Techniques of mathematical and statistical analysis of books and other media of communication are applied to such works as research reports and scientific journals. About half of the 15 articles are from a special issues of Communication research 16(5), 1989. Annotation copyright Book News, Inc. Portland, Or.

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.

A comprehensive, state-of-the-art examination of the changing ways we measure scholarly performance and research impact.

This book has been written with a view to understand the validity of the perceptions of Open Access (OA) e-journals in the Library and Information Science (LIS) field. Using relevant OA journals this book presents and evaluates journals qualitatively and quantitatively. Over the last three hundred years scholarly journals have been the prime mode of transport in communicating the scholarly research process. However in the last few decades, a changing scenario has been witnessed in their form and format. OA is an innovative idea that attracts a fair amount of support and opposition around the world because it bridges the gap between digitally divided scholars by solving the pricing and permission crises that have imbalanced the scholarly communication process. Some scholars are of the opinion that OA has led to a chaotic environment where anyone can publish anything. Scholarly Communication in Library and Information Services records, in detail, the impact by accessing the journals' web site qualitatively and quantitatively in measuring the important elements such as articles, authors, countries, subjects and cited references. Finally, the book calculates the impact factor using synchronous and asynchronous approaches. - First ever study to extensively evaluate LIS Journals' Web site qualitatively by using a newly developed set of criteria - LIS OA journals are also evaluated quantitatively - Counts citations of LIS OA articles in terms of formal citations by using Google Scholar

Scientometrics have become an essential element in the practice and evaluation of science and research, including both the evaluation of individuals and national assessment exercises. Yet, researchers and practitioners in this field have lacked clear theories to guide their work. As early as 1981, then doctoral student Blaise Cronin published "The need for a theory of citing" —a call to arms for the fledgling scientometric community to produce foundational theories upon which the work of the field could be based. More than three decades later, the time has come to reach out the field again and ask how they have responded to this call. This book compiles the foundational theories that guide informetrics and scholarly communication research. It is a much needed compilation by leading scholars in the field that gathers together the theories that guide our understanding of authorship, citing, and impact.

"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"--Publisher's website.

Research libraries have engaged in publishing activities in the past, but recently there has been intense growth in the number of library publishing services supporting faculty and students. Unified by a commitment to both access and service, library publishing programs have grown from an early focus on backlist digitization to publication of student works, textbooks, and research data. This growing engagement with publishing is a natural and research data. This growing engagement with publishing is a natural extension of the academic library's commitment to support the creation of and access to scholarship. Getting the Word Out examines the growing trend in library publishing with 11 chapters by some of the most talented thinkers in the field. Edited by library publishing experts Maria Bonn, of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Graduate School of Library and Information Science, and Mike Furlough, HathiTrust Digital Library, this book deepens current discussions in the field, and provides decision makers and practitioners with an introduction to the state of the field with an eye towards future prospects. -- from back cover.