Scientometric indicators for the assessment of publications

Introduction

Numbers are not data and data are not indicators

The central paradigm of scientometrics is that science or scientific research as a system has quantitative aspects that can be characterised by mathematical (mainly statistical) methods. According to Holton (1978) ‘… nothing is more natural than to develop indicators about science that themselves consist of quantifiable measures’. Scientometrics is concerned primarily with the description of regularities in the production, flow and application of information in science. In order to characterise information phenomena quantitatively, reliable data must be obtained, appropriate methods and relevant indicators must be constructed ...

Get The Evaluation of Research By Scientometric Indicators now with the O’Reilly learning platform.

O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.