and academic libraries and librarians can play a major role in helping to strategically position their parent institution within it. In doing so, there needs to be clarity as to what the position of the academic library is with regard to the role and function it has within the university and how library leadership can have pan-institutional influence and impact. There are several ways in which the academic library can position itself and this collection demonstrates many of these. Strategic alignment with the university and its mission is a fundamental part of successful positioning, as is being flexible, adaptable and responsive to changing needs, requirements and expectations. Developments in research support and scholarly communications, as well as super-convergences with other academic support departments, are examples of such responsiveness. These topics along with other emerging themes, such as library functions and institutional partnerships and collaborations, are all discussed in the book and provide the reader with a rich variety of reflections and case studies on how academic libraries, from across the globe, have addressed their position within their institution. This book was originally published as a special issue of the journal New Review of Academic Librarianship.

This book analyses and discusses the recent developments for assessing research quality in the humanities and related fields in the social sciences. Research assessments in the humanities are highly controversial and the evaluation of humanities research is delicate. While citation-based research performance indicators are widely used in the natural and life sciences, quantitative measures for research performance meet strong opposition in the humanities. This volume combines the presentation of state-of-the-art projects on research assessments in the humanities by humanities scholars themselves with a description of the evaluation of humanities research in practice presented by research funders. Bibliometric issues concerning humanities research complete the exhaustive analysis of humanities research assessment. The selection of authors is well-balanced between humanities scholars, research funders, and researchers on higher education. Hence, the edited volume succeeds in painting a comprehensive picture of research evaluation in the humanities. This book is valuable to university and science policy makers, university administrators, research evaluators, bibliometricians as well as humanities scholars who seek expert knowledge in research evaluation in the humanities.