Bibliometrics

What are bibliometrics?

Bibliometrics provides a quantitative method for analyzing bibliographic data based on subject, article, researcher, journal, or institutional levels. Bibliometrics have their limitations; they rely on statistical methods to assess the impact of academic outputs and have biases and assumptions inherent in their design.
Examples of bibliometric outputs include some of the following.

• Number of publications
• Number of times cited
• H-index, i-10 index
• Number of co-authors
• Journal Impact Factor (JIF)
• Altmetric measures, such as number of policy citations

There are tools that can be used to show networks using bibliographic data. Networks can show important trends by highlighting links between different key facets of research outputs, including journals, researchers, and publications.

Networks can also be constructed to show patterns in citation, bibliographic coupling, co-citation, or co-authorship relations.

If you are familiar with coding, you can create networks using programming languages R or Python.

For a more automated experience, you can use the following software.

• Tableau
• VOSviewer
• Gephi

What this means for researchers

Bibliometrics are often used as factors in evaluation of research outputs. It is not uncommon for bibliometrics to influence decisions that impact a researcher’s decisions on where to publish, as well as their career.

• Through the application in decisions about promotion, tenure, and research funding.
• Influencing where researchers choose to publish through an evaluation of the Journal Impact Factor.
• Supporting institutional rankings, such as the Times Higher Education (THE) and others, that serve as indicators of prestige.

UNB Libraries can assist you in defining your impact through the measurement of research metrics (Scopus’ Journal Metrics, etc.), and how to use proprietary and open (ResearcherID, Google Scholar) software to ensure that your publications are included in any h-index or other calculation of scholarly impact.