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Comparison of the share of documents and citations from different quartile journals in 25 research areas

Author

Listed:
  • Ruben Miranda

    (Universidad Complutense de Madrid)

  • Esther Garcia-Carpintero

    (Instituto de Salud Carlos III)

Abstract

The total number of publications and/or the share of total publications in a given quartile, usually first quartile (Q1), is increasingly used in performance-based funding of public research. However, the quality significance of publishing in Q1 journals is very different depending on the research areas. Both the expected probability to publish in Q1 journals, given by the number of papers published in each quartile, as well as the average citations received by Q1 publications compared to other quartiles, is largely dependent on the research area. This study analyzes the share of articles published in each quartile in the 25 largest research areas indexed by Science Citation Index-Expanded (Web of Science) and their main citation characteristics aiming to enrich the discussion about journal-based evaluation systems and specifically the number and/or the share of publications in Q1. It was found that the average share of documents published in Q1 was 45.7% (38.4% for articles and reviews), varying from 25.4 to 85.6% (from 17.1 to 88.9% for articles and reviews) depending on the area. Q1 publications were cited, on average, 2.07 times more than Q2 publications (2.41 times for articles plus reviews), however, depending on the area, this ratio varied from 0.9 to 6.1 (from 1.7 to 5.4 times for articles plus reviews). Q1 (total publications or articles plus reviews), received, on average, 65% of total citations of the research area, but again this value varied from 46 to 98% depending on the area.

Suggested Citation

  • Ruben Miranda & Esther Garcia-Carpintero, 2019. "Comparison of the share of documents and citations from different quartile journals in 25 research areas," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 121(1), pages 479-501, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:scient:v:121:y:2019:i:1:d:10.1007_s11192-019-03210-z
    DOI: 10.1007/s11192-019-03210-z
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    3. Gabriel-Alexandru Vîiu & Mihai Păunescu, 2021. "The citation impact of articles from which authors gained monetary rewards based on journal metrics," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 126(6), pages 4941-4974, June.
    4. Matveeva, Nataliya & Sterligov, Ivan & Yudkevich, Maria, 2021. "The effect of Russian University Excellence Initiative on publications and collaboration patterns," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 15(1).
    5. Katchanov, Yurij L. & Markova, Yulia V. & Shmatko, Natalia A., 2023. "Uncited papers in the structure of scientific communication," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 17(2).
    6. Zsolt Kohus & Márton Demeter & Gyula Péter Szigeti & László Kun & Eszter Lukács & Katalin Czakó, 2022. "The Influence of International Collaboration on the Scientific Impact in V4 Countries," Publications, MDPI, vol. 10(4), pages 1-13, September.
    7. Zsolt Kohus & Márton Demeter & László Kun & Eszter Lukács & Katalin Czakó & Gyula Péter Szigeti, 2022. "A Study of the Relation between Byline Positions of Affiliated/Non-Affiliated Authors and the Scientific Impact of European Universities in Times Higher Education World University Rankings," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(20), pages 1-14, October.
    8. Shannon Mason & Lenandlar Singh, 2022. "When a journal is both at the ‘top’ and the ‘bottom’: the illogicality of conflating citation-based metrics with quality," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 127(6), pages 3683-3694, June.
    9. Alfirević Nikša & Pavičić Jurica & Rendulić Darko, 2023. "A Bibliometric Analysis of Public Business School Scientific Productivity and Impact in South-East Europe (2017-2021)," South East European Journal of Economics and Business, Sciendo, vol. 18(1), pages 27-45, June.
    10. Gabriel-Alexandru Vȋiu & Mihai Păunescu, 2021. "The lack of meaningful boundary differences between journal impact factor quartiles undermines their independent use in research evaluation," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 126(2), pages 1495-1525, February.
    11. Siler, Kyle & Larivière, Vincent, 2022. "Who games metrics and rankings? Institutional niches and journal impact factor inflation," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(10).
    12. Dias, Luis C. & Lev, Benjamin & Anderson, James B., 2023. "Low cited articles in operations research / management science," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 115(C).
    13. Pislyakov, Vladimir, 2022. "On some properties of medians, percentiles, baselines, and thresholds in empirical bibliometric analysis," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 16(4).

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